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Case Study
How United Fire Aligned 16 Mayors on a Regional Station Plan and Saved Millions
Unified Fire Service Area (UFSA) leveraged Darkhorse Emergency deployment tools to effectively coordinate station planning among multiple communities — enabling transparent communications, stakeholder alignment, and millions saved in unnecessary capital expenditures.
16
Communities aligned on one plan
6
New stations optimally placed
$M+
Saved in capital expenditures
CHALLENGE
Aligning 16 Communities on Regional Station Planning
Align stakeholders from 16 different communities around the best locations for five to seven new regional stations while finding the right balance between cost, performance, and politics. Several existing stations had been built in less-than-ideal spots from a regional perspective.
SOLUTION
Evidence-Based Decision Making
Used Darkhorse deployment tools to validate the best possible station locations for the region
Leveraged the platform during stakeholder presentations to gain rapid buy-in
Using the platform to continuously improve standards of cover
01 — The Problem with Poor Placement
Poorly Located Stations Reinforced the Need for Evidence
UFA is the largest fire service in the state of Utah, serving residents in more than 16 different municipalities and towns. Between 2008 and 2017, those communities collectively built eight new emergency services stations — with several in less-than-ideal spots from a regional perspective.
With plans to build five to seven new stations on the horizon, Fire Chief Dan Petersen knew he would need data to ensure the best locations and to convince all the various stakeholders of the case.
02 — Trusting the Numbers
A Regional Perspective That Saves Money and Improves Service
In July 2020, Chief Petersen and the UFSA team began working with Darkhorse Emergency to accelerate their plans for data-based regional station location planning. Using the deployment tools, Chief Petersen tested and understood the impact on performance of different station scenarios.
He found that by making changes to some of the individual community's existing planned sites, he could save municipalities millions in capital expenditures while at the same time improving response times across the district. In effect, he'd found a free lunch.
03 — Gaining the Buy-In
Convincing 16 Mayors with One Laptop
With the numbers clearly pointing to optimal locations, Chief Petersen and his staff were confident in their recommendations for the 6 new stations. Now, they just had to convince 16 mayors.
Assistant Chief Dominic Burchett hit the road, laptop in hand, personally meeting with stakeholders from each community. Using the platform, he successfully illustrated the merits of the regional plan and showed decision-makers the tradeoffs they would be making in cost and performance by choosing different locations.
"When presenting to municipalities it wasn't me saying 'I think we should build a station here.' It was me saying: 'Mathematically, this is the optimal location for the next 50 years.' There's really no room to argue that and it makes their decision super-easy. And it makes my presentation really fun."
Dominic Burchett — Assistant Chief
Building a continuous improvement culture.
With the long-term plan mapped out, the fire district is turning attention to shorter-term improvements and building an analytics-driven culture.
16
Communities aligned around one optimal regional station plan — saving millions in unnecessary capital expenditures.
6
New stations planned in mathematically optimal locations, improving response times across the entire district.
Validated the best possible station locations for the region using deployment analytics
Gained rapid buy-in from 16 different municipal stakeholders through transparent data
Saved millions in capital expenditures by optimizing planned site locations
Improved response times across the district while reducing overall costs
Employees throughout the service are learning to use analytics for Standards of Cover decisions
"I want a full-time fire department that cares about doing the right thing. We are working to get to a space where our community is really happy, our policies are strong, and our standards of cover are making a difference. First, we are just going to make the practice good. Then we'll see if we can be accredited from that."
Dan Petersen — Fire Chief