OGDEN — Just after 7 a.m. last Sunday, residents around the Ogden Valley were given a timely reminder that the Earth we call home is not in its final form.

Just 19 miles east of Ogden, a M 3.3 earthquake struck near Huntsville and was reportedly felt by several residents in the region. While hardly “the big one,” the tremor was a reminder that Northern Utah is susceptible to larger and potentially deadly earthquakes.

This knowledge has not only helped drive area infrastructure hardening projects but also driven Ogden Fire Chief Mike Slater to keep his team in a state of preparedness.

“There’s going to be a high-magnitude earthquake one day across the Wasatch Front,” he said. “You’ll have structure compromisation on the Wasatch Front, you’ll have what they call soil liquefaction out west that’s going to cause issues out there. That’s the ‘big daddy’ that we always train for.”

He said this is one scenario that the department and other entities across the county are thoroughly prepared for.

“We have a pre-disaster mitigation plan that goes county-wide,” he said. “In fact, we just presented it to the Council and mayor for their final signature, so we have a plan. For instance, when that earthquake happened, even though it was small and we didn’t have 911 calls on it, our crews get out of the station. They do windshield surveys, they’re out and about in the community because when things fail, you have to have a continuance of operation. If radios go down or the 911 center goes down, we need to be out and present in our community.”

Slater said this preparedness has sometimes taken other entities by surprise.

“We’ve had several FEMA trainings where we’ve done mock earthquakes,” he said. “Because of our windshield surveys, when we have that mass casualty exercise for an earthquake, we’re finding issues before the testers were showing those issues. Like, we’ll drive by Ben Lomond High School and say, ‘Hey, we’ve done a drive by of Ben Lomond High.’ Well, part of their scenario was a building collapse at Ben Lomond High School, and they weren’t ready for us because we’re saying, ‘We’ve got an officer or firefighter at Ben Lomond High, is it OK?’ ‘Well hang on a second, there’s a collapse there but we’re not ready to tell you there’s a collapse there.'”

He said they have heavy rescue capabilities that are ready to be deployed along with the ability to operate with major technologies missing.

“We’ll be in our communities making sure things are done when the big one hits,” he said.

However, Mother Nature’s arsenal of misery for the Ogden area isn’t limited to earthquakes.

Slater said the Ogden City Fire Department is ready for those moments, too.

“The ones that are consistent that happen on a yearly basis, there’s windstorms and flooding,” he said. “We have response models for that. When a windstorm comes through, we know about it, hopefully. We follow the weather and we know, ‘This weekend there might be some high downslope winds off the Wasatch Front. Be prepared.’ It goes out to the fire department, goes out to public works; the mayor’s admin staff are all on standby and when it hits, we’re working.”

He added there have also been recent examples of the department helping other municipalities when larger scale disasters strike, such as last year’s Willard Peak Fire in North Ogden.

“We had three units there the whole time and we parked up on some of the homes and just protected structures because the Northview Fire District needed Ogden City,” he said. “We called some people back to help them out and I was at their discretion if they needed me to come in and take command of something. It was such good collaboration.”

It’s this attention to preparation and action while acknowledging the humanity of all those who contribute that has led Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski to offer high praises to the Ogden City Fire Department.

“I’m really proud of the men and women of Ogden Fire Department,” he said. “OFD is the best of the best because we truly do have the best of the best people, as men and women, first and foremost. Good men and women become good firefighters and EMTs. We take the same mindset in all of our departments.”