Wildland Fire Operations Center

About

The State of Utah Wildland Fire Operations Center (UWOC) is part of the Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands (FFSL) within the Utah Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The Operations Center provides highly trained wildland fire and natural resource resources that play an essential role in wildfire management, public safety, and natural resource stewardship throughout Utah and beyond.

The Wildland Fire Operations Center’s field-season typically runs from April through November. This operational period encompasses Utah’s core wildfire season while also extending into the shoulder months, allowing Utah to assist neighboring states with wildfire suppression and providing opportunities to complete critical fuels reduction and natural resource projects within Utah.

UWOC operations are centered around two primary functions: wildland fire response and natural resource management. Crews, engines, heavy equipment, and qualified overhead personnel remain on call throughout the field season and are prepared for immediate deployment to wildfire incidents locally, regionally, and nationally when fire conditions and resource needs in Utah allow for out-of-state assignments.

When not assigned to active wildfire incidents, UWOC resources perform critical natural resource management work throughout the state. These projects include hazardous fuels reduction, forest health treatments, ecosystem restoration, and other land management activities designed to reduce wildfire risk, improve forest and watershed health, and increase the resilience of Utah’s landscapes. This work is typically concentrated during the spring and fall shoulder seasons when wildfire activity is lower and conditions are favorable for completing resource projects.

As of fall 2026, the Wildland Fire Operations Center has expanded significantly to provide a broader and more diverse range of firefighting and natural resource capabilities. The current organizational and equipment complement includes:

2 - Interagency Hotshot Crews (Type 1)
2 - Type 2 Initial Attack Crews
1 - Type 2 Crew
2 - Type 3 Engines
2 - Type 4 Engines
2 - Dozers
1 - Excavator
2 - Skid Steers
8 support staff/overhead positions, that support incidents with the following qualifications:
- Operations Section Chief (OSCC)
- Incident Commander Type 3 (ICT3)
- Division Supervisor (DIVS)
- Task Force/Strike Team Leader (TFLD)
- Heavy Equipment Boss (HEQB)
- Incident Commander Type 4 (ICT4)
- Equipment Time Recorder (EQTR)
- Personnel Time Recorder [PTRC]

This expanded resource complement significantly increases the State of Utah’s ability to respond to wildfires, support local and national interagency fire management efforts, and accomplish meaningful natural resource work during periods when resources are not committed to emergency response.

The Wildland Fire Operations Center serves as a model of effective resource management, interagency cooperation, and year-round stewardship. By maintaining a workforce capable of transitioning between emergency wildfire response and proactive resource management, UWOC resources address immediate wildfire threats while also helping reduce future wildfire risk and improve the health and resiliency of Utah’s forests and landscapes.

Through this dual-purpose operational model, the Wildland Fire Operations Center provides an indispensable component of Utah’s fire management strategy—protecting communities and infrastructure, supporting public safety, responding to wildfire incidents, and advancing long-term forest health and ecosystem resilience across the state.

History

The Wildland Fire Operations Center has a long and distinguished history of providing the citizens of Utah and neighboring states with highly skilled wildland firefighting and natural resource management services. The Operations Center is rooted in the legacy of the Lone Peak Conservation Center (LPCC), which was established in 1978 at the Utah State Prison in Draper.

LPCC was originally established under a dual-purpose mission: to provide rehabilitative work opportunities for incarcerated individuals while fulfilling the state’s statutory responsibilities for forestry, wildfire prevention, and fire control. In its early years, the program relied heavily on inmate crews to complete forest restoration, fuels management, and wildfire suppression projects throughout Utah.

At the height of LPCC’s operations, the program reached an exceptional level of accomplishment with the formation of the Flame in Go Hotshots, an inmate-operated Interagency Hotshot Crew. The Flame in Go Hotshots earned a reputation as one of the nation’s premier hand crews and were utilized on significant wildfire incidents throughout the region alongside civilian hotshot crews. Their accomplishments were extraordinary, demonstrating a level of professionalism, skill, and operational capability that was rarely, if ever, seen from an inmate-based fire program. The legacy of the Flame in Go Hotshots remains an important part of LPCC’s history and represents a unique chapter in the history of wildland firefighting.

As the 1990s came to a close, evolving security requirements, liability concerns, and increasingly stringent safety standards made the continued use of inmate labor for wildland fire operations less feasible. In response, LPCC began transitioning away from an inmate-based workforce and toward a professional fire and natural resource workforce. This transition allowed the program to expand its capabilities and establish a broader mission focused on wildfire response, fuels management, forest health, and natural resource stewardship.

In 2000, LPCC further solidified this transition by establishing civilian state agency fire crews. This expansion aligned with the goals of the National Fire Plan and the Healthy Forests Initiative, which emphasized reducing hazardous fuels, addressing wildfire risks in the wildland-urban interface, and improving overall forest health and ecosystem resilience.

Throughout the 2000s, LPCC continued to grow, eventually supporting a workforce of more than 150 firefighters. This period included the addition of the Alta Interagency Hotshot Crew and the Thunder Mountain Fire/Fuels Crew, further expanding the program’s ability to respond to wildfires while accomplishing critical fuels reduction and forest management projects throughout Utah.

As the program continued to grow, the State of Utah began planning for the relocation of the Utah State Prison from Draper to a new facility in Salt Lake City. Because LPCC had operated on the prison grounds since its establishment, the prison relocation also necessitated the relocation of LPCC.

Recognizing the relocation as an opportunity to modernize and expand the program, FFSL began planning for a new facility more than a decade ago. In 2022, the Utah Legislature approved funding for construction of a new facility, providing the foundation for the next chapter of the program.

FFSL leadership subsequently expanded the vision beyond simply replacing the existing LPCC facility. The project incorporated LPCC’s field resources and operations with the Division’s statewide fire management program, creating the State of Utah Wildland Fire Operations Center (UWOC).

The new state-of-the-art facility represents the evolution of nearly five decades of Utah’s wildland fire and natural resource management efforts. It is designed to enhance collaboration, improve resource coordination, streamline statewide fire operations, and provide a centralized platform for managing Utah’s growing fire resources.

Today, the Wildland Fire Operations Center carries forward the legacy established by Lone Peak Conservation Center while operating under a modern, professional model of wildland fire response and natural resource management. From its beginnings as an inmate-based conservation program in 1978, through the extraordinary accomplishments of the Flame in Go Hotshots, the transition to a professional workforce, and the development of a statewide fire organization, UWOC has continually evolved to meet Utah’s changing wildfire and land management needs.

The Wildland Fire Operations Center is the next chapter in that history - building on the people, experience, and accomplishments of the past while positioning Utah to meet the increasingly complex wildfire and natural resource challenges of the future.