JASON BERGREEN
The Salt Lake Tribune

During his 12 years as a firefighter, Michael Jensen battled hundreds of blazes. But none was as wild and menacing as the Machine Gun Fire in Herriman.


"I thought I was going to lose a couple hundred homes, to be honest with you," the Unified Fire Authority chief said recently from his South Salt Lake office. Instead, all but three houses were spared.

While overseeing the attack on the 4,326-acre wildfire that started during a live-fire training exercise at Camp Williams on Sept. 19, Jensen played a key role in keeping Gov. Gary Herbert, Rep. Jason Chaffetz and county and city leaders informed on the progress of the blaze. He led news conferences with his own calm, authoritative style and took meetings with Herriman residents to explain the fire's behavior, firefighters' plan of attack and the reason for extended evacuations that kept thousands from their homes.

"Michael's smart," said UFA Deputy Chief Gaylord Scott. "He has a way of hearing and disseminating something complex and making it simple."

An oil painting of David Linn's "Ascent" hangs on the west wall of Jensen's office.

In it, several people climb a rock staircase, ascending from shadow into light. The man in the center reaches down to help the man below, and in turn, that man does the same for people lower still.

While the painting has religious overtones, it also portrays men and women committed to a shared goal and teamwork.

"Nobody can make it on their own," Jensen said. "Everybody needs help from above and below."

This is the philosophy the chief applies to leading the UFA -- the state's largest fire department, whose more than 550 employees protect 375,000 people on a $51 million annual budget -- and it was in place when the Machine Gun Fire ravaged the Herriman area.

UFA Assistant Chief Erik Sandstrom could see the smoke from his Riverton home about 3:20 p.m. that day and jumped into action.

"He saw the header on Camp Williams and started scouting the fire," Jensen said. "He knew it was coming."

When dispatchers told Sandstrom the fire had "gotten away" from the Utah National Guard, which fought the fire initially, he made sure Battalion 12 was notified and water and brush trucks were dispatched.

Then he called UFA Assistant Chief Michael Kelsey.

"We're probably going to be in for a long one, so you should get the EOC ramped up," he told him, prompting Kelsey to take charge of the emergency operations center. He ordered bulldozers, made sure fire services remained fully functional in the rest of the valley, and called state and county fire crews for help.

"No one agency could handle the scope of what we saw down there [in Herriman]," Jensen said of the 8-mile-wide blaze that forced more than 5,000 residents to flee and wasn't officially declared out until Oct. 5.

UFA paramedic Scott Bentley said he worked a 12-hour shift in a Machine Gun Fire medical station before being handed a shovel and sent to the frontline.

"It was an intense fire," he said. "The winds were howling that day. The firefighters that were on the line, they did a miracle job."

Sandstrom called the Machine Gun Fire "the biggest event I was in" after 24 years as a firefighter. He credits the National Guard, Herriman city and other fire agencies that responded quickly to help UFA contain the fire.

"It wasn't just UFA," he said. "It was everybody. ... It was pretty darn cool how that all came together."

UFA Assistant Fire Chief Mike Watson said the UFA's success lies partly in the fact that Jensen enables everyone to be in control of their piece of the pie.

In October 2009, the 44-year-old Magna resident became responsible for emergency services for a 525-square-mile area, including Alta, Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Holladay, Riverton, Herriman, Taylorsville and unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County.

Jensen was a firefighter, paramedic, public information officer and deputy chief before taking the reins, but he also sees himself as a CEO.

From his five assistant chiefs to the newest firefighter on the force, Jensen is genuinely interested in what he can learn from those around him and how to apply that information to a situation or emergency, his co-workers say.

"He surrounds himself with people he trusts," said Scott, the deputy chief.

Bentley, who has been a UFA paramedic for five years, said Jensen prefers to ask questions rather than bark commands.

"He's very open to knowledge and opinion," Bentley said. "He'll say, 'You're a wildland guy, what do you think?' "

Jensen not only lets the men and women under him do their jobs, he expects it.

"He really only cares about grandma getting service," Scott said. "If we can't keep the guy in the street happy, we've lost our mission."

Jensen puts it another way, referring again to Linn's painting.

"It's about the team and about moving the organization up the rock wall," he said.

Copyright 2010 The Salt Lake Tribune
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October 29, 2010.