Jeremy Craft Lehi Fire Chief | Roots & Branches Podcast

Lehi Fire Chief Jeremy Craft shares his journey from Montana to leading Utah’s fastest-growing fire department. Listen to stories of service, survival, and community on Roots & Branches of Lehi.

Jeremy Craft Lehi Fire Chief | Roots & Branches Podcast

Lehi Fire Chief Jeremy Craft shares his journey from Montana to leading Utah’s fastest-growing fire department. Listen to stories of service, survival, and community on Roots & Branches of Lehi.

Jeremy Craft on Serving Lehi From Montana Mountains to Fire Chief

A Life Built on Service

The Full Interview

Episode Overview

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Main Topics

Resource for Listeners

Episode Highlights

Key Stories from the Interview

The Spark on Bald Mountain

A Life Revived

Captain for a Day

Call to Courage

The Only Industry Trying to Disappear

What This Interview Teaches Us About Lehi

Community Themes & Legacy

Memorable Quotes

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Full Transcript

Chapter 1: Introduction to Roots and Branches of Lehi

Chapter 2: Meet Jeremy Craft, Lehi Fire Chief

Chapter 3: From Montana to Lehi – Jeremy's Journey

Chapter 4: What a Fire Chief Actually Does

Chapter 5: A Day in the Life of a Firefighter

Chapter 6: Jeremy's Path to Leadership

Chapter 7: Community Engagement & Youth Programs

Chapter 8: Life Inside the Fire Station

Chapter 9: Beyond Fires – EMT, Public Safety, and More

Chapter 10: Wildfire Response & Specialized Training

Chapter 11: Fire Safety Tips for Families & Homeowners

Chapter 12: Building Public Trust & Community Support

Chapter 13: Stories of Lives Saved in the Field

Chapter 14: Challenges of a Fast-Growing City

Chapter 15: Supporting the Modern Firefighter Workforce

Chapter 16: Emotional Toll of Service & Mental Wellness

Chapter 17: Fighting Cancer – Personal Stories & Initiatives

Chapter 18: Final Reflections on Service, Growth, and Gratitude

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A conversation about emergency medicine, public service, and the quiet sacrifices that keep a growing Utah community safe. Hosted by Ryan Harding.

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Jeremy Craft at Lehi Fire Station

"Our mission is our family serving yours."

— Jeremy Craft

In this episode of Roots & Branches of Lehi , host Ryan Harding sits down with Lehi Fire Chief Jeremy Craft to explore the story behind one of the city’s most vital community leaders. Originally from a small town in Montana, Jeremy’s journey into emergency services began at just 14 years old and ultimately led him to Lehi, Utah, where he has spent decades serving and protecting the community. His path reflects not only personal dedication, but also the evolution of public safety in a rapidly growing city.

Jeremy shares a behind-the-scenes look at the Lehi Fire Department, revealing that modern firefighting is far more than responding to fires—it’s deeply rooted in emergency medical care, public education, and community connection. As Lehi continues to grow from its agricultural roots into one of Utah County’s fastest-expanding cities, his leadership has helped expand the department from two stations to four, while maintaining a strong culture of service. From life-saving calls to youth programs and firefighter health initiatives, this conversation highlights the people, values, and systems that keep Lehi safe—and why that work matters more than ever in a fast-changing community.

For anyone interested in Lehi history, local government, emergency services, or the personal stories behind public safety in Utah County, this episode offers a rare window into the daily realities and long-term vision of a department that truly puts community first.

Watch Ryan Harding and Jeremy Craft discuss decades of service, life-saving moments, and what it takes to lead a fire department through Lehi’s remarkable growth.

Jeremy Craft, Fire Chief, Lehi Fire Department

1990s to Present — covering Jeremy’s Montana roots, arrival in Utah, and tenure leading Lehi Fire through rapid city expansion

Lehi, Utah — Utah County

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A 14-year-old's calling

Jeremy’s path into emergency services began not in a classroom, but on a mountain. At 14, he accompanied his father—a police officer and search-and-rescue volunteer—on a medical call for a heart attack victim on what locals called Bald Mountain. Standing beside an emergency room nurse in the Montana wilderness, Jeremy heard the word paramedic for the first time. By the time the call ended, he knew what he wanted to do with his life. That single experience, rooted in rural community service, would eventually lead him across state lines to Lehi, Utah.

The toddler who graduated high school

Among the most powerful memories Jeremy shared was a call early in his career with Provo Fire. A 16-month-old child was pulled from a bathtub, clinically dead. The crew went to work, resuscitated him, and he was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital with a bleak outlook. Decades later, Jeremy watched that same child graduate from high school—with no lasting deficits. Through a small-world connection, Jeremy learned his wife knew the boy’s mother. The story stands as a testament to the invisible threads that connect first responders to the communities they serve.

Service beyond the 911 call

After becoming chief in Lehi, Jeremy received a call from a wish-granting organization. A young boy with less than 48 hours to live wanted to visit a fire station. The child arrived by limo, non-ambulatory, unable to speak. Firefighter Aaron Fuller carried him through the station, and Jeremy placed his own fire hat on the boy’s head, buckling him into the front of the engine as an honorary captain. The child smiled. Jeremy calls it the moment he remembered what true service was about—and why fire departments must be more than an answer to a 911 call.

Empowering young women

In an effort to reach beyond traditional public safety education, Jeremy’s department launched a two-day camp called Call to Courage for young women ages 14 to 18. At no cost, participants rappel, cut open cars, drag fire hose, and hear from successful women in the fire industry. The transformation from day one to day two, Jeremy says, is visible: they leave believing they can do anything. The program has been so successful it fills within days, and it has already inspired at least one participant to pursue firefighting as a career.

Prevention as purpose

Jeremy describes firefighting as the only profession that works as hard to put itself out of business as it does to stay in it. Through building code enforcement, public education, and legislative advocacy, modern fire departments actively try to prevent the very emergencies they respond to. In Lehi, that has meant pushing for better building materials, annual business safety inspections, and teaching residents simple habits—like closing bedroom doors at night—that can buy families the precious minutes needed to survive.

Lehi’s transformation from a quiet farming town to a booming Utah County city is reflected in nearly every aspect of its fire department. Jeremy Craft’s tenure captures this evolution in real time.

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This episode connects to a broader archive of Lehi, Utah history and community life. Explore these related threads across the Roots & Branches of Lehi collection.

Discover more stories from Lehi’s community leaders, business owners, educators, and neighbors in the full Roots & Branches of Lehi archive.

To further enrich this community profile, consider adding photographs that capture both the person and the place. Historic and contemporary images help preserve Lehi’s visual story for future generations.

The complete conversation between Ryan Harding and Jeremy Craft, preserved for search indexing and historical record. Timestamps approximate.

Ryan Harding: Welcome to Roots and Branches of Lehi, the podcast where we get to know the faces, stories, and lives that make up our community. I'm Ryan Harding, and I started this podcast as a way for us all to connect with the people we live alongside. Growing up in a small town, I learned that connections go beyond blood. They're built through shared experiences, friendships, and the moments we celebrate together. Each week, we'll sit down with someone new from Lehi to share their unique story, their passions, and what they love most about living here. So whether you've been here for years or just arrived, join us as we deepen our roots and reach out to our branches one story at a time.

Ryan Harding: Welcome Jeremy Craft, the chief of the fire department for Lehigh City, right? So yep, fire chief. Yeah, fire chief. Perfect. Great. Glad to have you here and glad to get to know you a little bit better and get to know your position, get to know what you guys are doing here for Lehigh City. And so this will be good to chat with you for a second.

Jeremy Craft: Yeah, thanks for inviting me. I'm excited to share our story.

Ryan Harding: Yeah. Good. Good. Well, so let's start with you then, I guess, first. Tell me, you know, you're from here or where you from originally?

Jeremy Craft: I actually grew up in Montana. In Montana. Okay. Yeah. And then the job brought me here, actually. So, Okay. And how long have you been now here? And Oh, I've been down here since 93. Okay. So, good amount of time. Yeah. A few years. Yeah. A few years. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. I Well, personal connection. I grew up in North Dakota myself. So yeah, Bismar is and so we we'd go through Montana all the time, you know, coming down here to visit my grandparents in Utah and stuff. So but love Montana. It's very beautiful state.

Ryan Harding: So So came down here to Lehigh. So that so that that job directly brought you here then or did you have another job in between or tell me tell me?

Jeremy Craft: No. Well, so the story goes like this. Yeah. When my I grew up in a small town in Montana and my parents both volunteered for the local ambulance. My dad was search and rescue. Okay. My dad was police officer. Mechanic police officer. Sure. One day when I was 14 years old, he took me on a medical call. It was outside of town. Yeah. For a gentleman having a heart attack on what we call Bald Mountain. It's kind of like Mount Chipanogus is. Yeah. And really from that day forward, I just wanted to be a paramedic. Right. I was with an emergency room nurse up on the mountain and she's she told me paramed is where I should go. Yeah. So after high school, I went to college on some sports scholarship stuff and but ultimately I just wanted to be a paramedic. Yeah. And there wasn't really an opportunity in Montana back in the early 90s. Sure. Sure. So my grandparents lived in Salt Lake. So I came down here to pursue that in my pursuit of parame medicine. Fire service is a bonus. They go hand in hand. Okay. In in Utah. And so that's where it all started. That's that's how it started on a mountain in Montana. On a mountain in Montana. I like that. In the 80s. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then that brought Yeah.

Ryan Harding: Well, and so and talk to me about you mentioned, you know, because you're the fire chief and so a lot of times people think, you know, fighting fires and stuff like that, which is part of your job, but from what I understand, is it east of the Mississippi and west of the Mississippi is it's a little different or talk to me about that, I guess. Yeah, there used to be a hard line like that. So, we we are we do what we're call what's called firebased EMS. Okay. Right. Actually, 85% of what we do are emergency medical calls. Yeah. But on the east coast, they still have traditional fire departments. Yeah. And they don't really do medical. They'll go out on car wrecks to do extrication or stuff like that, but medical is all handled by private ambulances. Okay. So, in my opinion, and of course I'm biased, for the taxpayers, this makes much more sense. Sure. Right. We're we're we play dual roles and so it takes less staffing to do the medical and the fire. Yeah. And we serve the community well.

Ryan Harding: Because I'm guessing there's not a lot of fires all the time, right? I mean, is that, you know, or or what I guess what percentage or maybe you already said that 80, you know, what what's percentage of your calls are actual fires?

Jeremy Craft: Actual fires, we're probably 5%. Okay. Right. And and I'm not talking just house fires. We have dumpster fires, car fires, field fires, those types of things. Sure. And the reality is we're the only industry that you're ever going to find that we work just as hard to put ourselves out of business as we do to put out fires. Sure. And we do that through building code enforcements and up at the legislature getting better building codes so buildings don't burn. Public education on fire safety. Yeah. Right. It wouldn't be fun but no fires would be awesome. Yeah. Okay. Well, yeah, that would be nice, right? So So, you know, tell me tell me like, you know, kind of a typical day for for somebody that works for the fire department. What does that look like?

Jeremy Craft: So, for the fire department, for me, they're different. Yeah. So, talk about you first, I guess, and then the fire department. Okay. I do a lot of meetings every day. Okay. So, I I like to believe I'm a servant leader. So, when I get to the office in the morning, I'm an early person, so I'm usually there 30 minutes before I'm supposed to be. Sure. Go through check some emails. And then I do I do a lot of work legislatively in the state to to try to help with retirement and cancer and mental health and all those things. So, I try to do a lot of that work early before people get there. Um, and then I start working on, you know, department stuff. budget season. I'm working on budget. We just opened another fire station. So really for the last three years, that's what I've been doing is trying to get this new fire station open. But it there's not a typical day. Okay. I also currently am the vice president of Western Fire Chiefs Association. Oh wow. So I got to fill in some work for them during the day, which is really good and brought a lot of good programs to Lehi. Good. Good.

Ryan Harding: And then talk to me about So a typical firefighter, what's their typical firefighter?

Jeremy Craft: So we do 48 on, 96 off. Okay. So the show up day one, they'll do a pass off with the crew that's leaving. Hey, this is broken. Hey, we noticed this or hey, we've been going out on this patient quite a bit. They fallen down, you know, things like that, right? What's important? And they immediately go out and they start checking off the equipment. They usually spend about an hour to an hour and a half just going through every single tool, every band-aid. Wow. Right. Make sure the equipment runs and we got everything we need. So when the tones go off, there's it's there. Yeah. You're ready. And then at least in my department, I'm huge on physical fitness. And so they'll go into PT. They'll go spend an hour to an hour and a half working out. Mhm. Um and then that usually takes them to about 10 10 in the morning. A lot of them at that point will do training, right? They're already hot and they're sweaty. So they'll go out and they'll pull some hose and do some training. Yeah. Come back in, shower, go to the grocery store, okay, on day one. And they buy generally they go once and they buy all their food for lunch that day, dinner, breakfast the next day, lunch and dinner. Okay. And then in the afternoon usually some EMS training and yeah, usually it most of the day is centered around training. At 5:00 it's their time essentially if they're not on calls. But we know that a lot of them kind of hang out just you know build that bond that is so necessary to have with the crew. But you know, and I say all that, but calls can come at any time. You can pop a fire and be out there for six hours. Sure. And your whole day is shot. Right. So Sure. But that that's pretty typical without without calls interjected. Yeah.

Ryan Harding: So and how you said a crew, how how many are on a crew?

Jeremy Craft: It depends on what type of apparatus are running out of there. So in Lehi, if if it's an engine company, meaning a fire engine, they'll generally we put three on the engine and two on the ambulance in that house. So that's station 81, 83, and 84 that we just opened. And then 82 is a truck company. Takes a lot more people. That's the big ladder truck. Yeah. So four on the ladder and two on the ambulance. And that's what we call minimum staffing. If we have sick calls and people on vacation, but that's minimum staffing.

Ryan Harding: So, and and and so when when you get a call, how many calls in a typical day do you I mean, I'm sure each day is different, but but if you were to average it, how many?

Jeremy Craft: Yeah, we're averaging about 15 to 16 right now a day in Lehi.

Ryan Harding: And when So, when you get a call, that means they leave, right? Okay. They go to check it out.

Jeremy Craft: We drop everything we do. So, I'm a very missiondriven person. I like to Everything we do surrounds our mission. Our mission statement is our family serving yours. And at the core of our mission is a 911 service. And so nothing else matters when the tones go off, but serving that mission. Okay. That's awesome. And and you know, obviously you have the the ambulance, but you also take the fire truck to these things even even though it's not necessarily a fire, I guess, or or or tell me. Yeah. So they're all firefighters and they're all medically trained. Okay. So a lot of people ask this question. So thank you for that. On a medical, why does a fire engine or fire truck go? Well, it's very simple. Two people may be able to perform what's necessary medically, but they can't move a patient and continue to perform things that are medically, right? So, if we have a patient that's let's just say grandma fell down on the second story of a home and she's got a hip injury, yeah, they can they can splinter up and they can give meds for pain, but they can't move her out of the house effectively. Can they move her? Yes. Okay. But effectively, without doing further harm, it's really difficult. So, we always send that engine out. So we have extra personnel car accident another really great example the the paramedics will be doing the medical care or the advanced EMTs while the engine company can be extricating right putting them on a backboard those types of things okay and then on a fire they they come together as a company and they fight fire together as a company so and we have four stations so four companies on every day in Lehi okay

Ryan Harding: talking a little bit more about you have how long have you been fire chief

Jeremy Craft: so I've been here in Lehi as the fire chief for about 10 and a half years. Okay. And so when you So tell me your path, I guess, to becoming fire chief. I mean, you know, was that something you always wanted to do? Was that something that Okay. All right. Tell Tell me about that. So I moved from Utah and got myself into I worked for a private ambulance company for a couple years, got to paramedic school. And I got hired by Provo Fire. Okay. And in the meantime, I was working part-time for South Davis Fire. That's kind of where I got my start. So at Promo, I I got hired as a paramedic firefighter. They run very similar to us and I just loved what I was doing and but I'm kind of a progressive person. I like to learn and so in the fire service you have promotional exams. So I had been on the job I'm going to have to think now about seven years and an engineers position or test came open. That's the person that drives fire apparatus. And I didn't want it but I wanted to take the test. So, I took the test and I did well enough they offered me the promotion and I felt like at that point I really couldn't say no and plus for me I knew I wanted to be an officer someday. It gave me the experience of all the positions below an officer. Sure. Anyways, so I digress a little bit but so I took the job and for two years I drove the fire engine and we have people that absolutely love the job and I absolutely hated it. I love driving. Yeah. But on medicals and stuff, they don't have as much responsibility and I want to be in the action. So after about two years, I was like, I either got to go to captain or I can't go back to paramedic. Sure. Not in that department. And so anyways, I took the captain's test and promoted to captain. And I'm And honestly, at that point, I was like, "Okay, this is where I want to be. This is probably where I want to finish my career. I'm out running calls still doing what I love." I was pretty young for a captain. Yeah. And a couple years later, there were some big changes happening in the department. New fire chief, a bunch of the old-timers had retired and there was battalion chiefs the next step openings. And I looked around and and I don't want to sound arrogant by any means, but I didn't really want to work for the people that I thought were going to be at the top of the list. Sure. Not because they weren't good people. I just didn't feel like they were progressive. Okay. And I wanted to be in a progressive department. Yeah. And so I had a conversation with my wife and she said, 'Well, you're in a predicament, aren't you? I said, 'I kind of am.' She said, 'Well, here's the deal. You either shut up and work for whoever promotes or you get busy and you promote yourself and you you push this department to be progressive. It's good advice. So, that's what I did. Yeah. And then I was a battalion chief for eight years, I think, almost eight years, and some things happened in that department, and I just didn't feel like upward mobility was going to happen for a long time. Mhm. So, I had a buddy of mine call me and say, "Hey, there's a fire chief opening in Lehi. We think you'd be great. You should apply." Okay. And so, I did. And here I am. And here you are. Yeah.

Ryan Harding: And and and does that, you know, battalion chief versus chief of fire, you know, fire chief. Is is there a lot of difference there then? I guess.

Jeremy Craft: Oh, it's huge. Huge difference. Yeah. So, battalion chief is on shift with personnel. Okay. So, you're in the action still more. Yep. You're in action. You You're over the like we have battalion chiefs here. when they're when a platoon's on, the A platoon battalion chief is over all four stations and but they're still running calls. They still sit down and have meals with the crews. And as the fire chief, I'm more administrative. Yeah. I can affect change obviously faster being in charge, but I don't necessarily get to run the calls anymore. Okay. So, yeah.

Ryan Harding: And and so you've mentioned progressive and stuff like that. So tell me what you know over your your tenure you know of being fire chief. How you know what things are you most proud of that you've you know like that you've done or changed or or you know tell me tell me about that that period of time.

Jeremy Craft: As a fire chief some of the things I'm super proud of is the growth of the department. We've been able to grow. So when I got to Lehi we were two fire stations. We had 35 full-time people 35 part-time people. And it was a good department. Good morale. They knew how to serve the community well. That wasn't something I had to give them. They already had it. And we're now four fire stations. Wow. 82 full-time people. Wow. And and we've, in my opinion, we've kept that culture and we've kept the my mantra when I got there was I didn't want to just be an answer to a 911 call. I want to be a part of the community. And we've been able to keep that. Okay. And because the fire service is such uh decentralized command, if you will, decentralized leadership, yeah, it's really difficult to keep that, but we've been able to do that. But some other things that that I'm super proud of is the way we progress in paramed. We're usually cutting edge. Our rosque rate or our survival rate from a cardiac arrest is one of the highest percentages you'll find in the state. We're super proud of that. Yeah. And then recently, something that I've been working on really hard legislatively on a bigger picture is me and two of my colleagues started what's called the Utah Firefighter Cancer Initiative. Oh. And we got statewide early cancer detection testing for firefighters in Utah. Oh, that's great. So, we're we're right in the middle of the process of standing our clinic up to get early tested because our cancer rates are astronomical. Yeah. Just among fire firefighters. Really? Yes. Really?

Ryan Harding: Any idea why that is?

Jeremy Craft: Yeah. Buildings burn and the carcinogens are in them and our bodies are superheated and they're open to our pores are open and all that stuff comes in. Our turnout gear protects us from heat and from steam, but it's not sealed up and so all that stuff gets in and and honestly another thing that we've done over the years is in the past it was a badge of honor to have dirty gear. Sure. But those carcinogens were in that gear. Yeah. Now, you won't find dirty gear, but if we if we hit a a good fire, they'll take their gear off, they'll put it in a bag, they bring it back. We have special machines that wash that out of there. So, we're hoping the number goes down, but Okay. Just by being more But having said that, the materials we're building, chairs and tables and stuff in our homes, have more carcinogens than ever. Sure. So, yeah, it it's it's a problem. Sure. Interesting.

Ryan Harding: So, you know, you mentioned as far as the community goes and stuff like that, too. What kind of things do you do to try to be part of the community, I guess? You know, you mentioned, you know, hey, we really try to be not just a call and stuff like that, but so what kind of things do you do to try to

Jeremy Craft: We do a lot of public education. Okay. Super inviting to the community. We we want to be open. If you look at the fire stations that I've built, they have a lot of windows so people can see us working and and it it's it's inviting. We're old style where they were kind of closed up. So, a lot of public education. We just stood up a team two years ago called our safe team that goes out and does really big public education stuff. Yeah. But more than that, we have this culture of we help when needed, right? If, let's just say, one of my engines is going to the grocery store further around and they see somebody on the side of the road with a a flat tire, they're expected to pull over and change that flat tire. Help them, right? At least offer help. Sure. And just so many little things like that. When they're at the grocery store, they're expected to interact with the public. We have a program called sticker in your pocket. Wish I could say it was mine, but they had it. But we have little fire department stickers. Yeah. You won't find a firefighter that doesn't have one. So every time they interact with a child, they hand them a fire, you know, a firefighter sticker, right? We we have a big open house in October where we in conjunction with fire safety week where we invite kids over to do firefighter activities. I could go on and on. One of the ones we're super proud of is it's a camp. It's called call camp call to courage. Okay. And it's for young ladies 14 to 18 years old and we bring them in for two days. It cost them nothing. And we put them through firefighter paces. We we do some really great leadership lectures from really successful females in fire industry and outside of and we've gotten a firefighter one. We've been this will be our fourth year doing it. So we've gotten one firefighter out of it. But more than anything, if you watch them when they come in on day one, from when they leave on day two, they have a spirit of they can do anything. And we they do repelling, we cut cars open, they drag fire hose. Wow. And that's become super popular. It it build up so fast this year. Yeah. I wish we had the capacity to do more, but you know, we're doing 25 to 30 ladies a year. Okay. Young ladies. And so it's just stuff like that, right? It's just for me, it's super easy. If if you care about the community, you find ways to serve them. Yeah.

Ryan Harding: And and I guess, you know, youth groups, are they able to ever, you know, tour a fire station and stuff like that?

Jeremy Craft: We love people to come in. Yeah. See the fire station, see what we do, see that we live there, see that we cook there? Yeah. Yeah. We we do a lot of that. We we don't do any in December. Okay. It's kind of our cool off. So October is huge fire safety month. We get a lot of schools and preschools and lots of people coming through. Sure. Kind of wind down in November, but December we don't do any tours. That's kind of our reset time where we can catch up on training and different things that maybe we miss because of calls and things like that.

Jeremy Craft Lehi Fire Chief | Roots & Branches Podcast