March 22, 2022
Spanish Fork, Utah — Edward M. Hales was selected as the first full-time Fire & EMS Chief in Spanish Fork City.
“I am very excited to have Eddie serve as Chief of our Fire & EMS department,” City Manager Seth Perrins said. “Eddie has been a great leader in the departments he has served in and will bring a great perspective to Spanish Fork.”
Hales, a fourth-generation firefighter, began his fire/EMS career in 2001 as a volunteer with Pleasant Grove. After graduating from Utah Valley University’s paramedic program in 2006, Hales accepted a full-time position with Lehi Fire as a firefighter/paramedic.
With Lehi, Hales was the city CERT Coordinator from 2010-14, was awarded the Firefighter of the Year Award in 2012, and served on Utah Valley Special Response Team and Utah Task Force 5.
In 2008, while still working full-time in Lehi, Chief Hales left Pleasant Grove’s Fire to begin working part-time with American Fork as a firefighter/critical care paramedic and shortly after was promoted to Lieutenant.
In 2018, Hales stepped away from Lehi and accepted a full-time position with American Fork to serve as Battalion Chief. Since then, he served on the Central 911 Operations Board, Utah County Fire Chiefs’ Sub-Operations Guideline Committee, and the Utah County EMS Council as First Vice President. In 2019 he was given the Fire Chief “Always Ready” Recognition Award.
Chief Hales currently serves on the Utah State Firefighters’ Association Board of Directors, a position he was elected to in 2015.
Hales holds a degree in fire science from Columbia Southern University and graduated from the Managing Officer Program at the United States Fire Academy.
Chief Hales has been hired to create and lead a new City Department. Previously, both the Fire and EMS functions were part of a larger, multi-faceted Public Safety Department with Police, Fire, EMS, and other functions under one director. The transition to two separate City Departments will give Chief Hales and Police Chief Matt Johnson greater operational focus as Spanish Fork City continues to grow.