• Bryant Heath
• Baltimore artist Michael Kirby painted the mural on Fire Station No. 41 at 2600 S. Main in South Salt Lake..

Unless you are having an extraordinarily bad day, most citizens have very limited, firsthand run-ins with firefighters. These brave men and women serve one of those essential city functions, but to us they tend to occupy the space between the real and the abstract. We know they are around but only occasionally are reminded of their presence by the wailing siren of the firetruck rushing past us to another emergency somewhere else.

With the recent upswing in flooding and the hurried efforts to quickly sandbag neighborhoods, I've been consciously thinking more about these first responders and their role. Turn on the news; odds are they make an appearance. Attend a volunteer event; they're probably present, too. They always seem to be there, inconspicuously helping others.

This idea of being the background also extends to their places of work. There are 14 fire stations in Salt Lake City alone and dozens of others across the rest of the county—many of which don't even elicit a head-turned acknowledgment from us as we pass by.

Some fire stations break the mold, though, for a variety of reasons. I'll always remember the location of Fire Station No. 4, up on 11th Avenue and M Street, as their outdoor vending machine's bottled water has saved my butt on many poorly planned long runs.

Public art installations appear prominently at a few locations as well. Fire Station No. 41 at 2600 S. Main in South Salt Lake (above photo), features a large mural painted in 2020 by Baltimore artist Michael Kirby as part of that city's annual Mural Fest.

But my favorite station to come across thus far is one of the most remote ones. Far out on California Avenue and 5300 West lies Fire Station No. 14, which is a markedly modern and sleek building (below photo).

Selfishly, I like Station No. 14 the most because they happily put on an impromptu tour for my then 5-year-old daughter, who wanted to stop after seeing their gigantic sign at the entrance. There are those firefighters again, helping others—even a frazzled dad with an unsettled child!

• Bryant Heath
• There’s no mistaking Fire Station No. 14 on California Avenue and 5300 West.