opinion
april7
2016
An Opinion: Why VRFPD Needs Our Support
By Scott Laird
The Vernonia Rural Fire Protec-
tion District (VRFPD) has submitted a
ballot measure for the upcoming May 17
election, which citizens living in our fire
district seriously need to consider ap-
proving.
The measure is a five year tax
levy that will raise funding to assist with
training and operations for the fire dis-
trict and could go a long way to help al-
leviate some of the struggles our local
fire fighters and first responders are fac-
ing.
The measure would pay the sal-
ary and benefits for a Training Captain
position who would be responsible for
creating, delivering and maintaining a
training program for the local volunteers
who respond to emergencies.
Vernonia Fire Chief Dean Smith
has identified three areas of concern for
his department which he hopes will be
addressed with the passage of a tax levy:
a dwindling number of volunteers, an
increasing number of calls that need to
be responded to, and increased require-
ments for volunteers to be able to par-
ticipate.
A look at some recent history
of call volume versus the number of
volunteers available to respond clearly
explains the main issue our local fire dis-
trict is facing:
Year
1997
2000
2005
2010
2015
# Annual
Calls
250
337
344
416
548
# of
Volunteers
26
25
20
25
12
While the number of volunteers
has fluctuated over time, volunteerism
has trended downward and fallen drasti-
cally in the last 5 years; it is currently
half of what it was in the late 1990s.
Meanwhile the number of calls has risen
dramatically, more than doubling over
the same time period.
The numbers speak for them-
selves – our volunteers are being asked
to do more, with less of them to do it.
Which brings me to an impor-
tant point. These aren’t just numbers
we’re talking about here, these are ac-
tual people. These volunteers are people
who give up their personal time to train
and be available to help us when we
need them, in whatever kind of weather
or whatever time of day or night that we
might call. These are our friends, family
and neighbors who are calling for help –
more and more of them each and every
year.
With volunteerism down and
call volume up, the other big issue Chief
Smith points to is the depth and breadth
of the required certifications his volun-
teers need.
For a volunteer to be certified
to fight a fire they need to attend 240
hours of Fire Academy – most do it dur-
ing their weekends over the course of
3 months. After Fire Academy, volun-
teers must go through a rigorous skills
training process at their department and
get signed off on each skill they show
mastery of; this can take as long as 18
months to complete, but depends on the
ability of the department to schedule and
provide the training needed and the abil-
ity of the volunteer to attend those train-
ings.
Once certified a volunteer must
complete 60 hours of continuing edu-
cation training each year to maintain
their certification. If a volunteer wants to
preform additional skills, like operating
the pumps or driving the rig or be avail-
able for wildland fire fighting, additional
hours of training are needed. “That’s
why we don’t have a Swift Water Rescue
Team or a Rope Rescue Team, because
the excess training is just too hard to get
and maintain,” says Chief Smith.
“I have a volunteer training offi-
cer who plans and presents trainings for
our volunteers,” explains Chief Smith.
“We know which volunteers need which
skills and sometimes our training offi-
cer will spend 15 to 20 hours preparing
a training and then those volunteers that
need that training are unable to attend
the drill that week. That’s the way it
works with volunteers.”
Smith points out the these certi-
fications that volunteers are required to
receive and maintain are the very same
certifications required by professionally
paid fire fighters at Tualatin Valley Fire
and Rescue or Columbia River Fire and
Rescue who make upwards of $75,000 a
year. “We’re asking our people, most of
whom have a full time job, families, and
other activities they would like to do, to
do the same requirements,” says Smith.
Chief Smith has recently been
visiting with local groups and organiza-
tions explaining the need for a Training
Officer. Smith, along with a part-time
office manager, are the only paid per-
sonnel at VRFPD, everyone else is a
volunteer. Smith notes that last year, of
the 548 calls for service the district re-
ceived, there was an average response
of two volunteers per call, and that he
personally responded to 296 of them.
“So that means over half the time it was
me and one volunteer,” says Smith.
Smith says volunteer burn out
is becoming a huge issue for his depart-
ment and will continue to be a problem
as the number of volunteers continues
to decline and the work load for those
still there mounts.
Smith currently has 13 volun-
teers. Four of them are officers, three
are certified as Fire Fighter I, three
are still on probation, two are logistics
only volunteers, and one is brand new.
Smith says two of the probationary
members have been on probation for
about 10 years, trying to complete their
training so they can become certified as
Fire Fighter I. “That shows how hard it
is to complete the training,” he says.
Ten years! Talk about dedica-
tion. How many of us would volunteer
to do something and spend over ten
years in training before we could reach
our goal and perform the duties we
signed up for?
“I can’t fault our volunteers for
wanting to spend time with their fami-
lies, but we just don’t have the people
anymore who are willing or able to
leave work, put the fork down, turn the
TV off, get off the lawn mower, or walk
away from their kid’s game, in order to
help the community,” says Smith.
So what is the answer?
Chief Smith and the VRFPD
Board of Directors believe that hiring
a Training Captain will give the de-
partment flexibility in how they pres-
ent and schedule training opportunities
for their volunteers, offering more and
varied options to work training into and
around their busy schedules. This could
also relieve the burden for planning and
presenting training from the overworked
volunteers currently assigned that task.
A paid Training Captain could
coordinate with other area departments
to share and present training opportuni-
ties; this is already being done in places
like Forest Grove, Cornelius and Banks
where volunteers at any department can
attend trainings anywhere they are pre-
sented. This type of sharing of resources
could be managed to help all volunteers
receive their required training.
A Training Captain could re-
spond to calls during their shifts, provid-
ing an additional responder and some
relief for an already overburdened staff
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Britt Bensen Steele
Senator Betsy Johnson
Dr. Carol McIntyre
Karen Miller
Sonia Spackman
Grant Williams
Photography
Scott Laird
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and volunteer group.
A Training Captain could or-
ganize and maintain a reserve or cadet
program that could bring in outside fire
science students looking to gain first-
hand experience, and possibly provide
training classes for students in our own
high school. Bringing in outside volun-
teers as well as training our own young
volunteers, is a great way to expand and
develop a core base of responders.
A Training Captain could work
with the community and local employers
to recruit more volunteers and expand
the ability of the department to respond
to the needs of the community.
These volunteers have spent so
much time training and giving to our
community. It’s time we gave back to
them. They need our help.
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