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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2017)
vernonia rural fi re protection district march16 2017 15 Vernonia Rural Fire Protection District Your Tax Dollars at Work sponded and were standing by awaiting the second out coverage for Metro West The Board of Directors, Fire to arrive, when they received yet a third Chief, and the Volunteers at Vernonia call for service. This time the call was Rural Fire Protection District want you for a house fi re on Lone Pine Road. to know that your tax dollars are really Because they now have two paying off. full-time employees, the one was able Over the past couple of months to remain with the medical patient while your tax dollars have made a real the other one responded to the house difference when it comes to response to fi re. Without that second full-ime First calls for service from VRFPD to you, the Responder, the Fire Chief would have community that approved the tax levy. been required to remain with the medical On more than one occasion patient until Metro West arrived, instead VRFPD was already on a medical call of responding to the house fi re. This when a call for a house fi re came across type of situation has taken place more the radio. than once since the hiring of Training The fi rst event took place while Captain Will Steinweg. the Fire Chief and the Training Captain In addition to the improvement were standing by on the scene of a medi- in responding to calls for service, the new cal call, awaiting the arrival of Metro Training Captain has been able to ramp West. You see, Metro West was already up the training program into high gear. out of town transporting a medical pa- Creating online training classes that can tient from a previous call to the hospi- be done at home prior to training night at tal, when a second medical call was the station, has proven to be invaluable dispatched. The Fire Chief and Training to the training program. Volunteers can Captain, both full-time employees, re- now log-in to the training portal and see By Robert Schattschneider Wildland Fire Cleanup By Robert Schattschneider Spring is right around the corner and along with the warmer temperatures comes the drier weather conditions. If you’re like me, you’ve seen enough rain to last quite awhile. Now is the time to start thinking about the dry season that will be here before we know it. Those few months where we do not get the wet weather conditions bring the threat of wildland fi res. Start thinking about your property. What trees, shrubs, or open fi elds of grass on your property need to be cut back or mowed down? When we remove the fuel (trees, brush, shrubs) we limit what a wildland fi re has for fuel. And it’s especially important to remove those fuels when they are near your home or out buildings. This year will probably be similar to those in years past. It will become very dry and the fi re danger will once again rise to levels of concern. So please take the time to start off early this year and remove those fuels. Things that you can do: • Clean out those gutters • Trim trees back that are near structures • Trim back or remove large shrubs that are near your home or out buildings • Mow down tall grasses and weeds • Create a safe, approved area to burn yard debris • Get all of your yard debris burned early in the season (with valid burn permit) Please remember that you need a valid burn permit to burn yard debris in the Vernonia Rural Fire Protection District. You can pick up your burn permit at the Fire Station located at 555 E. Bridge Street in Vernonia. When it comes to burning yard debris, please remember that you cannot burn anything other than yard debris. You cannot burn: • Household trash • Construction materials of any type • Tires or petroleum products • Old furniture su ch as mattresses, couches, chairs, etc. For more tips on how you can prepare and protect your property during Wildland Fire Season go to https://www.ready. gov. Calls responded to February 1-28 Fire Emergency Medical Service Hazardous Condition Service Call Good Intent Severe Weather & Natural Disaster Special Incident No Emergency Found False Alarm Total 1 34 4 10 0 4 0 0 3 56 what classroom training they need to accomplish, with the deadlines that need to be met, and then fi nish the classroom portion at their leisure and their own pace. The Training Program has now included specialty training, such as the beginning classes in rope rescue. With the rugged terrain in our area you never know when a vehicle accident will result in au- tomobiles careening out of control over steep hillsides along our rural roads and highways. Last winter, 2015, VRFPD responded to a reported accident on Scappoose-Vernonia Highway where a pickup truck and fl atbed trailer went over and down a steep hillside. The Rope Rescue Team from Scappoose re- sponded to assist VRFPD in the rescue of the driver. This type of training is very specifi c and requires a high skill set that VRFPD is now in the process of learn- ing. It will be yet another tool in their tool bag. Captain Steinweg is working diligently on the creation of a lo- cal Cadet Program for the Verno- nia Schools. The exact details of the program will be announced later this year, but the program will be designed to teach high school students the ins and outs of fi re fi ghting and respond- ing to rescues of all types. This pro- gram will be very successful in teach- ing students life lessons beyond the fi re service. Captain Steinweg should have the program up and running in time for the 2017-2018 school year. Daytime hours of coverage are a challenge for any volunteer department. The smaller the community, the greater the challenge when it comes to coverage during daytime working hours. You may have seen, on more than one occasion, fi re engines from Mist-Birkenfeld and Banks Fire coming through town to assist VRFPD on a call; limited daytime staffi ng in Vernonia requires help from our neighbors. But VRFPD is not alone when it comes to daytime staffi ng issues. We also get calls to assist Banks Fire and Mist-Birkenfeld during certain times of the day. It’s just the nature of the beast whose name is “Volunteer Fire Department.” Volunteer Fire Departments across the nation are struggling when it comes to recruitment of new members. The stresses placed on families today require two parents to work outside the home in most cases. Time constraints placed on working men and women to- day do not leave much time for volun- teer work, let alone additional hours to devote to regular training. But for those who do get involved, they report that the experience of helping others in their time of need instills a great deal of sat- isfaction and accomplishment in their personal life. Many who take the plunge report that they are so glad that they de- cided to get involved and give back to their communities. Quite often children grow up and follow in their parents’ footsteps by getting involved themselves when they reach the required age to participate. But like many things from our past, tradition changes with time. We would like each of you to consider getting involved in some way to serve the community of Vernonia. VRFPD has several areas where you can donate some time to help. Not all of it requires learning how to fi ght fi re or save a life. You can get involved and help behind the scenes. If you think you’d like to get involved, please contact the Fire Chief or Training Captain by calling (503) 429-8252 or stop by the station located at 555 E. Bridge Street during working hours. You can also stop by the station on Monday nights at 7:00 pm and take a tour, see what’s going on, and meet the volunteers and staff. We hope to see you soon! CAN YOU FILL THESE BOOTS? VOLUNTEERS WANTED Call Dean Smith for more information on free training (503)429-8252
