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
