vernonia rural fire protection district
february20
2020
7
Vernonia Rural Fire Protection District
Winter Powerline Safety
During the winter months with
the rain, ice, snow, and strong winds
many branches and even trees end
up falling to the ground, which quite
often ends up bringing down power
lines. Also bad road conditions dur-
ing the winter or any time can cause
vehicle accidents involving power
poles. Here are some safety tips that
everybody should follow to avoid in-
jury from a downed power line.
If you see a wire on the ground
do not go near it and do not let
anybody else approach it. Contact
your power company and they will
take care of the situation. You cannot
tell if it is a phone line, secondary
line, or a primary voltage line. The
wire that is on the ground could quite
easily be energized with voltage as
high as 500,000 volts depending on
what kind of wire it is.
Power lines, whether on the
ground, on a vehicle, or on a blown
down tree, are still very dangerous. A
fallen energized line will not always
arc or spark and it may lay energized
for a very long time until looked after
properly by the utility company.
Electricity from a power line
will create a ripple effect, much the
same as throwing a pebble in still
water, for up to 30 feet. If you touch
any two spots in this zone electric-
ity will use your body to increase the
strength of the charge and push the
ripple forward. It is as if electricity
can take a step using you as a con-
ductor, and you will be shocked and
seriously or fatally injured.
If you are in a car that has hit
a power pole and the power lines are
laying on your car or a tree has torn
down the power line and it ends up
on your car do not get out of your
vehicle. Have someone contact the
power company to come and assist
you. If remaining in your vehicle
is unsafe, for example the car is on
fire, and you must exit, jump clear
of the vehicle and land with both
feet together. Proceed away from the
vehicle and power line by hopping
with your feet together, or by
shuffling your feet (heels should not
pass the toes), do not take full steps.
Taking full steps can cause what we
call “step potential” and will give you
a severe electrical shock. Continue
shuffling your feet until you are at
least 30 feet from the vehicle.
Remember, even if a power
line is on the ground there is no way
you can tell if it is energized or not.
Call your utility.
Volunteers Earn Driver Certifications
By Training Captain Will Steinweg
The Vernonia RFPD would like to recog-
nize some of our people for finishing the lengthy
process for their Driver/Operator certification
from the Oregon Department of Safety Standards
and Training. Two of our volunteers have recently
been certified; Trish Smith and James George are
now NFPA Fire Apparatus Driver/Operators.
Vernonia RFPD held a driver academy in
October to get our volunteers the needed training
to complete this task. We spent a day in the class-
room and a day on the driving course evaluating
the drivers. With the recent changes in the rules
we were able to certify people who have not yet
finished their Firefighter I certification.
Trish joined the Fire Department almost
four years ago with the intent of just being a logis-
tics member, but works full-time for Metro West
Ambulance here in Vernonia. She decided to go
through our firefighter academy last year and made
a change to do more with the fire side of the De-
partment. She went through the driver academy in
October with the rest of the recruits and has fin-
ished the required taskbook to be certified through
the state.
James was recently certified as a Fire-
New Firefighter
Recruit Academy Starts
By Rob Davis
Recruitment and
Retention Officer
The 2020 Joint Firefight-
er Recruit Academy began on
February 17 with 11 new Fire-
fighters attending! Six members
are from the Vernonia Rural Fire
Protection District, and five are
from the Mist-Birkenfeld Rural
Fire Protection District. We are
excited to see such an increase
in Volunteer members between
both Fire Districts.
We took a new approach
to the academy course work to
try and lighten the burden of at-
tending classroom style training.
This year we have moved the
curriculum to an online platform
called Target Solutions which
provides access to the accred-
ited course work while our new
volunteers have time to work
through chapters, either at home
or in the station! When we meet
for academy nights and week-
ends we will be able to focus
strictly on the hands-on training
needed to perform the tasks of a
Firefighter. We believe this will
drastically reduce the time we
pull them away from their fami-
lies during their initial training.
Not all of these new vol-
unteers are community mem-
bers; as of this year we have
launched an Out of District Vol-
unteer Program to help supple-
ment our community volunteers.
The personnel in the Out of Dis-
trict Program will have require-
ments for the amount of time
they spend at the station serving
our community.
As we continue to feel
the strain of higher call volumes,
we have to continually look at
ways to provide top quality ser-
vice to the community while
being good stewards of our citi-
zens’ tax dollars.
Speaking of call volume,
did you know that Vernonia Fire
runs the second highest num-
ber of calls per 1,000 citizens
in Columbia County? What that
means is we ran 202 calls per
1,000 citizens of our Fire Dis-
trict in 2019.
If you are interested in
being a part of our team please
come in and see us and find
out what being a Volunteer
Firefighter is all about!
fighter I in July of 2019. He also went through the
recent driver academy and received the necessary
skills to be certified through the state. James joined
the VRFPD almost three years ago and has been
working hard to build his certification base.
I would personally like to extend congratu-
lations to these two volunteers for taking the time
away from their lives to finish their driver certifi-
cation. I would also like to congratulate our Fire
Chief for completing his Wildland Firefighter type
I certification. If you see Trish, James, or Chief
Smith congratulate them for their hard work pay-
ing off.
VOLUNTEERS
WANTED
VERNONIA RURAL FIRE
PROTECTION DISTRICT
VRFPD is currently accepting applications
for Volunteer Fire Fighters
• You must have a High School Diploma or
G.E.D., a valid Oregon Driver’s License, and
be at least 18 years of age
• Currently, you must be able to attend
weekly training on Monday nights
Here’s What We Do!
• Willing to attend the Fire Academy
• Live or work (employer willing to let you
respond to calls) within VRFPD’s District
VRFPD
555 E. Bridge St.
Vernonia, OR 97064
503-429-8252
• Applications can be picked up at the Fire
Station
VRFPD FIRE CHIEF
Earl Dean Smith
dc4502@yahoo.com
503-709-8821 (cell)
503-429-8252 (office)