PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, AUGUST 20, 2021
KFD enduring busiest
summer in district history
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
It has been a busy summer for Keizer
Fire District (KFD) as the department
has experienced a substantial increase
in call volume.
Two years ago, KFD responded to
more that 500 calls service in a month,
which at the time was a district record.
That record was shattered last month as
the district went on 608 calls for service
in July for an average of 19.6 calls per
day.
The 608 service calls broke the record
for most calls the district had responded
to in a month — KFD staff s one bat-
talion chief, one engine company and
three medic units per day, all with 10-12
fi refi ghters.
“It has been extremely busy,” KFD
Division Chief of Operations Brian
Butler said. “Everyone has been inside
for a year, we have been told to not do
anything and stay at home. Then every-
thing opened up, and it just happened to
be summer time. It has been a diff erent
summer because of those things, so we
are trying to cope the best we can and
try to maintain our staffi ng.”
KFD isn't alone in their call volume
increase as Salem Fire Department and
Marion County Fire District #1, along
with KFD, have experienced a recent
25% surge over the last year in the
amount of calls they have received and
responded to.
“It is still the same things we have
always gone on, just a larger amount. I
don't know if that is because our popu-
lation is moving, or the fact that people
are working from home now. You can't
blame it all on one thing or another.
It's not COVID's fault, it's not the wild-
fi res' fault. It's just in general, all the
fi re service numbers across the nation.
It's just increasing for everyone,” added
KFD Deputy Fire Marshal Anne-Marie
Storms.
While they may have their suspi-
cions, both Butler and Storms admitted
that the fi re districts in the area haven't
been able to pinpoint the cause of why
there is such a big surge in call volume
in recent months — the vast majority of
the calls are for medical service.
“Why it's busy, I don't know. We are
just getting more calls,” Butler said.
Running over 19 calls per day has
forced the district into long-range plan-
ning for the future as KFD is planning on
of the largest in state history.
Despite sending a multitude of fi re-
fi ghters out on confl agrations, Butler
said that the main issue with day-to-day
operations is less about staffi ng and
more about call volume.
“As far as what aff ects Keizer, it is
running this many calls in a 24-hour
period. That is more impactful on our
You can’t blame
it all on one thing
or another. It’s not
COVID’s fault,
it's not the wild-
fires’ fault.
— ANNE-MARIE STORMS
Deputy Fire Marshal, KFD
File / KEIZERTIMES
renewing their local option levy at $0.59
per $1,000 of assessed property value in
2023. Cowan said that KFD needs more
resources, people and trucks, and that
the district has been having ongoing
conversations about future funding.
“We need to have long-range projec-
tions for how to get to the next level, and
then come back to the community and
tell them where we are at, and what our
plan is, and if they will help us fund it,”
Keizer Fire Chief Jeff Cowan said.
Along with running an exorbitant
amount of medical calls, KFD fi refi ght-
ers also had an incredibly busy month
on confl agrations. The district sent
out multiple crews to numerous fi res
throughout the state, including the
Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon — one
fi refi ghters. If I send three guys out on
a confl agration, we are able to fi ll their
spots with overtime ... I got three shifts
and three guys off , so you are only look-
ing at losing one guy per shift,” Butler
said.
While they don't have any staff
members out on confl agrations at the
moment, Butler said that KFD has a crew
prepared to go out as soon as possible.
“We are ready to be called at any min-
ute. I have a crew on standby, ready to
go at a moment's notice,” Butler said.
Even with the chaotic day-to-day
operations, Cowan explained why he
always wants to make providing wildfi re
assistance a priority.
“When we have a big fi re, we want
people to come help us, and when
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someone else has a big fi re, we need
to go help them,” Cowan said. “When
it comes to local fi res, You want those
to be fought by battle-hardened veter-
ans. When you send someone to a fi re
like the Bootleg Fire, that is a lifetime,
career fi re that could be the biggest fi re
in Oregon history. Now we have people
here in Keizer that fought the Bootleg
Fire and have that kind of
experience, and they bring
that experience back with
them.”
In regards to why
Oregon is experiencing
one of the worst fi re sea-
sons on record, Butler and
Storms didn't mince their
words.
“Until we take climate
change seriously, it's going
to be that way,” Butler said.
“It is because of climate
change. Things are hotter,
things are drier... Things
are changing, and until we
make a serious eff ort to
change things, it's going to
keep being like this,” Butler
said.
“It has nothing to do
with fi re agencies, it's about
us as humans and how we managed our
state for years and the lack of forestry
management. We didn't touch our trees
for years because of the spotted owl.
And then we fi nd a diff erent excuse, fol-
lowed by a diff erent excuse. When you
have all of that dead debris sitting under
those trees not being cleared out, you
are not allowing fi re to burn like it does
naturally,” Storms added.
Last summer, the Santiam Canyon
wildfi re decimated the rural areas of
Mehama, Gates, Mill City, Detroit and
Idanha. While a fi re of that magnitude
would be next to impossible in Keizer,
Cowan said, with the way things are
going, that he is expecting a major fi re
to take place in Keizer in the near future.
“It's only a matter of time. We will
have a major fi re in Keizer Rapids Park.
We don't have a water supply in Keizer
Rapids Park. And those are the kind of
things we need to be prepared for and
drill for,” Cowan said. “We don't see this
going away.”
With the current state of aff airs in
Oregon, Cowan was thankful for the
passing of Senate Bill 762, a wildfi re
preparedness and resiliency bill, which
was signed by Governor Kate Brown
last week. While the omnibus bill covers
a multitude of diff erent fi re topics, one
of the aspects Cowan was most excited
about is that now, fi re districts will
receive more timely reimbursements
when they go out on confl agrations.
“We spend money we didn't plan
for when we go out of confl agrations.
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