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M artin L uther K ing J r .
2020 special edition
January 15, 2020
Fire Chief on Dr. King’s Message
Sara Boone
embraces roots
in journey of
discovery
b everly C orbell
T he P orTland o bserver
Portland Fire Chief Sara Boone,
the first African American to head
Portland Fire & Rescue, was born
in 1969, a year after Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. was assassinated,
but as a young girl and woman she
discovered his teachings as she
was discovering herself.
“It was self-discovery of what
blackness meant,” Boone ex-
plained. “When you’re older, you
start reading books on African
American history because in the
U.S. education system you have
many a day of celebration, but Af-
rican American history is not real-
ly celebrated within the history of
this country and I think that what I
realized growing up was, ’Where
do I get my identity? Where are
my roots?’”
Boone said government and
educational systems “completely
eliminate objectifiable truth when
it comes to African Americans and Fire Chief Sara Boone, the first African American to head Portland Fire & Rescue, talks with
every other culture that has also a little girl at a Juneteenth event last summer.
by
contributed to the founding of this
country and where we are today.”
Studying great black leaders,
like Dr. King, on her own, helped
the future Portland leader learn
more about her place in the world.
“Whether it was Malcolm
X, whether it was Dr. King, or
whether it was Barbara Jordan
(Texas black activist and politi-
cian), whether it was all the great
civil right leaders, everybody has
a story to tell about what it was
like for them and what they were
championing,” Boone explained
in an exclusive interview with the
Portland Observer.
It was in college that Boone
expanded her reading of Dr. King
and other civil rights leaders.
“One of my heroes is Marian
Wright Edelman,” she said. “She
really pours her heart and soul into
young kids, and it was her words,
‘If you can’t see, how can you be-
lieve?’” that gave her a lot of in-
spiration.
Boone said when you have to
have kids seeing people just like
them, from a diversity of races,
taking part in varied occupations
and professions, they can dream
about their own futures in such
lines of work, “So that is one
thing that has always stuck with
me. Who are your heroes? What
is your imagination? What are the
possibilities?”
Boone started out to be a teacher,
and when she was a student-teacher
right out of college, it was a chance
encounter with a fire inspector that
led her to consider working for the
fire department. She knew there
were few if any people who looked
like her in a department that was
almost entirely male and white.
Advancing diversity in the bureau
is now a priority for her.
When she was younger, Boone
saw black women become suc-
cessful in modeling, sports, music
and somewhat in politics.
“So I know that is the one thing
that I can change at Portland Fire,
is that we have to have visual rep-
resentation, which means we have
to be out there in the community.
“I have to be engaged when it
comes to, ‘Can you see yourself
working for Portland Fire?’ and
not just for the African American
community,” she said. “Every
culture that’s out there, every eth-
nicity that’s out there, we do have
representation for now, and so I
need to be able to message and
market that to kids at a younger
age. That’s why it’s so important –
so they can see themselves.”
Portland Fire & Rescue con-
nects with young people through
school fire safety events, com-
munity engagement, and hiring
events. The department also has a
public education office and a job
recruitment office, she said.
“My challenge today, since I
stepped into the Bureau, is to un-
derstanding all the systemic and
institutional policies and practices
and removing barriers so every-
body has a chance to succeed,”
she said.
Boone said the department
needs to build trust in marginal-
ized communities, like the thou-
sands of people who lack a place
to sleep or eat on a daily basis,
“So that’s a shift in what we’re do-
ing” with the new Street Response
Team to primarily serve Portland’s
homeless population.
The Street Response Team, be-
coming operational this spring, an-
swers Dr. King’s call for compas-
sion and service to others, Boone
said. The integrated mobile health
team is being assembled by City
Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s
office by working with about 50
local stakeholders, including social
and mental health care agencies,
fire department, police bureau and
911 dispatch, Boone said.
“I think that Commissioner
Hardesty realizes and understands
is that there was a vulnerable pop-
ulation that wasn’t getting the
most appropriate response to meet
their needs,” she said.
Street Response is the latest
evolution of the fire bureau, which
earlier expanded to take on emer-
gency medical care, Boone said.
“Where Street Response is dif-
C onTinued on P age 11