District expands aid to fight wildfires around the state

By Raymond Rendleman, The Canby Chronicle

It was the call that Canby Fire District Assistant Chief Matt English had been both expecting and dreading. While he had been training for years to fight wildfires, English doesn’t relish having to leave his family on a dangerous two-week mission every summer. At the time of the dreaded call, he knew that he was on the weeklong rotation to be called up to fight wildfires.

“We usually set out for 14 days, and they might extend you to 17 days,” he said.

By the second week in July, English had been hearing about some major wildfires that had cropped up about 20 miles east of John Day, Oregon. He found out on the afternoon of Saturday, July 11, that the state assigned him to lead a team of 14 personnel from various Clackamas County firefighting agencies to protect life and property in Eastern Oregon.

The Oregon State Fire Marshal called up six task forces from Columbia, Clackamas, Clatsop, Lane, Multnomah, and Washington counties. Thanks to emergency funding, the state covers the wages of firefighters who participate, plus the wages of firefighters who might be having to work overtime to cover local fire district services. A state grant funded Canby’s purchase of a water tender, so the fire district has been trying to be a good partner to the state in return.

Clackamas County’s Fire Defense Board is staffed by all the county’s fire chiefs to coordinate emergency response, mutual aid, and resource sharing, both for large fires within the county and within driving distance in the Pacific Northwest. The Fire Defense Board named English the taskforce leader of the county’s first taskforce to go out during this year’s wildfire season, managing a crew of over a dozen firefighters with five different apparatus.

Upon receiving the dispatch notice, English and the other firefighters on the list had 90 minutes to respond to the point of departure, which was Clackamas Fire District’s training center near Highway 212. Firefighters from Tualatin Valley, Clackamas Fire, Colton, Estacada, and Canby were among those participating.

English said that the Fire Defense Board, once the state contacts the fire chiefs, always tries to assemble a mix of different agencies to form taskforces, so you don't overly tax one agency or one station. “There are times when the mix will be a little different, but we try to share the wealth as best as possible,” he said.

Once they assembled at the Clackamas training center, the firefighters departed almost immediately for their assigned location near Sumpter. English had just a few minutes to fill out some manifest paperwork before they all took off for Eastern Oregon. 

Clackamas County firefighters were among the crews that worked around the clock to clear brush, establish sprinkler systems, and lay water hoses defensively around at-risk properties. The firefighters were soon called to the town of Granite about 16 miles west, where the fire was blazing in a heavily wooded area just two miles from the town’s homes.

To assess the susceptibility of the town’s structures, the firefighters filled out Survey123 to complete structural triage. As part of the triage, firefighters assessed each building’s access to water supply and susceptibility to fire, among other factors to prioritize limited resources.

Then English’s crew was called to the Twickenham fire, where a blaze was threatening a rural historical school building that had been converted into a residence. With the help of community volunteers, they were able to keep the 1906 one-room schoolhouse intact.

Clackamas County firefighters spent the rest of their time on the mission camped out on Mitchell High School’s football field. From this campsite, they would head out on a daily basis to strategically located areas to burn all of the flammable fuels within 100 feet of structures, then watch the fire area to make sure it doesn’t spread or reignite.

“We did have a couple of days where we relied on MRE,” English said, referring to the ready-to-eat rations typically used by the U.S. Armed Forces for combat or field training. “But the state does a good job taking care of us with the capacity that they had. They can get to us and get us food in the needed amount of time, and that can be impressive at times logistically. It’s going to be cold or hot, but if we don’t eat, it gets kind of rough.”

English said that the hardships he and other firefighters experienced were nothing compared to the tragic loss suffered by residents in wildfire-affected areas. He noted how entire communities outside of Spokane lost everything to wildfires this year, even though nobody thought it would be so grave of a situation. “People are now realizing that the fire threat is real and how wildfires can be really devastating,” he said.

While missing his family, eating Army-style rations, and enduring uncomfortable weather, English thought about how his crew’s burn operations around structures might help prevent much more devastating outcomes for other families. “If the fire moves through there, the structure’s probability of surviving that fire is much higher, so it feels good that maybe you can help prevent that tragedy for another family,” he said.

Prior to burning a homeowner’s yard, the firefighters will put possessions like lawn chairs, bicycles and lawn ornaments inside the family’s house or sheds for safekeeping. “When you are fleeing a fire and might not have time to even take your toothbrush, we’re able to safe-haven many other things that might be of value to the family,” he said.

As of the end of August, the Canby Fire District has sent out firefighters 10 different times for these wildfire missions lasting at least two weeks. After a couple weeks away fighting wildfires, English always makes time for family activities as soon as he returns to Canby. “You know the saying, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder?’ That is very true for me and reminds me how precious that time is,” he said.