Calling all High-School and College Students!

Apply now for the part time Emergency Medical Services Intern / Community Services Aide position!

Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) periodically has paid internships for college/university and high school students. Interns are needed for different types of projects and assignments and for different durations of time. PF&R is currently seeking a college-level student enrolled in nursing or paramedic school to work as an intern in its Emergency Operations Division. Students enrolled in prerequisite classes for these programs will also be considered. 

Visit http://www.portlandonline.com/fire/internship for detailed information on the open position, application process, and requirements.

Don’t wait!  Applications will be accepted until October 24, 2011 at 4:30 pm.  

   Portland Fire & Rescue 

   We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

   October 10, 2011 

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Station 29 in SE Portland achieved the biggest savings percentage in FY 2010-11 by cleaning air filters on a monthly basis, limiting the use of heat-generating appliances such as the oven, dishwasher and clothes dryer during the daytime hours when temperatures are hottest, closing the blinds, and using fans.

In February 2009, Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) launched the station-based utility budgeting and incentive program to help reduce utility consumption and expenditures in the 30 fire stations strategically located throughout the city.

Under the program, six stations with the greatest percentage of savings qualify for a reward equal to 50% of their respective savings, up to $1,000. The winning stations may use the budget reward to purchase house items for their stations.

In Fiscal Year 2009-2010, Stations 4, 8, 13, 14, 28, and 29 achieved the biggest percentage of savings:

• Station 14, located at 1905 NE Killingsworth St - 12.1% savings
• Station 28, located at 5540 NE Sandy Blvd - 11.9% savings
• Station 29, located at 13310 SE Foster Rd - 11.1% savings
• Station 13, located at 926 NE Weidler - 11.1% savings
• Station 4, located at 511 SW College St - 9.3% savings
• Station 8, located at 7134 N. Maryland Ave - 9.2% savings

This year, the following four stations achieved the biggest savings percentages:

• Station 29, located at 13310 SE Foster Rd - 18.2% savings
• Station 14, located at 1905 NE Killingsworth St - 4.6% savings
• Station 16, located at 1715 SW Skyline - 0.8% savings
• Station 18, located temporarily to 9155 SW Barbur Blvd - 0.6% savings

Stations 1 and 31 were excluded from this year’s contest due to station remodeling and relocations.

Congratulations to firefighters at Station 14, 16, 18 and 29, especially Stations 14 and 29, for making the list two years in a row, and thanks to every station for a great effort in reducing PF&R’s utility spending and contributing to a healthier environment.

   Portland Fire & Rescue 

   We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

   October 10, 2011 

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On September 27, 2011, Portland Fire & Rescue's (PF&R) Hazardous Materials team from Fire Station 7 in SE Portland participated in a federal all-day drill in North Portland by the Willamette River. The focus was on one of the great concerns of the post-9/11 era: nuclear terrorism.

PF&R worked alongside other local, state, and federal agencies to test their ability to detect radiological materials and prevent an attack orchestrated by a fictional terror cell intent on targeting the City of Portland with a “dirty bomb.”

“The goal is to exercise our capacity to respond in the aftermath of a terrorist attack,” stated PF&R's Hazardous Materials Coordinator Grant Coffey (pictured above).

The exercise was supervised by an outside consultant and funded with federal grant monies.

   Portland Fire & Rescue 

   We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

   October 10, 2011 

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Oregon Fire Loss Clock

On average, in Oregon there is:

A fire every 50 minutes.

An outside fire every 2 hours.

A home structure fire every 3 hours.

A civilian injury every 35 hours.

A civilian fatality every 15 days.

More than $300,000 in fire-related property loss every day.

Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R), alongside the Oregon State Fire Marshal and other local fire agencies, is celebrating Fire Prevention Week beginning October 9^th.  Fire Prevention Week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,400 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres.

This year's theme, "Protect Your Family from Fire", highlights important information on how to easily protect your family from fire by planning ahead and integrating simple things into your everyday life.

Fire safety always begins at home, and Fire Prevention Week is a great time to start fire-safe habits,” noted Oregon State Fire Marshal Mark Wallace. “Last year, one out of every four structure fires was in a home with no smoke alarm or where a smoke alarm failed to operate. That’s why we continuously encourage residents to test and maintain their smoke alarms to be sure they are working properly. Families should also be sure to develop a home escape plan and practice it.”

In fact, just last year in Oregon, there were 2,733 fires in one- and two-family dwellings resulting in 16 deaths, 172 injuries, and more than $62 million in property loss.

Throughout the week, PF&R will provide recommendations and ways citizens can protect them and their loved ones from fire on PF&R’s Fire Blog, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. Topics will home fire sprinklers, escape planning, smoke alarms, and smoking materials. 

Stay tuned to the Fire Blog and stay safe!

   Portland Fire & Rescue 

   We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

   October 10, 2011 

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Click the video above to watch the Orange County Fire Authority in Irvine, California demonstrate the life- and

property-saving effectiveness of residential fire sprinklers.

Visit http://www.ocfa.org/ for further information.

Video uploaded with permission from Orange County Fire Authority.

Fires in the home pose one of the biggest threats to the people of our community. Over 350,000 home fires occur every year in this country and more than 2,500 people a year die in these home fires.

Home fire sprinklers are a proven way to

protect lives and property against fires at home.

These life-saving systems respond quickly and effectively to the presence of a nearby fire. When sprinklers are present, they save lives.

In fact, if you have a reported fire in your home, the risk of dying decreases by about 80 percent when sprinklers are present. And, people in homes with sprinklers are protected against significant property loss—sprinklers reduce the average property loss by 71 percent per fire.

Model safety codes now require the use of home fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family homes. These requirements offer the highest level of safety to protect the people of your community.

• Home sprinkler systems respond quickly to reduce the heat, flames, and smoke from a fire, giving families valuable time to get to safety.
• Roughly 90 percent of the time, just one sprinkler operates.
• Each individual sprinkler is designed and calibrated to go off when it senses a significant heat change.
• Only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, spraying water directly on the fire.

Portland Fire & Rescue cares about your health and safety and wants you to understand that an effective fire loss prevention and reduction measure for both life and property is the installation and maintenance of home fire sprinklers. Home fire sprinkler systems offer the optimum level of fire safety because they control the fire immediately in the room of origin, help limit the spread of fire, and often extinguish it before the firefighters arrive.

Learn more by visiting the Fire Sprinkler Initiative website (a project of the National Fire Protection Association) at http://www.firesprinklerinitiative.org.

   Portland Fire & Rescue 

   We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

   October 11, 2011 

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