Honor Guard members Stew White, Jason Hodges, Erick Gillmore, and Chris Bernard from Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) and AMR Ambulance personnel stood in front of 16,118 fans to present the colors at Monday’s Portland Timber soccer preseason game. 

The game finished in a 1-1 draw against San Joseat Jeld-Win Field.  The Timbers remained undefeated in preseason play.

Learn More about Portland Fire’s Honor Guard
Portland Fire & Rescue’s Honor Guard was formed to bring honor and respect to PF&R, its members and their families by providing formal ceremonial representation at funeral services for retired, active, and line of duty deaths within PF&R. In addition, the Honor Guard supports other fire and police agency line of duty death funerals at the PF&R’s directive. The Honor Guard also performs duties posting colors at civic and public events such as ceremonies, sporting events, parades and memorials as deemed appropriate by PF&R’s Emergency Operations Division Chief.

  Portland Fire & Rescue 

  We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

  March 1, 2012 

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Members of the PFHC

The Portland Firefighters Hockey Club (PFHC), formed in July 2004, has competed in multiple tournaments, winning one championship in June 2005 and raising and contributing money to the National Childhood Cancer Foundation, ALS foundation, Oregon Burn Foundation, MDA, and other local charities.

On January 26, 2012, Portland Firefighters competed in the APEX Mountain Firefighters Hockey tournament and came away with gold! The tournament was an outdoor hockey tournament for firefighter teams and was played in British Columbia. It was a great weekend and the team had a great showing.

Learn more about PFHC at http://www.portlandfirefightershockey.com/.

  Portland Fire & Rescue 

  We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

  March 1, 2012 

HAZMAT 7 and Recon 7 apparatus are housed at Station 7. HAZMAT 7 is a dedicated response vehicle set up with several specialty systems to monitor and mitigate hazardous materials accidents. Recon 7 is set up to transport personnel, and carries bulky materials such as absorbents and over pack drums.

Portland Fire & Rescue had a strong presence at this year’s 2012 Oregon HAZMAT Response Teams Conference. 

Held February 22^nd through the 24^th in Sunriver,Oregon, the conference brought together members of HAZMAT Teams from across the state to network, participate in training classes, and learn about the latest in technology for HAZMAT response teams.

Firefighters at Portland Fire & Rescue’s (PF&R) Station 7 (Mill Park) are members of the “State Hazardous Materials Response Team 7”.  There are 13 response teams strategically located in Oregon that provide response to hazardous materials incidents. The firefighters have received specialized training in the prevention and mitigation of incidents involving hazardous materials and provide this service in addition to their usual firefighting duties. Learn more about the State HAZMAT teams here. 

Station 7 members attending the conference for training purposes included Captain Dave Davies, Lieutenant Jeff Ripley, Firefighters Isaac Mclennan, Tim Gilbert, Ryan Klosterman, Scott Rupp, and Mark Tilden. PF&R’s Training, Safety & EMS Division also sent Captain Kyle Wochnick and Training Lieutenant’s Chris Barney, Ryan Rossing, Jim Sestric, and Corey Wilson to attend class for a day.

PF&R’s HAZMAT Coordinator Grant Coffey, Lieutenant Shon Christensen, and Firefighter Dusty Miller served as instructors at the conference.

Training class topics included rail road emergencies, homemade explosives, chemical suicide, radiation monitoring, sampling, level A suits, and air monitoring.

Firefighters from Station 7 respond to a HAZMAT Level 2 emergency incident in North Portland in January 2012

This was the first year HAZMAT Team 7 entered the Level A Olympics and won. The Level A Olympics is a two-person team competing in events in Level A suits. HAZMAT Team 7’s team name was “The Smurfs” with and included Firefighter Isaac Mclennan and Lieutenant Shon Christensen. There were five events that had to be completed in a minute or less. 12 teams from all over the State competed with Isaac and Shon who finished with the highest score of 40 points.

Members of HazMat 7 Portland stand with State Fire Marshal Mark Wallace (far right) and Emergency Response Program Manager Mariana Ruiz-Temple (far left) with their award for Call of the Year

HAZMAT Team 7 was also awarded “HAZMAT Call of the Year” for the Precision Cast Parts incident. The call of the year award was selected by the State Fire Marshall’s Office staff.

  Portland Fire & Rescue 

  We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

  March 1, 2012 

On Friday, March 2, 2011, Portland Fire & Rescue's Lieutenant Mike and Firefighters Josh, Robert, and Cody from Station 18 C-shift helped celebrate "Read Across America" by visiting and reading books with kindergarten students at Maplewood Elementary School. Maplewood Elementary School is part of the Portland Public School system, is located in SW Portland, and is known for its emphasis on a well-rounded education for all students.

Read Across America is a program launched by the National Education Association to focus on the importance of reading with children. Over 45 million readers across America took part in reading celebrations today meant to promote reading in children and celebrate one of the greats in children's literature, Dr. Seuss.

Students sat quietly and respectfully listened to the firefighters read their favorite books.  Afterwards, the firefighters answered student’s questions about what it is like being a firefighter, gave a short fire safety talk, and took students out to the schoolyard for a tour of Engine 18.

More About Station 18

Portland Fire & Rescue’s (PF&R) Station 18 has been serving far southwest Portland and Multnomah Village for over 60 years.  The station has been located at 8720 SW 30th Avenue since 1961. Station 18 is a proud part of the rich history of the City of Portland and PF&R. In 1913, Engine 18 was the first gasoline-powered PF&R fire engine.

Today, Engine 18 is a 1991 Western States pumper with a 500 gallon booster tank and a 1500 GPM pump.  The engine and crew is often summoned to Interstate 5 and the Terwilliger curves, and is specifically equipped with foam to fight vehicle fires.  Station 18’s firefighters are trained in vehicle extrication and carry Jaws of Life rescue tool on the engine. Engine 18 also serves as part of PF&R’s Wildland Strike Team, responding to several Oregon wildland incidents in the recent years. Also housed alongside Engine 18 at Station 18 is Heavy Squad 18 and Brush Unit 18.

The future for Station 18 is exciting. To meet the demands of the growing city, Station 18 was relocated to a vacant garden center on SW Barbur Blvd. This temporary move will allow for the station to be seismically upgraded and remodeled with the use of General Obligation bond money. Improvements will include again, a seismic upgrade to bring the station up to current safety standards, as well as a remodeled interior and bay expansion to provide additional space for fire operations.

The interum Station 18 is located within blocks of the original station and emergency response times will not be affected. All structural modifications will maintain the integrity of the building's historical character. The estimated completion date for the remodel is March 2012.

  Portland Fire & Rescue 

  We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

  March 2, 2012 

Beginning in 1995, the City of Portland’s City Council has convened annually to publically acknowledge front line City workers and Bureau safety efforts. On February 8th, 2012, Certificates of Recognition were given to individual employees and groups who had been nominated to receive awards for achievements in the safety and health arena during 2011.

In City Council chambers, Mayor Sam Adams and Commissioners presented awards to recipients within their respective bureaus, while reading the nominee’s accomplishments.

Portland Fire & Rescue received two awards during the ceremony.

Commissioner Fitz & Firefighter Fraijo

Portland Firefighter Jeremy Fraijo was honored with the “Top Safe Driver Award.” Commissioner Fitz thanked Fraijo for piloting a new aerial platform that larger and much more challenging to operate than equipment previously in use.  

Commissioner Fitz & Safety Chief Todd Keathley

Safety Chief Todd Keathley accepted an award on Portland Fire’s behalf for achieving a significant reduction in losses during the fiscal year 2011 against an average of the previous three fiscal years.  Losses where recognized in the following categories of risk exposure:

General Liability........................losses reduced 45%

Fleet Liability.............................losses reduced 24 %

Workers’ Compensation............losses reduced 45%

Click here to see the other awards presented to recipients on Safety Recognition Day. Congrat's to all recipients!

  Portland Fire & Rescue 

  We Respond: Always Ready, Always There

  March 2, 2012