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