The official pinning of Wildland Division Chief Christian Whitfield was the primary focus of the monthly fire board meeting, Aug. 20.
Chief Nick Tyler was not present for the official swearing in of Whitfield, nor was his father, Randy Whitfield. Both of them requested it to be done during this meeting. Unfortunately, Randy wasn’t present for this as he was at a motor vehicle collision call.
Christian was pinned by his daughter as the board and district personnel watched. During his pinning, Tyler commented on Christian’s work turning a $440,000 grant into a 1.9 million dollar National Forest Service contract.
Whitfield gave an update about the division; according to him, he’s 2-3 weeks into the testing process for joining the wildland division and the district has received 32 different applications ranging over seven different jobs.
“I was very impressed with the number of applicants,” Tyler said. “I was not expecting that, especially as late into the fire season as we tried to launch this. The excitement around this program has brought a lot of interest to a lot of people.”
Whitfield has chosen to not hire a person for every job with the assumption that there will be a larger candidate pool from January to May; he said this would be the best opportunity to get the best employees into those positions. Whitfield was also able to receive a map of the predicted work from the National Forest Service and presented it to the board.
A new chipper, which is anticipated to arrive by Oct. 1, was considered one of the bonded items granted with the passage of the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance General Obligation Bond 22-203.
Whitfield and Josh Starha both took a trip to Boston to research the new chipper, which would be able to run 24” pine. This chipper is not the traditional hot feeder, it requires loading, then stepping back before starting it, ensuring safety among whoever is using it.
Whitfield discussed the purchasing of the vehicles that will be used for the wildland division. The anticipated state-bid vehicles, voted and passed by the board, are four 2023 4×4 Ford F-350’s costing $61,000. Originally there were only supposed to be three, but Tyler made a request to the board for a fourth.
“I like the idea of having three that are going [out] working, and the fourth to rotate those vehicles through,” Tyler explained.
The money used on these vehicles will be from the Wildland Division Fund and are expected to make their way into the public eye within 90 days. These vehicles will also be specially branded to the Wildland Division.
In other business:
- Tyler presented to the board call volumes using a new tracking system. The board reviewed the call volumes over the Oregon Jamboree weekend. Tyler stated this year’s jamboree calls followed the usual call volume for the day and attributed this to the multi-agency preventative measures. Transportation and wall time were also discussed.
- SHFAD recently received the Assistance to FireFighters Grant (AFG). This is $180,000 awarded to help with handheld radios. Receiving this was passed unanimously.
“That just puts our bond at $180,000 stronger,” Tyler said.
- Battalion Chief Shannon Pettner was recognized for her hard work in the district receiving grants. According to district documentation, Pettner has helped the district receive over 4.8 million dollars.
“If you’ve never been involved in writing grants, getting grants approved, tracking grants, doing the whole process; you have no idea how time consuming,” board member Charlene Adams said. “This is very impressive. [Pettner] can’t be thanked enough.”
- Discussion was held for a surplus of a 1995 Mako Air Compressor. The board unanimously approved the surplus of this compressor.
- Webster Bank National Association in Connecticut is looking to buy the general obligation bond. Tyler should get the signed documents by Aug. 27 and sign and close by Sept. 5.
- Julie Maynard, Assistant to the Chief, mentioned having $161,000 collected in ambulance revenue; which is a “high month”
- SHFAD were contacted by a law office in Eugene. This law firm saw a KEZI story about the district not receiving life jackets. This undisclosed law firm purchased $500 worth of life jackets. Private citizens also brought in used life jackets to help curb this problem.
- Training hours were as follows: 15 hours of online training, 106 hours of drills, 24 hours of outside training, 86.5 hours of on-shift training, and 40 hours of fire corp training.
- Josh Bondsen spoke about an EMT class in Sweet Home, and updated the board about it. It’s set to begin Sept. 23.
- Board members requested an update about Alyrica. Tyler assured it is in process and still moving forward.
SHFAD Statistics
The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District (SHFAD) recently provided The New Era with call statistics for the month of July. Those stats are listed below:
25% of these incidents were fire calls, with the other 75% being emergency medical service calls. SHFAD saw 318 incidents from July 1 to July 31.
- Two of these calls were classified as fire or other.
- Three of these calls were classified as structure fires.
- One of these calls was classified as a mobile property (vehicle) fire.
- One of these calls was classified as a natural vegetation fire.
- One of these calls was classified as an outside rubbish fire.
- One of these calls was classified as a special outside fire.
- 236 of these calls were classified as emergency medical service incidents.
- One of these calls was classified as rescue or emergency medical service standby.
- Five of these calls were classified as electrical wiring/equipment problems.
- 25 of these calls were classified as public service assistance.
- Two of these calls were classified as unauthorized burnings.
- Two of these calls were classified as cover assignments, standby at fire station or move-ups.
- Two of these calls were classified as good intent calls, other.
- 13 of these calls were classified as dispatched and canceled en route.
- Two of these calls were classified as wrong location, no emergencies found.
- Three of these calls were classified as steam, other gas mistaken for smoke.
- Four of these calls were classified as false alarm and false call, others.
- One of these calls was classified as system or detector malfunction
- Seven of these calls were classified as unintentional system/detection operations (no fire).
- Six of these calls were classified as citizen complaints.