250+ firefighters are heading to Winter Fire School

SALEM – A total of 121 Oregon firefighting departments are sending crews to Winter Fire School this weekend at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem. The training event on Saturday and Sunday will include classroom work as well as hands-on training exercises that are designed to protect lives, property, and natural resources.

The school held every year is free. Eastern Oregon fire districts and departments that are participating include Boardman Fire Rescue District, Pendleton Fire and Ambulance, Union County Emergency Services, Burns Fire and Rescue, Ontario Fire Department, Enterprise Fire Department, Milton-Freewater Rural Fire and EMS, Nyssa Fire Department, Ontario Fire Department, Umatilla Rural Fire Protection District, and the Wallowa Fire Department.

Nine different National Fire Academy courses are included in the schedule. They include leadership and company operations, decision making at structure fires, the roles of safety officers at emergency responses, and wildland-urban interface operations.

Hands-on training will feature a vehicle extrication class led by the Dallas Fire & EMS Department. The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training will lead training sessions on forcible entry, hose handling and water map application, pumping station, and firefighter search and rescue. The Winter Fire School is held over the weekend to accommodate the schedules of the volunteers who comprise most of Oregon’s fire services.

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