Fire Safety Insights from Local Emergency Service Providers
By Garrett Christensen on Friday, September 2nd, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
UNION COUNTY — Fire season in Eastern Oregon isn’t winding down just yet. Though Union County has been fortunate to avoid a significant wildfire within the valley itself, the danger is as high as ever. To help offset the risk for both private and public lands, various members of Union County’s fire and emergency service agencies have provided insight into what residents can do to stay safe and what they can expect should an emergency occur.
A basic, but nonetheless critical, recommendation expressed by multiple fire chiefs was simply to adhere to local fire regulations and common fire safety practices, regardless of any individual, surface-level observations to current fire risk. As put bluntly by La Grande Rural Fire Protection District Chief Craig Kretschmer, a near two-decade veteran of the local fire services:
“I think a lot of people just do what they want and ask for forgiveness later. Follow the guidelines, follow the county burn ordinance and follow the Oregon Department of Forestry’s regulated use closures.”
Chief Emmitt Cornford of the La Grande Fire Department, a thirty-nine-year veteran of the agency, likewise remarked, “Most of the things that we were told in our grade school classes or field trips to the fire station still hold true.”
Some of their immediate recommendations include avoiding burning on windy days, ensuring burn barrels and incinerators are in good condition and have mesh screens, keeping dry grass and weeds under control and away from structures, avoiding small engine use (such as lawnmowers) in the heat and being aware that they can throw off sparks, and safely disposing of used matches and cigarettes. Chief Casey George, the City of Union fire chief, further recommends avoiding parking vehicles on or near dry grass when possible.
Long term defensive measures also play a key role in limiting the spread and potential damage of fires, particularly on more remote properties and in Wildland Urban Interface Areas (WUIA). Nick Vora, search and rescue coordinator for the Union County SAR (Search and Rescue) team, recommends clearing vegetation away from structures, ensuring properties have wide enough access and turn around space for emergency vehicles and checking that a property’s address marker clearly visible. As stated by Vora:
“If a home is set up to be defensible, it’s going to help us defend it. If a wildfire is coming and, for example, there are two homes to protect with only one fire engine, we are going to the one that we know we have the best chance of saving.”
It cannot be understated, however, that being familiar with, and adhering to, local, county, and state fire regulations are essential to preventing large scale tragedy during fire season. Understanding the immediate risks in one’s area is similarly crucial. For example, Kretschmer explained that WUIA areas are duel protected and receive oversite from both the Oregon Department of Forestry and local fire districts. However, confusion may arise due to different regulations in neighboring districts, such as property owners on the Western side of Mount Glen being able to use burn barrels at select hours while those on the opposite side are forbidden under ODF regulations. As further stated by Kretschmer:
“It’s more about knowing where you’re at and the regulations in your specific area. Down here in the middle of the valley its fairly green, the fields are getting cut, and if somebody starts a fire it’s probably going to affect them and their house rather than if they start one up on the urban interface and it gets into the timber, which could burn down the whole face of Mount Emily.
When a fire does get reported, responding crews will work quickly toward establishing command and control and take appropriate action from there. How crews handle each fire varies wildly depending on the type of risks involved. A more rigid or predetermined “must do this in this order” doctrine is not used according to Kretschmer, though EMS agencies do have standard operating guidelines that provide overall direction according to Cornford.
Collaboration and mutual support between agencies are also key. The La Grande Fire Department and the La Grande Rural Fire Protection District operate under a mutual aid agreement, being dispatch to many of the same calls simultaneously. The La Grande Fire Department also maintains aid agreements with all other county fire departments, allowing for easy sharing of resources such as the dispatching of La Grande’s advanced Life support Ambulance. “Our department works with all of the area fire and EMS agencies on a weekly if not daily basis,” noted Cornford.
If worst comes to worst, evacuation notices may be dispatched by Union County Search and Rescue or by the state’s OR-alerts system. OR-alerts are a two-part emergency information system distributed statewide and run by a separate contractor called Everbridge. Resident’s may opt in for non-critical messages (such as highway closures and non-emergency fire updates) while critical messages (such as evacuation notices) will be delivered to all residents via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPOS).
The evacuation notices themselves work on a three-tier system that can be summarized as:
- Level 1: Get packed and be ready to leave. SAR is concerned about a nearby emergency.
- Level 2: Get set to leave immediately. SAR may ask you to leave at a moment’s notice.
- Level 3: Go now. SAR is asking you to leave immediately for your own safety.
Note that SAR doesn’t have the authority to forcibly order someone to evacuate but can prevent them from returning once they have evacuated. Further, though it is preferable that alerts will be given out in an ascending order, the unpredictable nature of fires and other emergencies may mean that an evacuation notice could rapidly escalate from level one to level three. In some instances, an alert may not be officially issued but that is not indicative of there being no need to evacuate. To help speed up the process, Vora recommends outlining a personal emergency plan, including arrangements for where you can stay after leaving the area, who can take in livestock along with having any essential documents and prescriptions gathered and ready.
When preparing for or reacting to any emergency, simply being aware, informed and having some sort of plan in place can make all the difference. As union county enters the final calendar month of fire season, it’s important to take steps to mitigate risk and not make the jobs of EMS crews any harder than they have to be. As put best by Vora, “just help us help you.”
The Union County Fire Season Burn Ordinance can be found at 2018_Burn.pdf (union-county.org)
Additional Union county EMS Information can be found at Emergency Services – Union County (union-county.org)
Firewise construction and landscaping instructions can be found at FirewiseLandscapingandBuilding_Publication.pdf (union-county.org)
