Pendleton Fire & Ambulance begins the Community Risk Reduction Division
By Terry Murry on Thursday, November 14th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – Pendleton Fire & Ambulance Assistant Chief and Fire Marshal Valorie Tomren is beginning a new program within the department. The Community Risk Reduction Division will handle hazard prevention, inspections, public education, and community outreach. Tomren said that city codes did not spring from a desire to create more red tape.
“All codes – fire and building – are basically written in blood,” she said. “Codes happened because some disaster happened somewhere and a lot of people lost their lives.”
Tomren and Fire Chief Tony Pierotti say they are starting to get the word out to people. Tomren is talking to people who are already in the system who need help finding resources to solve problems rather than having them call 911 when their problem doesn’t truly constitute an emergency. They plan to spread the word further through social media.
“I would like to get out there with town halls,” Pierotti said. “I imagine people are going to have questions about this. Another thing we’re looking at is grant funding. I’d love to get a community medic in here to help Val with this program.”
Pierotti said the calls to emergency dispatch have dramatically increased in the four years he’s been on board, and some of those calls could be better responded to by the new division rather than being ranked an immediate emergency.
“I think society in general uses 911 as a catch-all for anything they need, whether it’s ‘my plumbing’s leaking,’ ‘I forgot my medication,’ ‘My tooth hurts.’ The social services end of it is what’s increased.”
The chief said that every call to emergency dispatch requires Pendleton Fire & Ambulance to respond. He and Tomren believe that with more outreach, people can be made aware of what constitutes an emergency and what other services are available to solve problems.
