Umatilla County fire leaders begin discussions

UMATILLA COUNTY – Most of the fire departments and districts in Umatilla County as well as community officials attended a meeting Wednesday to discuss more efficient ways to cover fire and ambulance services. Umatilla County Commissioner Dan Dorran was present and praised Emergency Manager Sage DeLong for bringing them together.

“Hats off to Sage,” he said. “Hats off to all of the attendees. That’s what a county really is here fore, to be able to convene these solution-oriented types of conversations.”

The communities that were represented included Milton-Freewater, Echo, Umatilla, Umatilla County Fire District No. 1 (serving Hermiston and Stanfield), Pendleton, Pilot Rock, Umatilla Tribal Emergency Management, Umatilla Tribal Fire Department, and East Umatilla Fire and Rescue.

The meeting focused on assessing the current state of emergency medical services and fire protection in the county. Those gathered suggested ways service delivery could be improved. DeLong reports that discussions centered on operational challenges, sharing of resources, and improving coordination among the agencies.

“This was an informational session, allowing leaders to evaluate the strengths and challenges of the current system while exploring ways to enhance service to the public,” DeLong said.

He added that those on hand will be taking the discussions back to their full boards of directors before working to determine the best path forward.

Topping the key challenges they face are recruitment and retention of personnel. Many fire and EMS agencies rely heavily on volunteers, but recruitment remains a growing challenge due to strict training requirements.

Other challenges that were discussed are coordinating responses to fires so that agencies can help support large-scale incidents while ensuring their communities remain protected; dealing with the growing number of emergency calls to both fire and EMS services; and the impact the fentanyl and opioid epidemic is having with a constantly growing increase in calls for medical responses.

“Some discussions included larger structural changes to fire and EMS service delivery, but no formal proposals were presented and this remains an exploratory conversation,” DeLong said. “The primary focus of this session was on assessing current challenges and exploring ways to strengthen cooperation between agencies.”

He said the next step will be a meeting of county fire chiefs to review key takeaways. That will be followed by a pre-fire season briefing with fire boards and chiefs.

“One thing that remains clear is that collaboration among agencies is stronger than ever,” DeLong said. “Large-scale incidents like the Pendleton Mill Fire, the Battle Mountain Complex, the Shearer’s Foods plant fire, Hat Rock Fires, and the Pilot rock fires have demonstrated the importance of regional cooperation. Fire and EMS agencies have a long history of working together under difficult conditions, and these discussions will only help ensure that collaboration remains strong in the future.”

MyCB file photo of Emergency Manager Sage DeLong

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