Welcome to our new fire blog.
Our purpose for this endeavour is to help our community learn more about our Fire Department and with that to increase the fire and life safety of Forest Grove. We are not the first fire department to find this method valuable, but we are always looking for new ways to get our message out. We hope that in time you will come back frequently and check our blog for updates on the happenings of the firefighters at Forest Grove Fire & Rescue.
Our first post will be an introduction of sorts, a get to know us post about some of the things you may not be aware of.
On February 4, 1894 the Fire Department of the City of Forest Grove was officially organized. There have been countless emergencies and firefighters between then and now, but what hasn't changed is that we still remain a community based fire and rescue agency. We are what is called a combination fire department, meaning that even though we have a small force of full time paid firefighters we work closely with around 40 dedicated volunteer firefighters. Though, not all of our employees and volunteers live in Forest Grove a large portion do. Many of these individuals have long standing family ties to this area, and bring with them a history of civil service.
Engine 421 is our newest fire apparatus, though the fire engines have changed our commitment to serving the city and rural residents of the Forest Grove community has never changed.
We operate out of two fire stations, our headquarters station (Station #4) is @ 1919 Ash Street in the heart of historic downtown Forest Grove. Station 4 is where the five firefighters that are assigned to each of our three shifts work as well as the admin staff and a bulk of our volunteers. Our second station (Station #7) is located in the beautiful rural community of Gales Creek approximately 8 miles west of the city of Forest Grove. Station 7 is an all volunteer station where in the event that an emergency occurs in that response area volunteer firefighters are notified by pager to report to the fire station and respond as needed to the call.
Some statistics about Forest Grove Fire & Rescue:
Service Area: 85 square miles
Population Served: 29,495
Total calls for service in 2009: 2,505 emergency and non emergency calls
Keep checking back. If you use Facebook and Twitter you can find us there too.
Wow! 1894...lived here all my life & still learned a couple of things. Thanks. Phil & Kay Nell Miller
ReplyDeleteYou guys are leading the way for The City of Forest Grove in e-communication. Very impressive!
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of the department especially after my 2-year-old daughter got stuck in the pre-school chair and you guys cut her out of it. I'll have her thank you, personally, later...
Your willingness to work hard to be in touch with the residents -- both in person and in cyberspace -- is really admirable. Keep up the great work..
Jonathan Kipp
Thanks Phil & Kay, and Jonathan too. Our goal here is exactly as you said it Jonathan, to keep in touch with our neighbors. We want people to drive by 19th Avenue and Ash Street or see one of our firefighters either on duty or off and have them feel that we are a positive part of Forest Grove. Even though we are a bit late to the blogging party, the tools of E communication just seemed like a great way of getting our story out there.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jonathan, we're glad we could help with your emergency. We take very seriously the responsibility that you trust us with to invite us (strangers) into your home to help you when problems couldn't be solved otherwise. Hopefully through this new communication campaign we wont be strangers to the community much longer.