FGF&R Interns recognized for helping injured high school football player

Forest Grove Intern Firefighters Jake Stone and Damian Peters were honored at the City Council Meeting this evening with the Unit Citation Award from Forest Grove Fire & Rescue for their actions during an emergency medical call at a November High School Football game. At the Council meeting Division Chief David Nemeyer and Mayor Pete Truax presented the two interns with ribbons that are worn on their uniform. Below is what Chief Nemeyer had to say about their recognition.

FGF&R Interns Jake Stone and Damian Peters wearing their commendation ribbons

On Friday November 5, 2010 Volunteer Firefighters Jake Stone and Damian Peters were performing a medical standby at a Forest Grove High School Varsity Football game. During the first half one of the Forest Grove players experienced a very hard helmet to helmet hit and was down on the field being tended to by team trainers when they signaled for Jake and Damian to come onto the field to assist.

When they reached the injured player, our crew found that the young man was complaining of severe neck pain. In front of hundreds in attendance at the game, Jake and Damian worked with the team trainers and family members and immediately began taking precautions to secure the injured player’s neck and spine from any unnecessary movement. They followed football injury protocols and placed the young man on a long back board and had him transported by ambulance to Tuality Hospital in Hillsboro.

While at the hospital an x ray revealed that the injured football player had fractured his C4 vertebrae, this bone is located near the top of his spine. If not treated appropriately, an injury of this magnitude has the potential for permanent nerve damage. In fact slight movements of only fractions of an inch can cause paralysis from the injury down if the spine is not immobilized properly. Jake and Damian had no way of knowing at the time that this was the exact injury that the player had suffered; yet they dealt with a difficult situation of conflicting opinions of the injury in a very public setting respectfully and tactfully with only the best interests of the injured player in mind. Because of their quick thinking and appropriate treatment a potentially life changing injury was discovered and a positive difference was made in the life of this young football player. Therefore we present Intern Firefighters Jake Stone and Damian Peters with the Unit Citation Award from Forest Grove Fire & Rescue.

Turn Around - Don't Drown

For those of you waiting for spring to get here we know it's a bit depressing, but northwest Oregon is still a few months away from sunny and warm weather, so for now we are all dealing with the heavy gray clouds and rainy weather. Around Forest Grove this liquid sunshine is creating havoc with our roadways and some of our most traveled routes are flooded and closed. Even though barricades are up in places and signs say "HIGH WATER" or "ROAD CLOSED" people still try and drive through these flooded areas and more often then not this causes a very dangerous situation to occur.

SW Fernhill Road is one of the most commonly flooded roads in Forest Grove

Most of us do not realize that as little as six inches of water can cause your car to actually float away. In places like where the Tualatin River floods SW Fernhill Road the river's current can actually be strong enough to not only float your car but push it downstream rather quickly. The same can be said for B Street where Gales Creek often floods over the popular route into Forest Grove from the south. For some types of cars, it takes even less water to flood your engine and cause it to stall. These are common situations that we deal with each year when people try and drive around these barricades and go through the flooded streets.

Firefighters practice using our rescue boat at Hagg Lake earlier today

Firefighters are out today training for these situations. At Hagg Lake we are working right now on training firefighters on safe boat operation, and later today we will be out in the flooded Fernhill Wetlands practicing in the dangerous current of the Tualatin River that has flooded over its' banks. Please help us so that we never have to put this training to use. If you come across a place where water is over the road carefully turn around and find another route. It may look shallow enough but it can be deceiving as the water can hide hazards like potholes and places where it has actually damaged the roadway making it hazardous to drive. In some places the roadway may actually not be visible and we have found people that crashed into the ditch when they lost track of where the road because of the water flowing over it. Please remember to turn around and don't drown when it comes to flooded roads in Washington County.

Are your numbers up?

We are in the middle of the winter season. Nights are longer now then they are all year and couple that with increased darkness from rain, fog, and other wintry weather and it can be quite difficult for us to see your address numbers. This inability to see your address quickly can delay our service to you and in an emergency where seconds really do count this could make a big difference in the outcome of the call. This is especially true in the rural areas where homes are sometimes located on longer driveways and are not always visible from the road.



So what can you do? It may sound cliche, but help us help you. Make sure that your address numbers are posted so that they are clearly visible from both directions of travel on the roadway to your home. Each number should be four inches tall and the colors need to contrast their background so that they stand out and can be easily seen. To some this can seem straight forward, but to others this task of where to put the numbers and get them up correctly can be quite daunting so we're here to help you. You can call 503.992.3240 and order a free address sign from us and our crews will even put it up for you and make sure that it is in the right spot. The signs come with white reflective numbers attached to a green reflective sign. All signs are 12 inches by 6 inches and are made out of aluminum so that they won't rust. For the rural residents that share driveways with other neighbors or agricultural or forestry roads we will even evaluate your sign needs to make sure that enough signs are in place to point us to your house.






These signs not only benefit emergency responders but they can help delivery drivers bringing everything from pizza to parcels, out of town guests, and others find your home more effectively. Again, these signs can be ordered for free by calling our Administration Office at 503.992.3240. Turnaround time from order to install is usually around three to four weeks.

Toy Drive helps over 1,000 local kids

Christmas was almost two weeks ago but firefighters are wrapping up their work and closing the book on Toy Drive 2010. Demand was high again as starting in October and as late as Christmas Day families came in record numbers to request assistance through out program. When it was all said and done approximately 170 families in Forest Grove, and 100 in Cornelius asked for assistance this year. All together over 1,000 children in the Forest Grove and Cornelius community were able to wake up on Christmas morning and receive a gift that they otherwise would not have been able to.

We did not accomplish this on our own however as local schools, businesses, civic groups, churches, and countless individuals helped our efforts. We would like to especially thank the following groups for their support of this year's project.

City Club of Forest Grove
Forest Grove United Church of Christ
Forest Grove Movie Theatre and Cornelius Cinemas
Stephanie Lommen Attorney at Law
John L. Scott Market Center
Forest Grove Chamber of Commerce
Forest Grove High School Staff and Students
Mrs. Schramm's Kindergarten Class at Gales Creek Elementary School
Mrs. Bond's Kindergarten Classes at Harvey Clarke Elementary School
Mrs. Vandehey's Kindergarten Classes at Harvey Clarke Elementary School
Forest Grove School District Administration Office Staff
Joseph Gale Elementary School Staff and Students
Summit Pointe Neighborhood Association
Cornelius Walmart
KGW News Channel 8
Stimson Lumber Employees
Forest Vila Apartment Residents
Forest Grove Les Schwab
City of Forest Grove employees
Cornelius Dutch Bros. Coffee

The "Toy Room" at Station 4 just before Christmas Week

All of these business and local groups put bins up and brought in donated items for us to get to the right families. The week before Christmas our firefighters started to sort through the massive pile of toys that had amassed in our Station 4 Conference Room organizing all of it and finally taking one afternoon to go through and find the perfect gift for an 8 year old boy or a 3 year old girl. With Christmas music playing in the background it took volunteers just over one hour to fill orders for 157 families, and the line began to form outside Station 4 as people came in to pick up their gift baskets. On December 26th Firefighters loaded up the small amount of items that were left over and put them in storage for families that need help throughout the year or to help at Christmas 2011.

Thank you Forest Grove and Cornelius for donating items and showing your generosity once again in 2010. We look forward to a day when this project is not needed in our community but we are so thankful that you are here to make it happen!