Extrication academy prepares new firefighters to respond to motor vehicle accidents

From March 23 to 24th a group of Forest Grove and Cornelius Firefighters spent the first weekend of "spring break" learning the essential skill of what we call "vehicle extrication" during our annual Extrication Academy.  For our volunteers the training doesn't stop once you finish your initial firefighter classes.  We provide opportunities throughout the year for them to increase their awareness of things like emergency medicine and more advanced rescue techniques, and last weekend they focused on the art of cutting cars.

With Oregon Highways 6, 8, and 47 bisecting our response area we naturally respond on a considerable amount of motor vehicle crashes, so it's essential that our responders are up to speed on the modern art of safely removing injured people who are trapped inside the crunched confines of their car.  Over the weekend we worked with a number of donated cars from local towing companies and wrecking yards at the City of Cornelius Public Works yard.  We crunched the cars, flipped them over, made them impact each other, and created other real life situations that our crews have experienced or expect to respond to on our rural highways or city streets.  Lead instructor, C Shift Paramedic, Ted Penge brings decades of vehicle extraction training and experience into what he calls "The Extrication Academy" where he puts some of our newest members through the paces of reviewing how vehicles are constructed, and a variety of methods that they can use to work safely to quickly remove an injured passenger or driver from their car.  Ted worked with about a dozen students from the two fire departments preparing them to not only work as individual crews, but work together to accomplish their objectives, and to get them ready for those unfortunate motor vehicle accidents that happen in our area. 

Familar Faces in New Roles at Forest Grove Fire & Rescue

Forest Grove Fire & Rescue is proud to announce that after receiving the second grant in six months from the FEMA SAFER program, staffing changes are underway at the Forest Grove Fire Station.  SAFER stands for Staffing For Adequate Fire & Emergency Response and is a grant program with the goal of enhancing the fire departments’ abilities to comply with staffing, response, and operational standards established by national guidelines.  This $263,360 federal grant that was awarded in December 2012, will allow the fire department to replace one Captain position that was lost in the City hiring freeze of 2009.

After a competitive process Fire Chief Michael Kinkade has promoted Chris Woodford to the rank of Captain to fill the requirements of this grant.  In 1992 Chris joined FGF&R as a volunteer, and in 1996 he became one of the first full time Paramedics for the agency.  Chris has been a shift Lieutenant with the organization since 2007, and his new position as Captain will move him into a daytime schedule role where he will be assigned to the Fire Prevention Division.  Having Chris on duty during the normal work day will not only allow for greater emergency response abilities during the daytime hours when our volunteer responses have become increasingly more difficult to maintain, but it will also enable Chris to work as the department’s only full time Fire Inspector (a position that was vacated in 2009) where he will be visiting businesses in an effort to prevent fires from occurring in the first place.  Chief Kinkade said this about the Fire Inspector promotion: “Chris has an extensive background as a business owner, carpenter, and contractor that make him a perfect fit for our Fire Inspector position, the fact that we will now also have an additional Paramedic on duty during the daytime hours that can fill any role needed on an fire engine is huge for our ability to respond to calls during the day.”

New Fire Inspector, Captain Chris Woodford

The trickle down of promoting Chris to Captain, opened up a shift Lieutenant position that will be immediately filled by Firefighter Tony Carter.  This promotion is a long time coming for Tony who began as a college student “sleeper” with our fire department after he graduated from Forest Grove High School in 1996.  Tony went to work for our department full time in 2005 according to Chief Kinkade “Tony is so well respected by our staff and volunteers, and he is the natural servant leader type that the modern fire service needs.  His mentoring ability and experience in fighting wildfires for the Oregon Department of Forestry are some of the countless things that Tony brings to the table to improve the leadership team at FGF&R.”

New C Shift Lieutenant Tony Carter

This $263,360 grant will fund one hundred percent of the wages and benefits for the Captain’s position for the next two years and will allow FGF&R to return to full staffing for the first time since 2009.  Combined with the four year volunteer recruitment position that was grant funded in the fall of 2012 there will be a total of one additional full time employee on staff compared to previous years, bringing the total line firefighter staffing of the department to 15 sworn firefighters divided between three 24 hour shifts, in addition to the two grant funded daytime positions.

FIREFIGHTERS CLIMB FOR A CURE

After months of strenuous workout routines, watching their diets, and many trips into Portland to practice on the stairs at the US Bank Corp Tower, the hard of our firefighters work paid off last weekend in Seattle.  On Sunday, March 10,  the efforts of teams of firefighters from Forest Grove and Cornelius culminated with the annual Scott Firefighter Stair Climb up the sixty-nine floors of stairs of downtown Seattle's Columbia Center and in the end all of the hard work was for a good cause.  In total over $20,000 was raised by the teams from Forest Grove and Cornelius that will go directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society which is the benefactor of this annual event billed as the largest firefighter competition in the world. 

The intimidating Columbia Center loomed over I-5 as the team entered Seattle

Team Results for the Forest Grove Team

Keith Baas  17 minutes 52 seconds finished 318th overall

Jay Edwards 20 minutes 8 seconds finished 607th overall

Robert Webb 21 minutes 17 seconds finished 748th overall

Ivan Bratchuk 21 minutes 18 seconds finished 750th overall

Will Murphy 27 minutes 4 seconds finished 1141st overall

Tony Carter 29 minutes 11 seconds finished 1218th overall

Emmett Middaugh 29 minutes 59 seconds finished 1243rd overall

Cassie Knierim 33 minutes 57 seconds finished 1325th overall

Nick Chan 34 minutes 35 seconds finished 1336th overall

The Stair Climb Teams from Forest Grove and Cornelius get ready to go to work

Team results for the Cornelius Team

Phil Duncan 15 minutes 46 seconds finished 115th overall

James Callahan 17 minutes 36 seconds finished 286th overall

Colin Scott 18 minutes 33 seconds finished 403rd overall 

Robert Conrath 19 minutes 25 seconds finished 511th overall

Michael Davis 19 minutes 52 seconds finished 570th overall

Mark Patterson 20 minutes 13 seconds finished 625th overall

Thomas Schilling 21 minutes 55 seconds finished 819th overall

Garth Culbertson 22 minutes 28 seconds finished 874th overall

Andrew Jensen 22 minutes 33 seconds finished 884th overall

Trevor Storms 25 minutes 5 seconds finished 1041st overall

Derek Cardelli 28 minutes 5 seconds finished 1180th overall

Jason Lawson 28 minutes 47 seconds finished 1202nd overall

Byron Steinke 33 minutes 37 seconds finished 1315th overall

Steve Black 34 minutes 48 seconds finished 1341st overall

Kevin Ritcheson 42 minutes 34 seconds finished 1416th overall

Cornelius Captain Steve Black's helmet with the photos to motivate him to climb

FGF&R Volunteer Jay Edwards was the first to start his climb up Columbia Center, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and much taller than anything in Forest Grove or Cornelius

Six year old girl becomes honorary firefighter

The fire department family at Forest Grove Fire & Rescue grew by one additional member Thursday afternoon as Fire Chief Michael Kinkade presented the badge of Honorary Firefighter to six year Faith Canfield in recognition of the her heroic fight against cancer. 

For the last few months as the firefighters from Forest Grove Fire & Rescue and the Cornelius Fire Department have been practicing for the upcoming Seattle Stair Climb competition they have been motivated to climb by a very special little girl. Six year old Faith Canfield found out just over a year ago that she had Leukemia, one of her friends is the daughter of longtime Forest Grove Volunteer Firefighter Nick Chan and he thought that little Faith would be the perfect motivator for the team of firefighters that have been raising money as part of the Scott Stairclimb, which takes place every March in Seattle and is a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  On a beautiful sunny Thursday afternoon in the fire truck bay of Fire Station 4 and surrounded by her family, friends, and firefighters from Forest Grove and Cornelius, Fire Chief Michael Kinkade talked to Faith about what it means to be a firefighter.  Speaking of the heroic fight she is putting up to rid her body of cancer for good, and how her name Faith alone is an inspiration and a motivator to those around her, including the firefighters that will be making the arduous climb on Sunday with her on their minds.  As the ceremony closed, Chief Kinkade presented young Faith with the silver firefighters badge and gently pinned it to her shirt.  

 
This coming Sunday, March 10, 2013, a group of twenty six Forest Grove and Cornelius firefighters will be putting on full firefighter combat gear and hooking up to their self contained breathing apparatus as they begin the climb up the 69 floors of the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle, Washington. Even though there isn’t a building in our two cities that is over four stories tall, we participate in this event, the largest firefighter competition in the world, to raise money and awareness for the fight against blood cancers. This year the team of firefighters raised over $11,900 that will go straight to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to fund research into finding a cure for these terrible diseases.  As they climb the stairs with burning legs and sweat pouring from their pores, when they think about quitting they will think about Faith and how her fight is much more difficult than anything they'll attempt and they will keep pushing to get to the top, to help beautiful little Faith keep up her fight.

You can help us raise money to fight this terrible disease.  Donations can be made here on our team page for the Seattle Stair Climb
 
 

 

Change Your Clocks Check Your Smoke Alarms

Daylight saving's time starts this Sunday at 2:00 am.  Over the years the fire service has done a great job of getting the message out that when you change your clocks you should also change the batteries in the smoke alarms that protect your home.  Oregon's a unique state though, where you may not necessarily need to change your batteries this weekend, and where even doing so could make your home less safe!

In 1998 the Oregon legislature passed a law that required all ionization type smoke alarms that receive their power from a battery to have a battery capable of lasting 10 years.  This meant that our old friend the 9 volt alkaline battery was being replaced by it's stronger cousin the lithium ion battery.  On the outside these batteries look the same, they are still that classic rectangle shape with the two round connections on one end, it's the inside of the battery where the chemicals that store the energy are located that there's a difference.  Science has shown that the lithium ion battery is capable of outlasting the alkaline powered batteries of yesterday.  

So what does all of this mean, and what exactly are you supposed to do when you go and change your clocks this weekend?  What we suggest is that when you change your clocks you check your smoke alarms.  You're probably asking, but check them for what?

• If the smoke alarm is ten years old, regardless of how it is powered, replace it!  Smoke alarms have about a ten year life span and after that you can expect more false alarms and less sensitivity to real smoke in the home.
  
•  If you have an ionization smoke alarm that is battery operated simply test it.  How do you tell if it is an ionization type?  There are two common types of smoke alarms in most all of our homes and the difference lies in how they detect the presence of smoke.  For years the ionization types were the most common ones found in stores but within the last ten years or so a new type called photoelectric smoke alarms have become readily available.  Both should be labeled either on the surface of the alarm or on a decal on the underside of the alarm. 
  
• If your smoke alarm is hardwired to the electrical circuits of your home simply replace the back up battery, a standard 9 volt alkaline battery meets the requirements of Oregon state law for back up power of hardwired smoke alarms. 
  
• If your smoke alarm battery says something like "long life lithium" or "ten year battery power" leave it in the alarm and do not replace it with an alkaline battery.  This will actually not only void the warranty of the smoke alarm, but it can give a false impression that the battery contained within is capable of lasting for ten years and may lead to not changing the battery in a timely manner in the future.  

When you test your smoke alarm it's also a good idea to get the entire family involved and practice a fire drill.  Now is the perfect time to sit down with the kids and prepare a home fire escape map.  Have the kids draw up a map of the floor plan and show two ways out of your bedrooms that lead to a meeting place.  Everyone should know that once you get to the meeting place you never go back into the home until it's safe to do so  Once you are done preparing your plan it's not good enough to just stick it to the refrigerator with a magnet, now you must practice your plan so everyone knows what to do.  We suggest that right before the kids would normally wake up that the parents test the smoke alarms so that the children can experience the sound of waking up to the smoke alarms and go through the motions of escaping a house when it's dark.  

As with all things, if you need help testing your smoke alarms or practicing a family fire escape drill we would gladly help you.  You can call our fire station anytime during normal business hours at 503-992-3240 and one of our firefighters can assist you in making your home as safe as it can be.  

A pair of sleeping grandparents, and their six year old grandson barely escaped as a smoke filled their mobile home Wednesday evening. When firefighters from Forest Grove Fire & Rescue arrived to the home at the Grove Mobile Home Park, there was already dark grey smoke pumping from the windows and roof of the double wide mobile home. Fire crews quickly went to work, crawling into the front room of the mobile home and extinguishing the fire they found burning on a bunk bed. Within a matter of minutes the fire was brought under control with no injuries to residents or firefighters.

During the investigation into the cause of the fire, the grandson admitted that he had found a pack of matches in the home while his grandparents slept and he had crawled onto the top bunk and began to light the matches, dropping one onto his mattress. The young boy told investigators that the fire began to grow at which time he woke up his grandparents and they all escaped safely. Unfortunately three of the family cats,
and a number of pet birds did not survive the fire; one cat remains missing at this time. The home and it’s contents are considered a total loss, and the local Red Cross Chapter is working to provide assistance to the family during this difficult time.

This is the second fire in less then a month in the Grove Mobile Home Park, located at 3831 Pacific Avenue in the east part of Forest Grove. In both incidents firefighters found the homes to be without working smoke alarms. Working smoke alarms have been proven countless times to save lives, and the changing of the clocks this weekend is the perfect reminder to make sure your smoke alarms work and are less then 10 years old. When your testing your smoke alarms it’s also the perfect time to conduct a family fire drill. Firefighters also urge parents to secure their matches and lighters away from children, and if you fear that your children are involved with misusing fire please contact their local fire department about juvenile fire setter intervention programs. The Oregon Fire Service is recognized nationwide as a leader in youth fire setting prevention programs, and many departments have effective tools to make sure this dangerous behavior does not cause an incident like tonight's.

The Passing Of Retired Fire Chief Robert Davis

It is with great sorrow that Forest Grove Fire & Rescue announces the death of retired Fire Chief Bob Davis. Surrounded by his family, Chief Davis passed away peacefully at his home in rural Forest Grove on the morning of March 1, 2013 after a fight with lung cancer, he was 75. Born on July 29, 1937, Chief Davis came to Forest Grove from California in 1978 after a fire service career that took him from the United States Air Force to the City of Davis, California Fire Department.  Between 1978 and his retirement from Forest Grove Fire & Rescue in 2004 he was instrumental in establishing a stable funding source for fire department capital projects such as apparatus and buildings. He led two large fire department construction projects, building a new fire station in Gales Creek in 1981 as well as replacing the fire station in Forest Grove that was damaged by the 1993 Scotts Mills Earthquake. Towards the end of his career, Chief Davis was also the city’s dedicated construction supervisor for both the City of Forest Grove Library and Community Auditorium buildings. After his retirement in 2004 Bob continued to serve the citizens of Forest Grove by serving as an elected director of the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District, and in the most recent years he was active as a delivery driver for the local “meals on wheels” program for seniors in our community. Forest Grove Mayor Peter Truax had this to say about the passing of Chief Davis: “Bob Davis' contribution to the safety of the citizens in and around Forest Grove cannot and should not be minimized. He served the City of Forest Grove as Chief of a first class fire department, and, after his retirement, served as an elected official on the Rural Fire Protection District’s Board of Directors. His sense of service was second to none. His influence is still being felt throughout the fire and rescue community. He will be missed”.

Though many of the firefighters in Forest Grove have changed since his retirement in 2004, those who worked under Chief Davis will always remember him as a strong Fire Chief that fought during the tough economic times of the 1980s to keep full time professional firefighters on duty in Forest Grove. He led the department during the time when the Forest Grove Fire Department became Forest Grove Fire & Rescue and was dedicated to the implementation of Paramedics and emergency medical response in our area. Chief Davis was also a strong advocate for fire prevention and safety programs and helped bring programs like elementary school fire safety education in the 1980s, and creating the city’s first Fire Inspector position in 1996.

An all staff photo from the late 1990s shows Chief Davis standing on the right side of the middle row

A public memorial will be held at the Forest Grove Fire Station this coming Saturday (March 9) at 1:00 pm.