Meet your Firefighters: Jay Edwards joined our full time staff on January 27, and recently completed his initial training and has received his first assignment to our C Shift. We were honored to hire the 34 year old husband and father straight out of our volunteer program, where he has been involved with us since 2010. the native of California, Jay and his wife Tereza now live with their daughter Callie in South East Portland, but he came to Oregon after falling in love with the beauty of our state during a visit with friends. Jay's taken advantage of the Oregon scene, and now enjoys camping and hiking, and all things outdoors here in the Pacific Northwest; last year he competed in his first marathon in the annual Portland Marathon where he proudly finished the 26.2 miles. For the last three years Jay has also competed in the Seattle and Portland Stairclimb teams here with us, completing the grueling climbs in full firefighter gear to raise money for medical research. When Jay found out he was going to be a dad he thought it was best to prepare for anything that could happen to his young family, so he went to look for a CPR class. During this search he decided to just take a full emergency medical technician class instead, and during a ride along to complete his coursework, he ran a call with a fire department and instantly knew that this was a career for him. Family is extremely important to Jay, and he appreciates all that his parents and sister in California did to inspire him. He remains close with his immediate family, and considers them a big part of his life.
The graduate of Northern Arizona University, once aspired to be a professional journalist with his communications degree, and he has traveled Europe on a train with nothing more than a back pack. He's a wonderful addition to our crew, and brings a diverse background and life experiences to the team. We are happy to have you working alongside of us Jay Edwards, welcome aboard!
