I think you all should see this. I saw this post from Illinois Valley Fire Chief Dennis Hoke in response to a comment on a thread on a community forum page out in the IV. What he describes here is what every small rural volunteer department goes through in Oregon. ALL of them. They frequently act as first responders to wildland fire incidents on their districts because the threat to homes would be too great if they did not. As you will read, these small departments do not get paid from the state until they have been out on the fires for 12 hours. Prior to that, it is considered mutual aid time. Yet, most incidents will be less than 12 hours in duration. What I have long supported for the rural largely volunteer departments of this state is that they be placed into standing contractor status with the State of Oregon. This would be a very similar arrangement to what is done in California. This would then pay those departments for manpower and equipment from the time they respond. It also would help ODF get initial response on fires much quicker. I will be speaking to Representative Sal Esquivel about this. Dennis Hoke - Michele, on behalf of the Illinois Valley Fire District member’s thank you for the kind words. We were the first on scene and the crews rocked! We requested mutual aid from Rural Metro Fire, Grants Pass Fire, ODF, USFS and Task Force 2 from Jackson Co. This team performed with one objective, save the homes that were threatened. I need to clarify a couple of comments. IVFD is made up of 35 volunteers and four career fire staff. We are predominantly a volunteer organization. We receive no tax funding for responding to and fighting wildland fires. The agreement with ODF allows them to request our service (or any other fire agency in the area) for up to 12 hours and we receive no reimbursement. I am actively trying to change this at the state level. Our funding is based on the value of your home and the five acres surrounding your home. I have received numerous comments from the residents of Reeves Creek and Selma on how well the response went and thanking us for saving their homes. We could not have done this without the dedicated volunteers of IVFD and our mutual aid partners. Our dedicated volunteers give unselfishly of their time, fuel to get to the station and missed family events to protect the citizens of the Illinois Valley. They pull shifts, go to training every week and respond to emergency calls at all hours of the day and night. They receive no compensation. My plea is twofold, when you see one of our members, thank them for their service and we are currently seeking dedicated individuals to serve as firefighters with our fire district. There is no better calling than to help your neighbor. Interested, please contact us at 541-592-2225 or visit our Facebook or IVFire. Dennis Hoke Fire Chief Illinois Valley Fire District
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 01:34:17 +0000
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