La Pine RFPD trains recruit firefighters

On August 10th La Pine Firefighters welcomed six new student and two reserve firefighters starting the 2012 Firefighter I Academy.

The intensive academy consist of 35 full days with 280 hours of class room, practical skill and exercise scenarios for basic firefighting and rescue which will be completed Sunday September 16th.

After hours, the firefighters have homework and physical fitness requirements to complete each day.

Firefighters will receive their State of Oregon FF I certification upon successful completion as well as completing basic wildland firefighting, CPR, and mandatory OSHA safety certifications.

The new student firefighters are Cris Berthelsen, Grant Caudel, Brandon Hargous, Travis Harrison , Jacob Potter and Nathan Rintala. Joining them are new reserve firefighters Matt Allison and Keli Janosek.

This school year, the La Pine Student Firefighter Scholarship Program has grown to 12 students who attend fire science, ems and/or paramedic programs at Central Oregon Community College in Bend and are assigned to one of the district’s three fire stations. They are joined by 8 Reserve Firefighters, and 8 Fire Corps Support Team Members.

The fire service nationwide has struggled with volunteer/reserve programs over the recent couple of decades.

Neighbors just showing up to try and help out neighbors isn’t the norm anymore. Mandatory training and physical fitness requirements before any participation, the technical skill, competence, and outcomes demanded by the public, along with higher call volume and the demands of working families have changed the ability to volunteer services 24/7 at a moment’s notice.

The resurgence of the La Pine reserve program is linked to the unwavering support and efforts of the La Pine Fire career staff, the senior students and reserves along with program coordinators Captain Mark Pautz and Engineer Chris Jones and the direct support from the District’s Board of Directors and the community.

Meanwhile, LaPine firefighters are the beneficiaries of a new fire rescue training prop designed and built by Advanced Northwest Welding of Bend.

The prop is used to provide firefighters practice on opening difficult and high security doors that may be found during emergencies in commercial or residential properties.

The project was coordinated by LaPine Fire Medic Matt Ryan and Advanced Northwest Welding owner Jack Saarinen.

After learning about the training need, the Advanced Northwest Welding team developed the prototype prop and donated it to the LaPine firefighters. The Habitat for Humanity Restore provided the various interchangeable used doors.

Designing and building fire rescue training props is nothing new for the Saarinen family. Jack’s father is a retired Tualatin Valley firefighter and had worked on developing many training projects during his career.

The La Pine 2012 Recruit Firefighter Academy was the first to use the prop. It provided several breaching scenarios that firefighters had to first use hand tools and then power tool to overcome.