C. Oregon firefighters help one of their own

A veteran Central Oregon firefighter and lookout for the Deschutes National Forest is still recovering after he sustained several injuries in an accident earlier this month.

Posters hang inside the Pole Creek Fire camp in support of Joey Hodgson.

Hodgson was on his way back from spending the night with his wife, another lookout stationed at Round Mountain, when he was involved in an accident.

Hodgson received injuries to his back, legs and fingers, and numerous scratches.

He’s out of the hospital and back at home, going through physical therapy.

But Hodgson doesn’t have insurance. Firefighters have raised more than $2,300 for him so far.

“It’s nice to see that some of these firefighters here on the Pole Creek were giving back to him a little bit to help him with some of his own bills,” Shannon Evans, who works with Hodgson, said Sunday. “Things like that that he needs help with.”

Hodgson also plays in a band called The Lookouts.

That band has held numerous benefit concerts including raising money for the Wildland Firefighters Association.

This year marked the 16th fire season Hodgson has served as a lookout for the Forest Service.

If you’d like to help, an account has been set up at U.S. Bank under his name.