Sisters-Camp Sherman FD hosting UK firefighters

Sisters Camp Sherman Fire District is hosting five firefighters from the United Kingdom for two weeks as part of an international firefighter exchange program.

The firefighters are from the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Fire Department, which provides fire protection to Hampshire, U.K. and the Isle of Wight.

Sisters Camp-Sherman Fire district is gladly hosting the firefighters while they are in the U.S. and will be integrating our visitors with local emergency responders during their stay.

In addition to working with local emergency responders, there are several tours and field trips planned to federal, state and local agencies. During their visit the U.K. Firefighters will also visit some of the larger fires burning in Oregon.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue personnel hope to learn more about how wildfires are managed in the United States using central Oregon as a model. While there are wildland fires in the U.K., they are not as common, or as large, as in the west.

Field trips and presentations will also focus on prevention and preparedness measures undertaken in Deschutes County and elsewhere in the United States.

Partners of Project Wildfire have coordinated and will host a field trip for our international visitors this Thursday August 27 th to discuss the high level of cooperation in fire response and preparedness in central Oregon. On August 27 th , the local partners that will be on hand to highlight the local collaboration are:

Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire

Bend Fire

Deschutes County Rural Fire Protection District #2 (DCRFPD#2)

Deschutes County

Project Wildfire

Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council (COIC)

Central Oregon Fire Management Service (COFMS)

Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF)

Deschutes County Emergency Management

US Forest Service

Brooks Resources

“On our local landscape we are fortunate to have all the interested partners invested long before we have a large wildfire,” Alison Green, Program Coordinator for Project Wildfire, explains. “Many of the local resources recognize that wildfire is a problem we can and need to solve together, even partners that are typically considered ‘non-traditional’.”

Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Chief Roger Johnson said, “This is a tremendous opportunity to share experiences and lessons learned with firefighters from another country. By hosting international firefighters, our personnel will have the opportunity to learn about programs and operations that may benefit our local residents as well.”

It is through sharing information and experiences with other fire professionals that we all will be able to better acknowledge our fire risk and take action on the appropriate levels to make central Oregon more fire adapted.

For more information on Fire Adapted Communities visit www.fireadapted.org. For information on how to prepare for fire season www.firefree.org or call the Project Wildfire office at 541-322-7129.