Hundreds of Oregon firefighters attend Winter Fire School

More than 300 career and volunteer firefighters from throughout the state were at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem this weekend for the state’s annual Winter Fire School.

This is the 15th annual Winter Fire School hosted by the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) at the Oregon Public Safety Academy 4190 Aumsville Highway in Salem.

This two-day event is the largest two-day fire training experience in the Pacific Northwest that is offered free of charge.

Eleven classes are offered by DPSST, the National Fire Academy, the Oregon Fire Chiefs Association, and the City of Dallas Fire & EMS Department.

Classes offered range from leadership topics such as Supervising Emergency Medical Services and New Fire Chief: Challenging Issues; to classes that focus on tactics; safety; to hands-on classes such as vehicle rescue, flammable liquids and gases, emergency vehicle operations and live fire training.

The event is held in a weekend setting because over 80 percent of the firefighters in Oregon are volunteers.

While many people are aware of DPSST’s law enforcement training programs, they may not realize that DPSST is also the state fire training organization for Oregon and provides hundreds of training opportunities to firefighters each year at the Academy and at regional locations statewide.

DPSST said it appreciates the red carpet hospitality that local businesses, and the community as a whole, roll out for the career and volunteer firefighters attending the weekend training opportunity.