Internship grant helps Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue strengthen community outreach

(Update: adding comments from intern, fire chief)

CROOKED RIVER RANCH, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A grant is helping Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue complete work that Chief Sean Hartley says can be difficult for a small district to fit between emergency calls: maintaining a consistent connection with the community.

The district received a $3,000 matching grant through the Special Districts Association of Oregon’s Internship Grant Program. Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue contributed another $3,000 and hired Maria Bartness as its marketing and communications intern.

“A lot of what we do, prevention-wise, is communicating with the public before an emergency,” Hartley said. “Having someone that we can dedicate to that, through the internship grant that we got through the Special Districts Association of Oregon, has been a huge help for us getting information out to the public.”

Bartness earned her Bachelor of Arts in public relations in June. She said she first learned about the internship through a posting she saw on KTVZ News.

“I was looking for marketing, social media, and communications opportunities, whether that was a full-time job, part-time, or an internship,” Bartness said. “When this came across my phone, I thought it was right up my alley.”

Her responsibilities include creating social media posts, brochures and flyers, interviewing firefighters and volunteers, and attending board meetings, Community Emergency Response Team meetings, and training drills.

She has also accompanied crews responding to incidents, including a vehicle fire and a lightning strike.

“Every day, it honestly kind of changes, and that’s the nice thing and the exciting thing about it,” Bartness said. “It’s definitely exciting. Never a dull day here.”

Bartness said working inside a fire district has allowed her to apply her education in circumstances that cannot be recreated in a classroom.

“Because it is the fire service, it’s definitely hands-on experience,” she said. “Being able to go on calls and actually really be a part of the team and see the behind-the-scenes—you’re not really able to do that in a classroom setting.”

SDAO says its internship grants are intended to support defined projects rather than routine maintenance or normal staffing. Member districts may receive up to $3,000 and must cover at least half of the project’s total cost.

Previous grants have supported projects across several types of Oregon special districts. Recipients in 2025 included interns working on habitat assessment for Bend Park and Recreation District, website redevelopment for Crescent Rural Fire Protection District, defensible-space coordination for McKenzie Fire & Rescue, and rural address markers for Junction City Rural Fire Protection District.

Hartley said grants like this allow smaller agencies to move forward with projects that may otherwise remain on a wish list.

“We may not have a person or the time to complete them because of our day-to-day operational duties,” Hartley said. “Having someone that we can dedicate to that, that doesn’t have to jump on a fire engine and go fight fires or get on the ambulance and go to medical calls, is really beneficial.”

Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue was established in 1977 and was initially staffed entirely by volunteers. It has since become a combination department with both career and volunteer personnel providing fire, rescue, and emergency medical services.

The district’s website lists a career staff consisting of the chief, three captain-paramedics, three firefighter-paramedics, and an administrative assistant. It also relies on volunteer firefighters and operates a student volunteer program.

Hartley said part of Bartness’s work is helping residents understand that staffing structure while highlighting opportunities to serve.

“The social media engagement has gone through the roof, which has been amazing,” Hartley said. “I think it’s helped educate the community about how we’re staffed, because despite being in a fairly big station with lots of apparatus, we do rely heavily on volunteers.”

Bartness is also developing a year-round calendar of prepared content covering topics such as wildfire prevention, winter hazards, volunteer recruitment, and other seasonal safety concerns. Hartley said that will allow the district to share timely information without creating every message from scratch as an issue arises.

For Bartness, the internship has also provided an introduction to local government and the financial challenges facing smaller public agencies.

“The biggest thing that I’ve learned about local governments and the fire district is definitely the funding aspect of it,” she said. “I didn’t realize how much funding goes into it and how much funding they need.”

Bartness said entering the fire service environment initially felt intimidating, but the experience has made her more confident while strengthening her interviewing, writing, and content-creation skills.

“After my first day, everyone here was so welcoming, and I’ve definitely grown,” she said. “I’ve made a lot of friends with everybody who works here, so it’s been a great environment.”

Information about volunteering and future openings is available through the Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue website and its Facebook and Instagram pages.