Hillsboro Home Goes Up in Smoke For Training

Hillsboro Fire & Rescue made good use of a donated century-old house on SE 18th Avenue on Sunday to train our firefighters.  The "burn-to-learn" training session involved setting a fire in a room and allowing it to reach a certain size before sending in rookie firefighters and volunteers inside for some hands-on experience with live fire in a controlled setting.  They rotated through the homes many rooms to ensure the maximum usage of the structure.

Prior to the exercise, fire trainers had ensured any asbestos, water tanks or other hazardous items had been removed.  The training staff prepared a training action plan that included not only the rotation of firefighters through each task, but also contingency plans for interrupted water supply, equipment failure or an on-scene injury. 

In this photo, you can see the Safety Officer monitoring a crew in an adjoining room.  Notice the smoke level is down to the Safety Officer's waist level.  And, this was in a room with an open door where I was located.  In a closed home, smoke levels will go nearly to the floor and are extremely black and deadly.

After all training evolutions are completed, the final fire is set and the home is allowed to burn to the ground in a controlled manner. 

Flames leap from windows and doors as the old house is consumed.

Firefighters surround the building and wet down the walls they want to preserve as long as possible.  This controls the direction of the final heat and helps preserve the trees that were located close to the home.



Additionally, one firefighter used the deck gun mounted on top of a fire engine to help control the blaze's intensity, reduce ember production and protect nearby trees. 

The home's owners are removing the structure to make way for a new residence.  The burn-to-learn is a win-win for the owners and Hillsboro Fire & Rescue.  They have the old structure removed with little materials going to the landfill and Hillsboro firefighters get some priceless training in real world conditions. 

We appreciate the neighbor's understanding and cooperation.  More that 75 people turned out to watch the home go up in smoke.  For fire and life safety information, visit www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/fire. 

What's It Like?

High school students from around the area gathered at Hillsboro Fire Department’s Ronler Acres Fire Station for the biannual Chamber of Commerce School to Work program. The program goes on through the year providing students with a day in different industries to help them determine their career path. The students heard from chief officers of the department about how they became a firefighter and learned what education is required for the career.

Of course, firefighters provided them with an up-close and personal tour of the fire station and the fire engines at the station.

After that, the students donned firefighting gear and engaged in a competitive timed event carrying fire hose up to a mezzanine, then hoisting a roll of hose to the second level and, then, returning to the first level with the original hose line.

 Students also learned about basic fire extinguisher operation.

Then, what many wait for, the chance to knock down a pylon with the fire hose stream.

Later, they worked in pairs to advance a hose line together.

And, finally, another competition to roll out a hose line, make and break a series of couplings, attach a nozzle to the end, and then, undo all the attached lines, roll them up and retun them to a neat stack at the finish line.

Organizers said that 14 out of the 15 attending said the demonstration and information made firefighting a much more attractive option than before they visited the station.

CSI South Meadows

Hillsboro Fire and Rescue showed off the technical side of the business at South Meadows Middle School Thursday, January 23rd. Inspector Martin Stapleton brought samples of items recovered from investigating hundreds of fires and challenged students to identify them. The items were either the cause or contributing factors in starting fires in buildings or vehicles.

“If you look carefully, these items all have characteristics that help us tell what caused the fire,” Stapleton said. Students pulled on gloves and got to touch and pick up the items that seldom resembled their former shape and purpose. From a melted coffee pot to an electrical conduit, all had evidence of fire or electrical arcing.

“Think C-S-I,” said Lt. Steve Erb referring to a popular television series about crime scene investigators. Erb is the officer aboard Hillsboro’s Engine 2 on this day. While Erb and his crew are tasked with extinguishing the fire, he notes that the Investigator’s role is to take a possible crime scene that’s had hundreds or thousands of gallons of water poured on it and maybe a dozen people trampling through it and figure out where the fire started and what caused it. After the investigation presentation, Erb took most of the crowd outside to the fire engine and discussed the science involved in operating a modern fire engine specifically and extinguishing fires in general.

Hillsboro Opens Replacement Fire Station

Hillsboro Fire Department opened its newest fire station today with a brief flag raising ceremony just after lunch.

The 13,458-square foot, low profile station will be the replacement for the aging Parkwood Fire Station, which was built in the 1970s as a temporary fire station and fails to meet seismic standards for public safety buildings. The Jones Farm Fire Station is located at 2850 NE 25th Avenue on land leased from the Port of Portland.

“We have met the directive of our policy makers with the improved response times and services with this new station,” said Fire Chief Greg Nelson. “It will be serving the citizens of Hillsboro for decades.”

The facility was staffed with firefighters hired as a result of the Local Option Tax.. They moved from the Parkwood Fire Station.

The “soft opening” of the new station came without much fanfare today due to the recent spate of inclement weather. Workers from Northwest Industrial Services providing the moving vans and staff to move equipment and supplies from from other locations.

“We’re planning an open house for this summer when the weather is better and residents can enjoy coming by to meet the firefighters and tour the station,” said Public Information Officer Storm Smith.

The Jones Farm Fire Station was designed by Group Mackenzie of Portland. It was built by P-and-C Construction of Portland to LEED Gold energy efficient standards to help reduce utility costs and the city’s carbon footprint.

Construction costs of $3.2-million were funded by Recovery Zone Bonds that the City issued in November 2010. The bonds will be repaid over 20 years with Strategic Investment Program revenues.

In addition to the fire engine and crew, department leaders will move a battalion chief from the Downtown Fire Station and the ladder truck and crew from the Ronler Fire Station to Jones Farm. Crews arrived at their new station today and selected their lockers and bunk rooms.

“Centrally locating these other two resources will help us meet our response time goals within nationally recognized standards,” said Chief Nelson.

Hillsboro Fire and Rescue currently operates from five stations strategically located throughout the city to provide fire and emergency medical services to the more than 92,000 citizens.

Hillsboro Fire Chief Wins Celebrity Bell Ringing Fund Raising Contest

Yes, we “smoked them!” That was one comment following our fund-raising Celebrity Bell Ringing for the Salvation Army on December 20th at the Civic Center Plaza. It lasted just one hour (noon – 1:00), but Hillsboro Fire and Rescue's Chief Greg Nelson raised more than both the Police Chief and the Mayor combined!

Our red kettle overflowed with more than $1,248 in contributions from citizens, city employees, firefighters, staff and the firefighters’ union, IAFF Local 2210. Our thanks go out to each and every person who contributed.

The mayor laid down the gauntlet early by circulating flyers depicting Hillsboro Fire Chief Greg Nelson and Police Chief Carey Sullivan as his two

elf helpers

. Not to be outdone, firefighters from Truck-3 elevated the Mayor’s collection kettle….about 10-feet in the air! (It was lowered to its normal position by competition time).

Here are our celebrity totals (actually, paper money only because no one wanted to count the coins):

Hillsboro Fire & Rescue Chief Greg Nelson $1,248
Hillsboro Police Chief Carey Sullivan $632
Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey $271

When the Salvation Army counted all the coins, the one hour effort totaled $2,277.75. A great effort to help needy people in the Portland! Thanks for everyone’s help!

9-11 Memorial Plaque and Tiles

   Hillsboro Fire will be placing a plaque at the base of the flagpole at the Cherry Lane Fire Station this week in observance of the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9-11. The rock the plaque will be attached to was donated by American Landscape Supply. Retired Hillsboro Fire Lieutenant Larry Yakymi milled the rock and attached the stone.

   On Sunday, September 11, 2011, Hillsboro Fire will invite the public into the Cherry Lane Fire Station No. 6 for an open house. There will be refreshments and tours around the fire station.

   In addition to the 9-11 plaque, the station tours will highlight the roughly 400 tiles created by students at Patterson Elementary School in 2002. The tiles, two per student, were created to show what the students felt in the wake of September 11, 2001, and what they thought the future held. They were to be for a memorial site at the Oregon Zoo. However, funding for that project never materialized. Patterson Elementary parent volunteer Shannon Rubeo has spearheaded a campaign to get the student’s work placed in a public building or place. This past month, with a combination of volunteer and on-duty efforts, firefighters placed the tiles on a wall in the Cherry Lane Fire Station where anyone touring the station will be able to see.

   We hope you can attend the open house, Sunday, September 11, 2011, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at 21880 NW Cherry Lane.

Technical Rescue Crew Pulls Hunter to Safety

Hillsboro Fire and Rescue’s Technical Rescue resources were dispatched Monday afternoon (8/29/11) to a report of a deer hunter who had fallen over a cliff in a remote area of northwestern Washington County. Our firefighters responded along with Banks Fire District crews to a section of timber managed by Longview Timber off of Sherman Hills Road. The hunter was reportedly okay and was communicating with emergency dispatchers via cell phone. He had fallen about 100 feet down a brushy, steep hillside and had caught himself on a tree limb just before he was about to fall nearly straight down another 40-feet.

Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Charter was able to locate 32-year old Jason Henry of Beaverton. Henry was blowing a whistle to help rescuers locate him.

Hillsboro Tech Rescue crews sent two firefighters down on ropes to assess Henry and ensure he was uninjured. Banks Firefighters and the remaining HFD crew set up a rope haul system to pull Henry and the two firefighters back up to the cliff top. He was unhurt.

Henry told firefighters he was bow hunting and was tracking a deer when he fell over the cliff’s edge. He was carrying water, a whistle, a knife and a cell phone. All of those items helped him survive this incident.