The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) will be offering wildfire training to members of the Oregon National Guard starting Saturday (7/11) through (7/17). As part of this training there will be two live-fire (field burn) training sessions on the 12th and the 16th. Again these two burns are planning training events that will be held at the Oregon Public Safety Academy at 4190 Aumsville Hwy SE, Salem, OR.

Note: People with breathing difficulties in the immediate area may need to take precautions. This should last from approximately 1pm to 9pm on both days.

The live-fire training is part of the wildland firefighter training the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) is providing to 400 citizen-soldiers and citizen-airmen from the Oregon National Guard being proactively trained in case their assistance is needed to support wildland firefighting efforts around the state.

The request for DPSST’s assistance was made by the Oregon Military Department which received federal funds to proactively train members of their organization in case their assistance will be needed by the Oregon Department of Forestry to support wildfire suppression efforts around the state.

The state has a long standing agreement between the Oregon National Guard and Oregon Department of Forestry known as Operation Plan Smokey.  This plan stipulates the details of how Oregon National Guard members will be utilized to assist in firefighting efforts. This agreement is reviewed annually by the leadership of both agencies and Governor Kate Brown’s Office.

The training provided to the members of the Oregon National Guard by DPSST is the same training that is required of all public and private wildland firefighters. Many people call this "red card" training. Training will include classroom, hands-on, and live fire training elements.