SWEET HOME, Ore. – Over 200 wildland firefighters and instructors will convene in Sweet Home the last week of June to take part in the annual five day Mid-Willamette Valley Interagency Wildland Fire School. Officials from the U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are hosting the training to prepare new firefighters for fighting fire, both in Oregon's forests and in rural-urban interface areas.
Co-Incident Commanders Shawn Sheldon, Deputy Fire Staff for the BLM and Willamette National Forest; and Craig Pettinger, Unit Forester for ODF in Sweet Home, see fire school as an opportunity to train firefighters in both tactical skills and safety.
“This is the 22nd year our agencies have collaborated for this,” said Sheldon. “Fire School provides crucial education and training in wildland fire to new firefighters and gives career firefighters a chance to refresh their skills and explore leadership opportunities."
Trainees will spend the first part of the week in a classroom. Classes include basic fire behavior, weather, map and compass use, teamwork, safety, use of engines, tools and hose lays, fighting fire in the rural-urban interface and fire investigation. Students will sleep in tents at Sweet Home High School and eat meals together, giving them a taste of life in a real fire camp.
The course is capped with a live-fire exercise on Friday, June 29 just outside of Sweet Home. This will give trainees a final challenge: applying their newly acquired skills to suppress and mop-up a real fire.
“Cascade Timber Consulting, Inc., a local landowner, provides a new field site each year and we are very grateful,” added Sheldon. “The live fire exercise significantly enhances the students’ training experience – working in smoke, hiking through uneven terrain, and working closely with crew members to dig fireline, are all things they’ll experience this season as wildland firefighters.”
Safety principles of fire training include wearing protective gear, safe use of tools and being on the lookout for hazards. “Safety is paramount in every aspect of wildland firefighting, and it begins with our training exercises,” explained Pettinger. "Working together in a training setting improves communications and builds effective relationships for the agencies to draw on during fire season."
This year, the field site that will be used for the live fire exercise is located approximately 5 miles east of Sweet Home adjacent to Highway 20. Fire officials are urging the public to use caution as there will be increased fire traffic in the area and the potential for visible smoke on Friday, June 29. For more information, please contact Public Information Officers Chiara Cipriano, (541) 731-4427, or Jim Gersbach, (503) 945-7425.
# # #
Note to media:
This opportunity offers access to both trainee and experienced firefighters as they prepare for the 2018 fire season. However, we require 24-hour notice of your intent to participate, as all media must be accompanied by an agency escort and have personal protective equipment (see list below).
Personal protective equipment includes:
- Nomex pants
- Long-sleeve Nomex shirt
- Gloves
- Hard hat
- Vibram-soled leather boots
Protective equipment (excluding boots) may be available for media to borrow. Please contact Chiara Cipriano to make arrangements.