August 2020
Published by the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal
Serving through Challenging Times

O regon has experienced a milder fire season thus far despite concerns for a strong potential for wildfires this summer. Fire season and wildland fires are never predictable, but as we head into August, projections for a hot, dry summer could create a very active wildfire season.
  
I’m asking Oregonians not to drop their guard and be prepared that fire season is still forecasted to be worse than normal. It only takes one careless incident to cause a fire that could put lives at risk. It could threaten the local community, whether it is houses, people, or livestock. We all need to take these measures seriously, and it is important to remain diligent in stopping wildfires before they happen.

On average, more than 500,000 acres are burned in Oregon each year. As of mid-July, we saw fewer acres impacted by fire. Incidents that could have spread and threatened structures, near Rowena on the Columbia River Gorge in late June and on the Warm Springs Reservation in early July, saw fast initial response by state, federal, tribal, and our local, structural fire service. Other fires that received less attention, including multiple grass fires in eastern Oregon, were also quickly suppressed thanks for the fast work of the cooperating agencies.

I want to thank members of the Oregon fire service who were the first to arrive on-scene to provide quick fire suppression. Your successful efforts have prevented incidents that could have quickly turned another direction without your response. Coordination of our local, state, tribal, and federal partners in fire prevention before the start of wildfire season has played an important role in mitigating human-caused fires. You may have even seen our friend in fire prevention, Bigfoot, on billboards around the state encouraging residents to believe in fire safety and inspiring the public to take action and reduce risks of human-caused wildfires.

On top of the very real challenges presented by threats of wildfires to communities and property, all of us in the fire service face the burden of preventing the spread of COVID-19. No one is immune from its impacts on our communities and families. Since the pandemic struck, we have seen more people at home, spending it online and on social media. Tensions are high across Oregon and the country, as thousands have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest racial injustice. Many demonstrations have ultimately devolved into riots – and firefighters find themselves responding to increased call volumes for fires and, in some cases, being the target of attacks themselves.

Comments and incidents are being shared quickly on public platforms, and all first responders are in the public’s eye more than before, especially when they are called for assistance. Just being mindful that our lives are more than ever in a public square can be that simple check on our emotions that might be regretted later. Faced with these compounding challenges, all of us can lead through our actions that help our coworkers and neighbors. We know that our communities expect and deserve that we do our best. Taking care of each other is part of how we do that. The fire service family is at its best when it does that.

For those managing our agencies and workforce, we can be that calming presence that those around us seek. That calm can be contagious. I know we will continue to overcome the challenges that lie ahead. Thank you for all you are doing for each other and for our state. Take care and be safe.
Oregon State Fire Marshal Jim Walker
Oregon Fire Code Advisory Board Gets to Work
We are excited to introduce the Office of State Fire Marshal’s newly established Oregon Fire Code Advisory Board . Members were selected from a number of strong candidates in March 2020 and had their first introductory meeting on July 22.

Please join us in welcoming:
  • Jason Bolen — Oregon Fire Marshals Association
  • Eric Cutler — Public Member
  • Lora Ratcliff — Oregon Fire Marshals Association
  • Joe Ripp — Design Professional
  • Richard Rogers — Building Codes Division
  • Deric Weiss — Oregon Fire Chiefs Association
  • Amy Williams — Business/Industry

The board’s mission is to make recommendations on Oregon Fire Code issues to the State Fire Marshal and to provide advice and guidance on issues of code enforcement, regional disputes, policies, and emerging topics that affect the fire protection and life safety of Oregonians.

One of the first items the board will work on is the election of officers and the 2022 Oregon Fire Code.

Any questions regarding the Oregon Fire Code Advisory Board can be emailed to Assistant Chief Deputy Chad Hawkins at chad.hawkins@osp.oregon.gov .
OSFM and ODF Team up to Provide New Situational Awareness Tool
The OSFM's and ODF's new situational awareness tool provides real-time data to fire and emergency incidents, accessible to responders from any smart device.
In July, the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) and the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) launched a new tool called State of Oregon Fire Situation Analyst (SOFSA). SOFSA is a cloud-based software service developed by Intterra — a data solutions company — that provides authorized users a common operating picture for situational awareness of fire and other emergency incident activities in Oregon.

SOFSA is accessible to firefighters, incident management teams, and other critical decision makers from any smart device. It displays key data resources such as official federal fire reporting information, ODF fire information, satellite-based fire detection, and lightning. There is also a module where imagery, video, and mapped data from ODF’s newly infrared-equipped aviation asset can be viewed in near-real-time when flight missions are active.

Situation Analyst has been used for several years through several local web portals in Oregon including Klamath County (Klamath Fire District #1 and Keno Fire Department), Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, REGIS (a partnership of 20 agencies in the Portland metro area), and the Lebanon Fire District. The current rollout for the 2020 fire season marks its deployment statewide.

The cooperative, statewide project is a result of strong interagency collaboration between ODF and OSFM to support their missions, to serve Oregonians, and to help modernize the state’s coordinated response to addressing wildfire on the landscape, as recommended by the Governor’s Council on Wildfire Response final report from November 2019.

Since March 2020, ODF’s and OSFM’s interagency Governance Board has collaborated to develop the statewide shared mapping platform. A Project Team comprised of ODF, OSFM, and Intterra experts have made progress toward onboarding, data refinements, user management, and other implementations to be fully operational for fire season 2020.

There are plans to expand the data resources and capabilities of SOFSA in the future. Users who have an account through local Intterra Situation Analyst systems will recognize SOFSA. This new statewide system will allow users to view and edit features from other local Intterra systems like Home Risk Assessment (wildland fire triage) as well. Since the statewide platform will be using the same vendor and base system, SOFSA is benefiting from the successes and information sharing from the other local systems. The local portals will continue to be active for their local needs. Any existing Intterra users can have accounts in both systems or migrate over to SOFSA.
Youth Fire Safety in a Box!
For several years, the Youth Fire Safety Program (YFSP) has been transforming, bringing together new resources, ideas, partnerships, and approaches to prevention and intervention for youth in Oregon. 

From its ongoing collaborations with agencies, the YFSP realized that some partners had not learned how these changes had created impacts and opportunities. That will soon change.

The Youth Fire Safety in a Box project will distribute YFSP resources as a complete kit and highlight the program’s changes over the past few years. The goal is to provide the Oregon fire service with a consistent understanding of our program and the direction it is heading. 

Each box will contain materials that can be shared with local prevention teams and community partners such as schools and social services. The contents will also include new quick guides for leading station tours and classroom visits or community events. Some materials may look familiar while others have had a complete facelift.  

Each box will include:
  • Guide to Home Fire Escape Planning
  • Checklist for Parents and Caregivers
  • New Parent Legal Responsibility Booklet (Insight Yellow)
  • Insight Program Rack Card
  • Fire Station Tour Quick Guide
  • School Visit & Community Events Quick Guide
  • Report School Flyer Cards (Teachers, Custodians, Administrators)
  • YFS Materials Guide
  • Website Resources Guide
  • Youth Fire Reporting Process
  • YFS Training Schedule 2020-2021

This resource will be available to order beginning Aug. 17, with toolkits being mailed on Aug. 28. For more information, please contact Sara Jasmin, Youth Fire Safety Program Coordinator, at sara.jasmin@osp.oregon.gov or by phone at (503) 934-2136. 
Report Highlights Focus on Environmental Justice Issues
The mission of the Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) is to protect residents, their property, and the environment from fire and hazardous materials. Through fire and life safety prevention, investigation, education, and hazmat regulation, planning, and response coordination efforts, the OSFM works to protect all communities and the environment in which people live, work, learn, practice spirituality, and play, from exposure to hazardous materials spills or releases.

Under ORS 182.535 , the Oregon Legislature has designated a number of state entities — including the OSFM — as a "natural resource agencies." These agencies report annually to the 12-person Environmental Justice Task Force and to the Governor on the results of the agencies’ efforts to address environmental justice issues, increase public participation of individuals and communities affected by agencies’ decisions, determine the effect of the agencies’ decisions on traditionally underrepresented communities, and improve plans that further the progress of environmental justice in Oregon.

The OSFM implements five critical agency programs to engage in the environmental
justice landscape:


The OSFM has completed its 2019 Annual Report for the task force, highlighting our significant accomplishments statewide during the year. The report provides a summary of the five programs and how they support the state’s goals of advancing environment justice issues.

Through its ongoing efforts, OSFM supports and values its collaboration with its partners statewide, who play essential roles in safeguarding residents and protecting the state’s most vulnerable residents from any exposure to hazardous materials spills and releases. 
Incident Management Teams Staff COVID Module
The Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) is proud to have partnered with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) to conceptualize and staff what we have dubbed "COVID Modules" on each of our Incident Management Teams (IMTs). OSFM and ODF have three IMTs each, for a total of six state-level, all-hazard teams staffed with highly-trained, experienced personnel. Each team now has a COVID Module, which consists of one Health Liaison and two Responders, who are certified to EMT or higher. 

The Health Liaison is part of the Command staff, reporting directly to the Incident Commander, and is a position that was clearly laid out and defined in the Northwest IMT Best Management Practices . Our agencies decided to bolster that position’s capability with medically trained Responders who can serve as the first line of defense against the spread of COVID-19 within fire camp.

OSFM would like to thank the fire service agencies who have supported their personnel in these new positions, as well as the individuals who made the decision to apply; to give up their summers to help keep the Oregon Fire Mutual Aid System safe and healthy. 

Safety of responders is the number one priority for all IMTs, and our teams are leading the way with this modular concept. The interagency teams with which we often unify command are following suit and currently recruiting their own personnel to fill similar roles. Having personnel dedicated solely to the mitigation of this particular risk will allow the rest of the team to focus on their standard responsibilities and meeting the mission objectives.

For more information about how OSFM and our partners in suppression are planning to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 this fire season, please see our website . Questions can be directed to mariah.rawlins@osp.oregon.gov .  
Vision 20/20 Provides Strategic Approach to Risk Reduction
Community Risk Reduction efforts have been evolving since the national strategic approach was first released. The concept is an all-hazards approach and can be used strategically to address a variety of risks in your community through data, partnerships, and planning investments.
    
This year’s Vision 20/20 symposium, hosted in late February in Tennessee, provided a variety of information and resources on a broad spectrum of model programs using community risk reduction to prioritize and address risk in jurisdictions. The platform of presentations  included those focusing on volunteer recruitment, call-volume reduction in assisted-living facilities, vacant and distressed property initiatives, along with a host of other impressive examples demonstrating the flexibility of the concept.
 
Vision 20/20 has also done remarkable work updating their remote training platform for community risk reduction. Training is being offered remotely for free.
 
As we are all looking for new ways to assist our communities, and do so through data and risk prioritization, it’s a good reminder that the community risk reduction methods provide a strategic approach that is broader than just fire risk. The tools, guides, and trainings provide a full suite of tools and resources to grow or build your local community risk reduction program.
 
To learn more about the Vision 20/20 projects and complete set of resources, visit the 20/20 website .
 
As we are beginning to adapt and grow community risk reduction influence in our own programs at the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal, we would love to hear from you regarding your story about where you are providing risk reduction services and the challenges and opportunities of introducing community risk reduction efforts in your community. Reach out today to Claire.McGrew@osp.oregon.gov .  
Fireworks Messaging Mattered with Many Displays Canceled
As of late July, data are still being compiled on fireworks-related fires this summer in Oregon, collected from more than 300 Oregon fire agencies through the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).

For June and July, agencies in Oregon have reported 49 incidents attributed to fireworks usage, with losses valued at $66,000. Of those fire starts, the most common incident reports were brush and dumpsters fires, at 11 each. NFIRS data also indicate there were 10 grass or natural vegetation fires and four building fires.

In 2019, the Oregon fire service recorded 63 fires from fireworks.

Prior to the start of the retail fireworks season in Oregon, lasting from June 23 through July 6, local fire agencies, the OSFM, and state and federal agencies had expressed concern that cancellations of professional fireworks displays in communities because of COVID-19 precautions might lead residents to use legal and illegal fireworks on public lands at risk of accidental wildfire starts.

To address those risks before and during the retail sales period, the OSFM promoted its messaging campaign for Oregonians to “keep it legal, keep it safe.” Materials encouraging safe and legal fireworks use were shared on the OSFM’s social media platforms, and local fire agencies amplified the OSFM’s messages on their social media accounts and developed their own messages for their jurisdictions to promote fireworks safety and safe fireworks use.

Agencies serving the state's largest cities and some in rural eastern and central Oregon integrated the OSFM’s fireworks messaging into their social media feeds around the July 4 holiday. These included Portland Fire & Rescue, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, the Salem Fire Department, Jackson County Fire District 3, the Roseburg Fire Department, and Clackamas Fire District #1, among many.

Oregon fire agencies reported some incidents around the July 4 weekend on their Facebook pages, including the Medford Fire Department’s response to a garage fire attributed to unspent fireworks. The City of Roseburg experienced a quickly contained vegetation fire on Reservoir Hill attributed to an official fireworks display. No injuries or harm to structures or the environment were reported from that July 4 event.

The OSFM wants to thank its law enforcement and fire service partners for their quick response to incidents attributed to fireworks use and unknown sources that occurred during the July 4 weekend. Quick suppression by the Oregon fire service, particularly in areas with abundant vegetative fuel sources, continues to play an important role controlling wildfire starts on the landscape.

Thanks also to Oregon’s news media and the public for helping encourage all residents who purchased consumer legal fireworks to use them safely to prevent unwanted injuries and fires. 
Code Corner
By OSFM Code Deputy David Mills 

Emergency Planning and Preparedness
Promptly alerting employees and occupants to evacuate, shelter, or lockdown within a facility can save lives. Chapter 4 of the Oregon Fire Code focuses on the actions of occupants and employees during fires and other emergency events. Key considerations are the concentration of people, physical and mental capabilities of the occupants, lack of familiarity with a building, or the complexity and size of the building. The requirements are intended to improve the effectiveness of other safety measures required by the Oregon Fire Code and Oregon Structural Specialty Code.

Basically, Chapter 4 addresses the human contributions to life safety in buildings. When there is a hazard within a building such as a fire or chemical spill, occupants within the building should be evacuated or relocated to safety. Other incidents such as a bomb threat or receipt of a suspicious package may also require evacuation. If a transportation accident on a nearby highway results in the release of a chemical cloud, the fire department may warn to "shelter-in-place." To protect employees from an act of violence, "lockdown" should be broadcast, and everyone should hide or barricade themselves from the perpetrator.

Protective actions for life safety include:
  • Evacuation
  • Shelter-in-place
  • Lockdown

A facilities emergency plan should include these protective actions. If there are separate tenants in a multi-tenanted building, they should coordinate their planning with the building manager. The requirements for continuous training and scheduled evacuation drills can be as important as the required periodic inspections and maintenance of built-in fire protection features.

To assist the fire code official, many provisions of this chapter have been relocated and grouped by occupancy in the fire code. Revised sections concentrate on planning and practicing the desired actions of building occupants when a fire occurs. Additional sections focus on the behaviors and procedures that must be practiced or observed to prevent or control a fire. The best way to create a safe building environment is through fire prevention, understanding that no system can ensure complete protection of all building occupants.
Preparedness Grant Strengthens Response Planning
The Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Grant receives its funding from a fee assessed on the transporters of hazardous materials. Each year the total amount of funding collected nationwide averages approximately $20 million. The funding allocation to each state is based on several criteria including, the number of hazardous material facilities, the amount of hazardous substances being transported through the state, census data, and other factors. Every four years, some of this funding is also utilized to produce an updated version of the Emergency Response Guidebook.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration allocates approximately $250,000 to $300,000 each year to Oregon for hazardous materials transportation related planning and training activities. For many years local recipients focused on response training projects, but in recent years, due mainly to increased Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) development, that focus has turned more to response planning.

Responders and planners have made significant advancements in the planning arena. During the last three-year grant cycle alone, the grant has supported the development of 12 county level emergency response plans, three commodity flow studies, 10 tabletop exercises, three functional exercises, and two full scale exercises. Working in coordination with the Office of State Fire Marshal’s HazMat Rail Program, the grant helped fund a rail car training prop in Hermiston. In addition, there have been three statewide conferences sponsored for hazmat teams and LEPC members with more than 350 attendees.

Even with the increased focus on planning projects, the grant continues to support training projects. Examples of training include, Awareness and Operations, HazMat On-Scene Incident Command, Advanced HazMat Life Support, Propane Response, Above the Line, Below the Line, HazMat IQ, and HazMat Technician. Training during this three-year cycle has been provided to more than 300 emergency responders.

The HMEP Grant will continue supporting Oregon’s hazardous materials planning and training priorities. If you are interested in having a project supported, contact your LEPC to discuss adding the project to their annual grant submission, or submit an application on behalf of your agency. If there is no LEPC in your county, consider working with other local responders and planners to start one.

LEPCs provide a great venue for coordinating these types of grant projects and providing a better understanding of the hazardous substances being used in, or transported through, your communities.

For more information on the HMEP Grant or LEPCs, contact Terry Wolfe at (503) 934-8245 or terry.wolfe@osp.oregon.gov .
OSFM Extends Deadline for Sparky Awards Nominations
The Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) has reopened its process to accept nominees for the 2020 Golden and Silver Sparky awards.

The Golden Sparky award recognizes a member of the fire service for outstanding achievement in fire prevention or public fire safety education. The Silver Sparky award recognizes a civilian for outstanding achievement in fire prevention or public fire safety education.

Awards are normally announced and presented in May at the Oregon Fire Marshals Association Conference. Because of disruptions created by COVID-19, which cancelled meeting events and impacted agencies and organizations statewide, the OSFM has extended the submission deadline to the end of August.

Nomination forms are available online on the OSFM website or by calling Sally Cravinho at 503-934-8205 or emailing sally.cravinho@osp.oregon.gov .

You do not have to be a member of the fire service to nominate any person or agency. Nominations may also be submitted by members of the public.

The nomination deadline is Aug. 31 . Submit completed forms with an explanation and examples of your nominee’s achievements and contributions to preventing fires and fire losses in Oregon.

Nominations can be submitted by email or standard mail to sally.cravinho@osp.oregon.gov or Sally Cravinho, 3565 Trelstad Ave. SE, Salem, OR, 97317-9614. Awards will be announced in September.
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