Colton Corner: Fire department ready to respond where needed

Over the last three years, Colton Rural Fire Protection District #70 has been upgrading their wildland fire response team and fire equipment.

The 21 volunteer firefighters are all trained in fighting structure and wildland fires. The district now has four brush rigs, which includes the new-to-them heavy brush rig, HB 336. It was purchased with money from an FEPP (Federal Excess Property Procurement) grant.

“The only money we spent on it was to fly down and drive it back,” Colton Fire Chief Todd Gary said. “It has a 500-gallon tank and is a good rig to take into wildland fires. We took it up to the fire near Table Rock and it was a top-grade vehicle to have in the wildland area.”

This new rig is bigger than the other brush rigs and has a seafoam green paint job, better known, in the firefighting world, as “Forest Service green.” According to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s website, brush rigs have four-wheel drive capacity, can climb hills and do well in wooded areas.

They can pump water while driving which is ideal for vegetation fires. This is known as a running attack on vegetation fires and can help minimize the spread of a brush fire.

Colton Fire has access to a PGE-provided PanoAI camera system that identifies any fire smoke within the district.

“The cameras do a 360-degree search and are on the cell towers in our area and we have quite a few around here,” Gary said. “We can see and be notified at the first whiff of smoke and because of the cell tower the source of the smoke is often triangulated and we can go right to the fire, not have to search for it, the PGE cameras have located it.”

Gary said the district has a memorandum of understanding working with ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry), something he said was good for the Colton community.

“When ODF is busy fighting fires and running low on manpower and equipment, Colton Fire Department provides help within our area,” Gary explained. “The district gets paid, our firefighters are close by and ready to respond to any local calls. In return, ODF provides Colton with any help when needed, bringing in extra brush rigs and fire command officers automatically when calls go out. We now have two helicopters available to us - one through the Oregon Fire Marshall’s office and one through ODF on any red flag days, a helicopter is stationed at the Mulino airport.”

Gary said during fire season even when the volunteer responders are helping with mutual aid with nearby fire departments, the station is staffed and has equipment available to respond to all community needs.

He wanted to let people know that not all fires you see on third-party apps are accurate and that he will get any needed information out on social media platforms. He will post on all local Colton sites and advises the folks follow Colton Rural Fire Protection District #70’s Facebook and Instagram pages for accurate information.