Special Rescue Services
Today’s fire and emergency response service is more demanding then ever. With vision and dedication, the firefighters of Clackamas Fire District #1 are determined to provide the highest level of service possible including providing care for the sick and injured in unusual situations and circumstances. People caught in life-threatening situations: stranded high upon the face of a cliff, caught in the torrent of rushing flood waters, buried under dirt in a collapsed trench or trapped deep underground in a narrow pipe. These situations require specialized rescue skills and equipment offered by Clackamas Fire District #1.
The district’s specialty rescue services are delivered through multi-disciplinary technical rescue companies strategically deployed throughout the district. Special rescue operations are inherently more dangerous than routine fire suppression and require advanced training and technologically advanced equipment. Clackamas Fire District #1 is committed to dedicating resources to develop and maintain these specialty programs; continually striving to keep abreast of the latest performance and technological standards
Collape | Confine Space | Vehicle | Urban Search & Rescue | Vertical | Swift Water | Trench
When a disaster strikes natural or man-made buildings, bridges and other structures often fall trapping people within. Injured and trapped they require emergency crews with special rescue training. Saving people trapped under the heavy weight of a building is challenging, especially while other parts of the building may be unstable and threaten to fall. Leaking gas, exposed electrical power lines and leaking water mains often complicate rescue efforts.
Clackamas Fire District #1 has personnel trained and equipped to the highest standards to address the special needs of a collapse rescue. Each of the technical rescue technicians are trained in collapse rescue. This extensive training includes locating trapped people, operating specialized cutting equipment, shoring, bracing and lifting structural members. Some of this special equipment allows the team members to cut through thick concrete and heavy steel members. These special skills are immediately available throughout the district and neighboring areas whenever the need arises.
Some of the most technical service requests are confined space rescues. A confined space is any space that is not intended to be occupied by a human and has poor or limited access. These spaces include industrial storage tanks, rail cars and underground sewer pipes. Often they have other hazards present like electricity, toxic gases, mechanical equipment and infectious waste which increase the danger to rescuers. A history of high death tolls of people working in these confined spaces has forced OHSA to establish and enforce state and federal regulations to reduce on-the-job accident and death rates.
In 1997, the district began an intensive training program for confined space emergency rescue. Those who have received specialized training are certified as Confine Space Rescue Technicians. In addition, all district firefighters are trained to operate around confined spaces and to support the rescue efforts of the Confine Space Rescue Technicians.
Daily, the firefighters of Clackamas Fire District #1 respond on emergencies that involve automobiles. In many cases, the injured are entrapped in the vehicle, caught with twisted metal collapsed around them. Sometimes it may be an industrial worker or a farmer injured on the farm caught, tangled or pinned by heavy machinery and equipment. Each rescue situation varies: vehicles submerged in rivers, small automobiles crushed by weight of large trucks, and freezing winter weather in the dark of night.
All district firefighters, paid and volunteer are trained to operate rescue equipment that will open up a vehicle to free a trapped patient. On more challenging rescues, the firefighters on the technical rescue companies will work together with other responders to complete the rescue. Daily, the firefighters of Clackamas Fire District #1 rise to meet the emergency before them.
Urban Search & Rescue is actually a new name for many of the specialty rescue services that have been around for years. It includes collapse, confine space, trench, vertical and vehicle/machine rescue. Combining these different rescue disciplines allows for the rescue technicians to build upon the common elements of each. For over 10 years Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) as a specialty has grown and developed across the nation. USAR teams from across the country have responded to a provided aid in such disasters such as the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, the Murrah Federal Building bombing in Okalahoma City and the devastating storms that have struck the East Coast.
Realizing the need for additional preparation in the event of a large scale disaster, such as an earthquake, the office of the Oregon State Fire Marshal has orchestrated a state-wide response effort. This multi-agency effort including the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Oregon Army National Guard and fire service providers. Together they provide trained technical rescue technicians along with an extensive collection of tools and equipment anywhere in Oregon around the clock, seven days a week. Clackamas Fire District #1 is proud to be a founding member of the Oregon USAR Task Force.
For more information about Clackamas Counties’ Disaster Plan or Urban Search & Rescue programs click on the following links:
The many steep cliffs lining the Clackamas River present an ongoing danger to the public. Swimmers looking for a swimming spot or a fisherman looking for a new fishing hole on the river can quickly find themselves trapped in a dangerous spot. Other times it can be a worker high up on a radio tower or on a construction site that needs assistance. In each of these cases the firefighters of Clackamas Fire District #1 are ready to help!
Training to use ropes to reach injured people high off the ground, securing them and then bring them to safety, that is the essence of vertical rescue. The technical rescue companies of Clackamas Fire District #1 are often called to utilize the skills of several different specialties, such as water rescue along with vertical rescue, to complete a mission.
Each rescue is unique, having special demands and challenges. The firefighters of Clackamas Fire District #1 must practice technical skill, ingenuity and resourcefulness on each emergency call despite the challenges they face.
The Swiftwater Rescue Team of Clackamas Fire District #1 has earned a reputation as a leader in the Swiftwater rescue on the West coast. In 1999, the Swiftwater Rescue Team was awarded the prestigious Higgins and Langley award for excellence in water rescue service. Receiving this award lifted the fire district into the company of previous recipients such as Los Angeles County, Phoenix Arizona, Fairfax County Virginia, and Metro-Dade Florida Fire Departments. Along with the Higgins and Langley award, this special operations team have been awarded numerous other local, state and regional awards encompassing excellence in training and heroic rescues.
Clackamas Fire District #1's Swiftwater Rescue Team is a participating member of the Clackamas County Water Rescue Team. The Clackamas County Water Rescue team is a group of water rescue professionals from many of the different fire departments and districts in Clackamas County. Regional service is provide throughout Clackamas County including the Clackamas and Willamette Rivers. Each participating department provides a different rescue discipline to the rescue effort. From swiftwater technicians on kayaks and catarafts, to fast moving Jet skis, whitewater rescue boats and SCUBA divers this team is able to meet the special needs of each rescue.
For more information about water and boating safety click on the following links:
With a boom in construction and development throughout the district comes the need to improve services and utilities such as water, sewer, natural gas and electricity. Many of these utilities are safely located deep underground out of harms way. But to get these pipes, power lines and vaults underground deep trenches must be dug – this is when tragedy can strike. Workers digging in soft, unstable soils can be trapped deep within earthen trenches when the walls of the trench collapse under the weight of dirt and rocks. These situations often prove fatal for the victim trapped and pose a high risk for the rescuer. Secondary trench collapse, flooding from broken water mains, ruptured gas and live electrical wires are often present in a trench emergency.
The rescue technicians of Clackamas Fire District #1 are trained and certified to national standards as Trench Rescue Technicians. Often specialized equipment such as earth moving equipment, cranes, shoring cages and water evacuating equipment must be brought in to assist in the rescue. Working together with other emergency responders, utility workers and contractors this rescue effort is truly a team effort. The firefighters of the district coordinate rescue efforts to ensure the quickest and safest rescue possible.