David Barron has spent more than a quarter of a century as a Portland firefighter — and he’s watched the applicant pool shrink. When he took the firefighter test in the 1990s, he was competing against about 2,800 people. The most recent test drew fewer than 500. He’s quick to add that it’s a national trend, not just a Portland problem.
Barron, who lives in the Summit vicinity, is trying to close that gap with FRIEND Firefighter, the nonprofit he founded to open the fire service to young people who might not have considered it. FRIEND stands for Firefighters Reaching Internationally through Education as a Nonprofit Delegation. At Monday’s City Council meeting, Barron brought a slideshow recapping two events his organization held in Philomath this year.
The first was a two-day firefighter STEM camp in June. On the first day, 18 Benton County youth ages 13 to 19 earned CPR and first aid certification at Patrick Lumber. They had lunch from La Rockita and heard presentations from the county’s health and emergency management departments. Day two moved to Philomath Middle School, where campers suited up in turnout gear for hydrant operation, nozzle work, wildland training with the Oregon Department of Forestry and a burn table display arranged with Starker Forests.
Running six skill stations takes two firefighters per station. Barron said he couldn’t pull off a similar camp in Portland without help from Vancouver, Gresham, Clackamas and Tualatin Valley. In Philomath, Philomath Fire and Rescue’s student firefighter program filled the gap.
“So thank goodness Philomath has a student program,” Barron said, “or we might not have been able to do it.”
The second event, held in October, was Talk A Mile. The idea comes from Justin Fogarty, a friend of Barron’s, who found that some of his best conversations happened while walking. Students and community professionals pair up on a track, and each lap comes with a new question for both people to answer. Four laps make a mile. About 20 students took part, along with roughly twice that many police officers, prosecutors and other community members.
City Councilor Rich Saalsaa joined Barron at both events. He knows a thing or two about walking and talking after finishing a 760-mile trek from Bozeman to Seattle in September. He walked the track with two young men from Philomath and came away impressed.
“That’s our future leadership that we were walking around that track with,” Saalsaa said.
Barron plans to make both events annual. Support has come from Starker Forests, the Benton Community Foundation and the Harry S. Merlo Foundation, which provided his seed money.
It’s easy to read about 2,800 applicants dwindling to fewer than 500 and feel discouraged. It’s harder to stay that way while picturing a group of local teenagers in turnout gear dragging a hose line across the middle school parking lot. Some of them might be the ones answering our calls someday.
2. Camping outlook
Plenty of Philomath folks spend their summers at Oregon state parks — including our household, which plans to get outdoors even more next year. As a result, I paid attention when the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department laid out what visitors can expect in 2027.
The good news is that there will be fewer fee hikes. This year’s round of increases closed a $14 million gap in the agency’s two-year budget. Director Lisa Sumption said those increases kept parks from closing and that the agency now wants long-term fixes that don’t put the whole burden on visitors.
Some costs are still going up. Starting Jan. 1, the state’s transient lodging tax on overnight reservations climbs from 1.5% to 2.75%, and the parks don’t get any of that money. Physical hang-tag parking permits will be sold only online and will cost an extra $10 to cover printing and handling. The digital permit stays at $60 for Oregon residents. On May 1, rates for yurts, cabins and reservable day-use spots like picnic shelters go up about 5%.
Coast campers, take note: Jessie M. Honeyman State Park near Florence will close for several months starting in January for utility work and hazard tree removal.
A few helpful changes are already in place. The reservation website now shows the nightly site fee as you pick your dates. A new Spot Watch feature can text or email you when sites open up, and one alert can cover several parks and date ranges. You can also borrow a parking permit from one of 82 participating libraries around the state. The closest is the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library in Corvallis, the only one in Benton County.
The bigger long-term issue is a backlog of overdue maintenance that fees alone can’t cover. Since the agency gets no general fund tax dollars, that one is worth watching.
3. Safety combo
Rich Saalsaa shows up twice in this week’s column — and that seems fitting. Besides serving on the Philomath City Council, he’s a captain and the public education coordinator at Philomath Fire and Rescue. On Friday, he announced that one of the department’s biggest community events is about to get bigger.
For several years, Philomath Fire and Rescue’s open house during Fire Prevention Week has been paired with Strengthening Rural Families’ annual health fair. Starting next year, Benton County Emergency Management will fold its emergency preparedness event into the lineup too. That event has been held each year at the chili cook-off.
The combined event is set for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9, 2027, at Station 201 on Main Street. Logistics will be announced in the coming months.
The open house and health fair already draw more than 600 people a year. Saalsaa thinks adding emergency preparedness, plus some good marketing, could bring a much bigger crowd. The planning team includes Saalsaa and Ashley Scott from Philomath Fire and Rescue, Anna Goodlove from Strengthening Rural Families and Chelsea Chytka from Benton County Emergency Management.
There’s just one thing missing — a name. For now, it’s going by “Open House, Emergency Preparedness and Health Fair,” which is a mouthful. Saalsaa said he’d welcome ideas for something catchier and shorter.
Personally, I think fire safety, first aid and a plan for the next big emergency all under one roof makes sense. Now we just need something that fits on a banner.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
