In need of volunteers

Portland Fire Department needs volunteer firefighters.
Despite recently hiring a new firefighter, the department is still seeking candidates to fill vacant volunteer positions.
The department’s volunteers respond to fire, medical and other emergency calls throughout the area. Depending on the nature of the call, different firefighters respond to calls, depending on certifications and training. Despite the term volunteer, the firefighters are paid for each run they make, and also given an annual clothing allowance.
Travis Theurer, a physical education and health teacher at East Jay Middle School and current volunteer firefighter, said that the work is meaningful and exciting.
“It’s always nice when you can do something good and help someone, protect them and protect the community,” Theurer said. “I also like the adrenaline shot you get with it, when you go into the unknown and have to adapt in a given situation.”
At a recent training event, the department practiced rescue techniques at the on-site training facility located behind the fire station and constructed out of refurbished shipping containers. Firefighters practiced search and rescue through the facility with all of the lights out, and also used the department’s aerial ladder to practice a Stokes basket rescue, a technique used to help incapacitated victims off of an above-ground floor or roof.
The department conducts monthly training on the first Thursday of the month, and changes the topic each month to stay up to speed with a variety of skills.
Chad Aker is one of the department’s full-time firefighters, after switching careers and going full-time in 2006.
“I’m a a third generation fireman. I went to school and got an electrical engineering degree, but I kinda got burnt out on it,” said Aker, who previously served as chief. “I had been a volunteer firefighter all along, and I decided to switch fields.”
Aker said the monthly training is designed to keep the force refreshed on all of the different techniques and skills that could have to be utilized at a moment’s notice.
“You never know what kind of predicament you’re gonna find yourself in,” Aker said. “You’ve just got to prepare for anything.”
The department has nine full-time firefighters, and supplements them with 11 current volunteer firefighters. According to Aker, the biggest need right now is for volunteer firefighters who work second or third shift and are available to respond to calls during the day.
State law protects volunteer firefighters who are late to work while responding to calls, but doesn’t guarantee that volunteers can leave work. Sometimes the choice to leave work or not can come down to the severity of the call.
Theurer said he’s had to find someone to watch his middle school class in the past when responding to large fires.
Prospective volunteers have to go through a 66-hour Module A training course to become active members of the department. The training is a combination of classroom and practical lessons, and is taught on the weekends to accommodate work schedules.
Standing near the base of the ladder during the training exercise, Aker’s father, Mike, helped to coordinate the retrieval of a mannequin off the top of the training facility. Mike Aker has been a volunteer firefighter for the Portland Fire Department for 44 years. Another one of his sons, Matt, served as Portland’s fire chief before he was killed in a motorcycle accident in April 2011.
While fire chief, Matt Aker was responsible for developing the department’s training facility with federal grants. The facility is now used by departments in Jay and surrounding counties for different training exercises.
Mike retired from his job as a salesman for G and G Oil Company two years ago, but still enjoys serving as a firefighter for the City of Portland.
“I retired two years ago, so now I got more time to go to fires,” he said.