News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Black Butte Ranch Fire Chief Darell Churchill is set to retire February 28, after 19 years of service at the ranch.
Churchill, whose firefighting career has spanned 31 years, has been Fire Chief at the ranch since Novemberof 1983.
During Churchill's time, the ranch has grown from about 700 homes to about 1,200 homes. The fire department has grown with it. Churchill became the fourth full-time employee in the department when he hired on in 1979.
"When I started, we had one pumper that was acquired from L.A. County," Churchill recalled.
The department's equipment also included a converted van used as an ambulance and a converted pickup truck used as a brushfire unit. The department was stationed at the ranch's current administration building and moved twice more to end up its current station in 1991.
Now the department has six full-time shift paramedics on duty, the chief and an administrative assistant. There are currently nine volunteers. The department is equipped with two structure engines, two brush units, two ambulances and a utility vehicle. With the passage of a recent bond, Churchill noted, three of these apparatus will be retired and the department will bring on new, modern equipment.
That equipment includes a "Quint" ladder rig, a wildland interface engine designed to fight both structure and brush fires, a new ambulance and a multi-purpose Trident - an ambulance, rescue vehicle and water pumper in one unit.
This modernization is characteristic of the department Churchill has run for 15 years.
"Black Butte, I feel, has been an extremely progressive department and kind of a trend-setter for Central Oregon," he said.
Churchill and the former fire chief were the first certified EMT-3 paramedics in the area.
The department pioneered a scholarship program for young volunteers seeking a career in the fire service, which has since been taken over by Central Oregon Community College.
The department also pioneered for Central Oregon the use of compressed air foam to quell fires and the use of high-volume, large diameter hose.
Black Butte's firefighters also make use of the innovative technique of "positive pressure ventilation" - using giant fans stationed at building entrances to force air into a blazing structure to clear smoke and reduce temperatures.
Churchill noted that the department has worked with ranch homeowners to eliminate shake roofs from new construction and to reduce fuel loads and cut down trees to open up the canopy, reducing the risk of intense wild fires leaping through the community.
Churchill and his wife Linda plan to move to Crooked River Ranch, where Churchill will start a business helping rural homeowners reduce their fire hazards.
Applications for the fire chief's position were to be sent out through Thursday, December 31. The deadline for returning applications is January 18.
"The fire board will review all the applications and resumes and so forth and choose eight out of that group to come in to the station to interview," Churchill said.
He said applications are coming in from all over the United States, with the majority coming from Oregon.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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