BBR Fire Chief speaks to residents

Ed Sherrell, fire chief at Black Butte Ranch for the past seven years, told the Friends of BBR his department is expecting a new Type-6 engine soon that is a “worker-bee.”

It’s a smaller engine that gets around in the forest well and carries 300 gallons of water.

Chief Sherrell also described several other facets of his department’s operations to his audience. Presently, the department consists of six career and ten student firefighters.

“We have a first aid ‘walk-in’ program open to Ranch residents. People may have their blood pressure checked, heart rates monitored, and other testing by our paramedics.”

All six permanent members of the department are paramedics as well as Chief Sherrell.

Recently, the department responded to a winter medical emergency by going out in snowmobiles for a rescue call.

Cooperation is very essential for smaller departments in rural areas. The BBR department made 16 responses last month on the Santiam Pass. “It keeps our team sharp,” he said.

“Our collaboration with the Sisters-Camp Sherman department is the best. We help each other in covering needs of people in our area,” said Chief Sherrell. That area includes BBR, Camp Sherman, Sisters, and neighboring locations.

Sherrell and Smith showed recent pictures of the department’s 75-foot ladder at work in Madras during a training exercise. A two-story building was set ablaze and both the BBR and Madras firefighters got ‘on-the-job’ training in firefighting and using the 75-foot ladder engine.

“The other day I saw a 5,000 square foot home being built on the Ranch,” said Smith. “It brought home the need and potential use for a 75-foot ladder engine.”

There is a hose at the top of the ladder and it can be automatically controlled from below.