Oregon’s firefighters have training sessions this week in Newport. While incident management scenarios take place every year, first responders anticipate a challenging 2015.
Nearly 100 firefighters are participating in team trainings on the Oregon Coast. Rich Hoover is with the State Fire Marshal’s office. He says they see the increased fire activity of the past couple of years continuing:
Hoover: “Normally there’s only maybe one or two conflagrations a year. Last year was almost record setting we had six declared. And we think it could very easily be even worse this year.”
Hoover says three teams of responders will practice a deployment scenario and participate in refresher courses. He says they also train for hazards like building collapse and earthquake, because these same teams are on call should Governor Brown declare a statewide emergency.
