When Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue firefighter Jesse Fitzpatrick arrived in Warm Springs, he was greeted with sobering words.
“Good news — you’re in the right spot,” Fitzpatrick’s task force leader said. “The bad news is that a fire is coming over that ridge in 15 minutes. Get ready.”
Fitzpatrick is one of 18 firefighters from the agency that were sent on special assignment this month to help battle wildfires across the state.
So far, TVF&R has sent four teams of firefighters to assist in wildfire relief across the state, helping to tackle the Cornet-Windy Ridge Fire near Baker City, the Canyon Creek Complex fire near John Day and the County Line 2 Fire in Warm Springs.
Fitzpatrick, five other TVF&R firefighters and crews from Hillsboro, Forest Grove and the Washington County District 2 fire districts joined hundreds of firefighters in Warm Springs, working the front lines and helping ensure that people and businesses were safe.
“Our primary purpose is structural protection — homes and businesses,” Fitzpatrick said. “We do a lot of work with the Department of Forestry to control the fires, and help put out hot spots and travel with them as they do back burning.”
Back burning is a firefighting technique that fights fire with fire, Fitzpatrick said. By strategically burning areas in the wildfire’s path, it helps to keep the fire contained and, eventually, burn itself out.
“We protected structures for five or six hours straight, right after arriving,” Fitzpatrick said. “We worked until midnight, then slept for six hours and did the same thing the next day.”