Portland Fire & Rescue

Portland Fire & Rescue The mission of PF&R is to aggressively & safely protect life, property & the environment.
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The PF&R CHAT Program began nearly 5 years ago to better serve the community in a prehospital care setting with the desi...
08/31/2026

The PF&R CHAT Program began nearly 5 years ago to better serve the community in a prehospital care setting with the design to redirect lower acuity (less-severe) medical emergency calls to a two-person crew that could not only address the medical issue but often led to the patient not needing transport to the hospital in an ambulance taking up valuable space both in the ambulance and Emergency Room. But the programming that CHAT addresses has continued to evolve over this 5-year period.

On this International Overdose Awareness Day, it is important to share that PF&R was able to redirect our personnel in the Engines-Trucks and the CHAT rigs to better address the opioid epidemic that struck Portland a few years ago. The focused services provided the community by the PF&R CHAT program was changed when the paramedics on the CHAT car were able to run on overdose emergencies without a 4-person engine or truck. These services started in the downtown core with CHAT 1 and then out in easy county with CHAT 3. Now, all our CHAT cars can respond to overdose emergencies all over the city, provide lifesaving interventions, and offer enrollment to medically supervised programs designed to reduce and remove the individuals need for an op**te.

CHAT is a huge benefit to the firefighters in the stations and those in the community in need of prehospital emergency medical care by successfully addressing a wide variety of medical needs in the community while leaving the larger specialized engines and trucks available for an emergency better suited for the training and tool compliment carried by each apparatus.

responded to an RV on fire alongside a home in SE PDX yesterday. The fire had nearly consumed the RV prior to the arri...
08/31/2026

responded to an RV on fire alongside a home in SE PDX yesterday. The fire had nearly consumed the RV prior to the arrival of crews on scene, but quick work limited the amount of fire extension to the abandoned home nearby. The embers from the fire ignited dry grasses and brush nearby with a concern that a home a few doors down had begun to burn. Large debris piles were affected by fire with many smaller fires within the piles that required crews to dig to the bottom and gain access to the flames to cool and extinguish. No reported injuries and the fire investigation unit was called to discover cause.



(Photo Credit - G. Muhr - PF&R Volunteer Photographer)

It is not only on duty when a firefighter serves their community. Earlier this summer our Technical Rescue Team Members ...
08/30/2026

It is not only on duty when a firefighter serves their community. Earlier this summer our Technical Rescue Team Members were deployed to Sisters to assist with the OSFM in one of the many wildland fires this season. The REMS team provides on the spot emergency medical and rescue services to the wildland firefighters deployed when in need on one of these large extended operations. The team based out of Station 1 was the first REMS team of deployed this season and performed some essential work while deployed including addressing a facial injury of a firefighter in the field. While away, the REMS crew was able to have a few hours to reset with another Portland Fire member who lives in Sisters. Nothing like working the night shift, sleeping as best possible during the day, waking up and heading over to your workmates home, having some cool iced tea and lemonade away from fire camp to reset and get back to work. So not only did the 4 deployed members perform work, but an off-duty member also made contributions to the team in keeping the fire at bay and the entire community safe.

Good morning from on the roof of a recent fire....we started addressing this fire before the sun crested and worked th...
08/29/2026

Good morning from on the roof of a recent fire....we started addressing this fire before the sun crested and worked throughout sunrise to stop the fire from travelling into the arched roof structure loaded with heavy industrials tools.

08/29/2026

The World Cup might be over but there is still some fun soccer to look forward to....come on down to Providence Park on Friday 9/11 to watch battle on the pitch against PPB to see who will take the win this year....Entry into the game is only a small toy or 2 cans of food to benefit either Toy n Joy or The Sunshine Division that benefit the non-profit arms of PF&R and PPB.

The match is 2 weeks away....get it on the calendar....we look forward to having you there!

Go Fire!

Nearly a decade ago, Portland Fire & Rescue began to design programming to be more effective and efficient in providing ...
08/28/2026

Nearly a decade ago, Portland Fire & Rescue began to design programming to be more effective and efficient in providing prehospital medical care to the communities we serve. There were many instances of a 4-person fire engine or fire truck responding to a minor medical call that would limit their ability to respond to incidents of higher significance and better suited for a response with an engine or truck. Along with the large number of "low acuity calls" (think less severe), the reality that our hospital system was struggling with many individuals transported via ambulance to the Emergency Room when in fact, many of these individuals would be better served in a non-hospital setting. There was a recognition that if we could respond with a smaller rig and two qualified health care professionals, we can leave the larger specialized rigs in service ready to respond to emergencies more appropriately assigned an engine or truck staffed by 4 firefighters who also have health care training.

Enter CHAT - Community Health Assess and Treat - a program that often works behind closed doors improving countless health care outcomes, removing unnecessary strain on the prehospital care system, and aiding in providing a healthy pathway for many who are struggling to thrive. This was no easy feat as PF&R members were able to design a program, find external funding sources to begin services, and the program was rolled out nearly 5 years ago.

If you don't know about CHAT, keep your eyes peeled as we share with you the CHAT program, how it began, how it benefits the community, and how the program has evolved as they find new areas to connect and improve the health of our entire community.

responded to an industrial shop fire in the NW Industrial District yesterday as the sun was beginning to rise. This re...
08/28/2026

responded to an industrial shop fire in the NW Industrial District yesterday as the sun was beginning to rise. This reportedly exterior start had extended into a warehouse building and was running the attic space headed toward the large shop area that houses many high powered and technical machines used in the fabrication of molds and tools by the company. Crews were able to stop the advancement of the fire at the warehouse, leaving the entire shop area unaffected by the fire. There were no reported injuries, and the fire is currently under investigation by the PF&R FIU.

While are addressing many vegetation fires within our primary response areas of various sizes and intensities, your Po...
08/28/2026

While are addressing many vegetation fires within our primary response areas of various sizes and intensities, your Portland Fire Wildland Coordinator is taking his skills on the road to assist in a fire on Mt. Hood. Alan Fitzpatrick recently deployed to the Austin Fire in the Mt. Hood National Forest and was assigned the duties of Task Force Leader running a crew through their operational period. As a career fire service employee his entire life, Alan has modeled the behaviors typical of what you would expect from a firefighter which led his oldest son to pursue the career. His son Chris is a seasonal firefighter for the Oregon Department of Forestry and on this deployment the Fitzpatrick Family was assigned to work together for the first time. Being deployed away from your home base is a bit easier when you are deployed with your family!

Thanks for all your efforts, Fitz Family....we love that forest as much as you do!

The final large vegetation fire addressed yesterday by happened at the front end of rush hour alongside I84 near NE 82...
08/27/2026

The final large vegetation fire addressed yesterday by happened at the front end of rush hour alongside I84 near NE 82nd. This fire was a challenge to access as the areas with flames crowning into the tree canopy crews were using a chainsaw to cut through the blackberry brambles and other shrubs to gain access to the area on fire.

Crews were able to reduce the flames quickly and stopped the fire from extending into the homes that were alongside this fire with the embers from the tree canopy blowing into the yards and onto the roofs.

Another wildland incident encountered yesterday that required some creativity to extinguish came in around 2:30 PM. St...
08/27/2026

Another wildland incident encountered yesterday that required some creativity to extinguish came in around 2:30 PM. Station 22 was dispatched to a large smoke column off in the distance along the Willamette River. After the members assigned to Brush 22 used the ATV's and the 4WD Brush Unit located the large log on fire generating the smoke column with quite a bit of vegetation nearby it was determined the best way to ensure complete extinguishment was to call in Fire Boat 6 to pull water from the Willamette and drop into the area of fire. Station 22 members would move into the immediate area and use hand tools to perform some flame reducing actions and then back away to allow the fire boat to drop water in the area using their bow mounted turret.

We are always going to respond to your emergencies and work until the problem is mitigated, regardless of where this emergency is located.

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55 SW Ash Street
Portland, OR
97204

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(503)8233700

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