District Description The Estacada Rural Fire District #69 is a special service district that provides fire, rescue, and prevention services to the City of Estacada and the surrounding unincorporated areas. The mission of the Estacada Rural Fire District is to serve the community by providing quality fire and life safety services.

The Estacada Rural Fire District protects 88 square miles from two fire stations. The District includes the areas of Eagle Creek, Currinsville, Dodge, Garfield, George, Springwater, Tracy, and Viola. There are 13 career, 47 volunteer, and 2 seasonal firefighters that respond to approximately 1,700 alarms annually. Over 70% of the calls handled by the District annually are calls for emergency medical help.

Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Estacada’s Fire District is a rural area on the eastern edge of Clackamas County adjacent to large tracts of federal and private forests. The terrain is steep, causing access and communication limitations. The Clackamas River bisects the District and continues to the Mount Hood National Forest, attracting thousands of visitors every year. Campers, hikers, hunters, and other visitors to this area can potentially start wildfires that could carry from public land to the residential communities.

The WUI area is characterized by rural residential homes surrounded by heavy fuels and steep slopes. In addition, many of the neighborhoods have only one way in and one way out with narrow, steep driveways and poor address signage. Heavy and continuous fuels dominate this area, so fires that begin on public land or on smaller private residential lots can quickly threaten the communities and natural resources that thrive in the Fire District.

Oregon State Parks, the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service have a few heavily forested landholdings that are adjacent to homes in the Wildland Urban Interface. As Estacada Fire targets the residential communities for creating defensible space, there is an opportunity to engage state and federal partners in reducing fuels on this adjacent public land.

Structural Ignitability Estacada Fire promotes the creation of defensible space, use of fire-resistant roofing and building materials, and community preparedness in the WUI. Estacada Fire works with the City of Estacada and Clackamas County to integrate these concepts at the regulatory level by providing input on access and water requirements for new development. When the District provides input, the fire flow and access requirements are always communicated to the Clackamas County Building Department.

Emergency Response A major wildland urban interface fire in Estacada would quickly exceed the resources and capabilities of the District. For this reason, Estacada Fire has mutual aid agreements in place, which allows for the sharing of resources across the county in the event of a large-scale disaster such as a wildfire.

In the event of a large wildland fire, evacuations may be necessary. This rural area presents some difficulties due to the large number of one way in and one way out roads. More coordination and outreach are needed to ensure that evacuation procedures are developed and understood.

Burning of yard waste and debris is challenging in the Estacada Fire District because backyard burning is allowed in all areas. Estacada Fire tries to be consistent with neighboring jurisdictions’ Backyard Burning programs but does not have staff or resources to regulate burning in Estacada. Estacada Fire follows ODF’s rules and regulations regarding backyard burning; when ODF halts burning, Estacada does as well. The District issues permits only for agricultural/slash and cultural burning, but honors ODF permits and is working to implement a self-certification/self-permitting process similar to Molalla Fire’s program. The need for a more structured Backyard Burning Program is indicated in the Estacada Action Plan.

Estacada Fire employs 13 career, 47 volunteer, and 2 seasonal firefighters who receive regular wildland fire training to remain current on qualifications. They also have a student program that includes 2 students per shift and up to 6 total. The District supports S-130 and S-190 training. Estacada Fire would like to work more directly with the USFS and ODF to have opportunities to participate in live fires.