Gladstone Fire Department

District Description The City of Gladstone entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement with Clackamas Fire District on July 1, 2022, which terminated on July 1, 2023. This agreement shall automatically renew for two consecutive two-year terms. More information about the contract can be found in the Clackamas Fire District section of this plan. The Gladstone Fire Department provides fire, rescue, and prevention services to the City of Gladstone. The Gladstone Fire Department is primarily staffed by volunteers and is supported by a paid Fire Marshal and a Volunteer Coordinator.

Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Despite being primarily urban, some areas in Gladstone are excellent examples of the Wildland Urban Interface. They are characterized by residential homes surrounded by heavy fuels and steep slopes. Some communities have only one way in and one way out with narrow, steep driveways and poor address signage. Heavy and continuous fuels are present in some natural areas and parks adjacent to neighborhoods, 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 City of Gladstone.

Structural Ignitability The City of Gladstone contracts with Clackamas County for land use planning and building permit services and has a local planning commission to help guide development. Gladstone Fire promotes the creation of defensible space, use of fire-resistant roofing and building materials, and community preparedness in the WUI by working with Clackamas County to integrate these concepts at the regulatory level. Gladstone Fire participates in land use reviews for new development to provide input on access and water supply.

Emergency Response A major wildland urban interface fire in Gladstone would quickly exceed the resources and capabilities of the Department. For this reason, Gladstone 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. Gladstone’s primary mutual aid partner is Clackamas Fire District, which surrounds the City of Gladstone. Burning of yard waste and debris is prohibited in Gladstone, as it is located within the DEQ Burn Ban Boundary.

Gladstone Fire employs two career and many volunteer firefighters. Historically, Gladstone Fire participated on state mobilization strike teams, but has opted out of this partnership in recent years due to diminished capacity to support training and maintain qualifications necessary to participate. Gladstone Fire provides annual refresher training to all staff and will send new staff to Clackamas County Community College to receive S-130 and S-190. The Department would like to improve its capacity in developing and retaining wildland fire certifications, and this is noted in the action plan.

Community Outreach & Education Gladstone Fire supports fire prevention but has a limited capacity to develop and implement public outreach programs. Gladstone Fire would like to be a more active member of the newly formed Clackamas Wildfire Collaborative to increase their capacity for providing structural and wildland fire prevention programs in the City.

Local Communities At Risk (Strategic Planning Areas) Gladstone Fire recognizes that there are smaller-scale Communities at Risk that have unique wildfire hazards to be addressed at the more local scale. Communities that have been identified as being particularly vulnerable to wildfires are listed in Table 9-11. Gladstone Fire professionals considered the following factors to determine the local CARs including:

  • Need for defensible space.

  • Access limitations (narrow driveways, lack of address signage, one way in/one way out).

  • Steep slopes that can hinder access and accelerate the spread of wildfire.

  • Lack of water available for wildland fire fighting.

  • Heavy fuels on adjacent public lands.

  • Potential ignition sources from recreationists and transients.

  • Agricultural and backyard burning.

  • Lack of community outreach programs to promote wildfire awareness.

  • Communications difficulties.

Fuels Reduction Fuels reduction projects can and should be accomplished at the local scale, which is the creation of defensible space around homes, as well as the landscape scale, which is the extension of vegetation treatments onto adjacent forested land and natural areas. Gladstone Fire will help to facilitate cooperation between public and private organizations to ensure that fuels reduction work occurs strategically and benefits homeowners as well as adjacent public and private lands.

To ensure that landscape-level treatments are paired with projects to create defensible space around vulnerable communities, priority fuels reduction projects have been overlaid with the Communities at Risk identified by Gladstone Fire.

Fuels Reduction Priorities

• Parkway Woods • Billy Goat Island