Statement of Provision of Emergency Services for the Adair Rural Fire Protection District.

Adair Rural and Fire Rescue (ARFR) is primarily a volunteer-based department that responds to fire and medical emergencies dispatched through the Benton County 911 center.   In most cases, emergency personnel are not in the station when calls are received and respond from their homes striving to reach each emergency in a timely and professional manner. 

Fire Suppression Services

ARFR's fire suppression operations are organized to most effectively combat the types of fires in our district. ARFR’s fire suppression priority goals are to: 

a.) Save lives 

b.) Limit the spread of fire 

c.) Extinguish the fire 

d.) Minimize the property damage from fire-related hazards

ARFR’s emergency response tactics depend on the availability of fully trained personnel and access to the emergency’s location.  Crews respond to structure fires, smoke investigations, fire alarm activations, outdoor fires of any nature and burn complaints.  ARFR provides fire code enforcement, postfire investigation, and public fire awareness campaigns.  The firefighters also provide motor vehicle collision response, hazardous materials response, rescue, and public assistance.

Mutual Aid Response.

The type and size of fire combined with the availability of ARFR's responders will either automatically, or at our request, dispatch additional resources. Adair has fire response mutual aid agreements with neighboring departments. Corvallis Fire Department, Albany Fire Department and Polk County Fire District #1 are first to respond based on their availability to help while managing risk to their own districts.  In exchange, ARFR provides a similar response to these partners in their time of need.  Since many of ARFR volunteers work or have other responsibilities outside the district, the size of the response crew may vary significantly from call to call highlighting the importance of mutual aid agreements. 

Emergency Medical Services

When the dispatch center receives a call for emergency medical services, a Quick Response Team (QRT) from Adair and a transporting ambulance from the Corvallis Fire Department is dispatched.  ARFR is not a patient transporting agency, so we respond as a basic life support QRT. The QRT provides patient assessment, emergency care and patient stabilization prior to the ambulance arrival.   Ambulance services are typically provided by Corvallis Fire and have response times of 10-20 minutes.  If Corvallis Fire does not have an ambulance available, an ambulance from a surrounding agency will be dispatched.   

Training and Access

Adair’s volunteers are trained to the same firefighting standards as paid department members.  Members participate in weekly drills to maintain certifications and participate in ongoing coursework to advance our skills.  All our responding volunteers are trained to a minimum Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) level and operate in accordance with the Benton County EMS Operational Protocols.

Response Impacting Factors

Access to property impacts our fire and medical response.  The scene's distance from Adair’s station, bridge weight limit restrictions, weather conditions and individual driveway conditions (maneuverability, low clearance branches) impact our services.  

We will risk more to save a life.

We will risk less to save property.

We will risk nothing to save lives or properties that are already lost.

Please call if you have any questions 541.286.0186 or 541.745.7212                                                                                                  

Aaron C. Harris, EMT/RN

Fire Chief