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Eugene Springfield Fire Department Preparing For A Long Fire Season

eugene.gov

The Eugene Springfield Fire Department is gearing up for a fire season that's expected to start early and end late. The Department always has an eye on the South Hills in case a fire breaks out.

The South Hills in Eugene and Springfield has the most trees and more difficult topography to navigate around. Every year the Fire Department updates evacuation routes and containment strategies for that area. Al Gerard is the Fire Marshal for Eugene / Springfield. He says the merger of the two departments has helped response efforts.

Gerard: "In the past we would have to make a call for mutual aid or automatic aid to the other city to help us in the event that we had a wild land incident in one of our hazard areas. Now we just automatically apparatus from either city into the area where there is an incident. So, it's a much quicker response."

Gerard says at any given time there are a dozen firefighters working in the city they *weren't hired in, and that's helping both crews become familiar with the total area. He wants to remind people there are no backyard fires allowed from June 15th to October 1st.

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