Check out the incredible number of “races” Lent Station 11 teams have taken part in so far – this year alone. Also find out what is hindering their response times..
Portland Fire and Rescue Captain Chris Starling begins his presentation at the July Lents Neighborhood Livability Association.
History and Photos by David F. Ashton
Although it was a beautiful summer evening, about twenty people came to the Lents Neighborhood Livability Association (LNLA) meeting on Thursday evening July 14th.
Their guest speaker was Captain Chris Starling of Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R), who works at Lents Station No. 11 in downtown Lents.
The good news from Captain Starling: PF&R has received a budget increase, for the first time in about a decade. “Fortunately, Rescue 11, the two-person rig, is not on the table to be cut; it will therefore continue to operate with engine 11.
In In the first half of this year, Engine Company 11 completed thousands of rides, Captain Starling said..
Surprising static
From January to July 14, 2022, Engine 11 completed 2,373 trips, making it Portland’s second busiest response unit; following the Engine Company of Mill Park Station 7 – which made 2,464 trips during the same period.
Rescue 11 takes “weak” calls; no active fire calls, and only calls that are “not quite life threatening,” as Starling put it. Although many dispatches relate to medical emergencies, some calls relate to the activation of a smoke alarm. But, many of the 1,231 runs Rescue 11 has been sent to are the accidental triggering of “emergency response pendants” – or the owner pressing the “see if it works” button.
“But, due to staffing issues, your Lents Neighborhood Rescue 11 unit has been unavailable for duty approximately 30 times this year,” Starling said. “In this case, engine 11 for four people is sent. The negative result is that if there is a “high acuity need”, such as your house on fire, there could be a longer response time, because the apparatus and crew to fight your fire will have to be sent from a more distant station.”
The good news, he continued, is that the increased budget means that over time, 33 more firefighters will come online.
-3 Narrow lanes of ‘street improvements’ and speed bumps, slow traffic – and also prevent PF&R devices from arriving on time, says Captain Starling.
Street “enhancements” slow down response times
Asked what affects response times, Starling commented, “When you start ‘suffocating’ the streets, it affects our response times. When they remove a lane and turn it into a giant bike lane or parking lane, it also removes traffic access for fire engines.
“And, with a big push for public transit — well, they’re big vehicles, and we have to share the road with them,” Starling continued. “Also, they are installing more speed bumps. Anything that reduces the flow of traffic also slows us down.
Another issue is staff fatigue, the PF&R captain added. “I myself worked about six days in a row and made 72 calls during that time; and 24 of them were during the night portion of the 24-hour shift. Doing this day in and day out really affects his ability to do the job.
Dealing with the discourteous
“Quite frankly, the entitlement of many of the people we serve means we are treated with disrespect; we have many people, whom we try to help, do not hesitate to speak to us in a “colourful” language.
“When a person is rude and disrespectful, they’ll do their best to deal with it,” Starling said. “But, when someone is threatening, our fire paramedics have no choice; we have to step back and ask the police for help.
Captain Starling says up to half of their daily calls are about homeless issues.
Mental health issues abound
“Over the past five years, mental health issues have increased dramatically,” Starling continued. “The [mental health issue] call volume for this zone is growing higher and faster than almost all of the other 31 zones due to Lent’s socio-economic makeup.
Many of these calls concern people who are homeless. “We’ve had double-digit service calls to the homeless service. It should come as no surprise that a lot of them are in the Springwater trail and areas like that. Up to 40% to 50% of our calls, per day, are about homelessness and homelessness,” Starling said.
PSR and CHAT continue
As for Portland Street Response (PSR), the service which started from Lents Station 11, [CLICK HERE to read about it]Starling said that program and CHAT handle hundreds of calls for people who are in dire straits and need help getting services.
Several people at the meeting said they were unaware of “CHAT”, so Starling explained that this acronym stands for “Community Health and Assessment Team” – a different group that is sent, similar to the PSR program, but on acuity calls.
To view a video of the meeting on YouTube: CLICK HERE. It also contains a presentation by Keith Wilson, CEO of Titan Freight and member of the board of directors of Take shelter nowregarding options for ending homelessness on the streets of Portland.
Learn more about the LNLA by visiting their official website: CLICK HERE.
© 2022 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
