Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue tells Newberg council EMS calls dominate workload; spotlights station upgrades and wellness program

Patrick Fayle, deputy chief for Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, told the Newberg City Council on June 1 that the district handled roughly 3,800 calls in the past year and that about 70% of those were emergency medical service calls. Fayle said that concentration of EMS work has driven the district to develop community-focused responses, including an advanced practice community paramedic program and a nurse-navigation partnership with dispatch to route low-acuity calls away from heavy assets.

Fayle described local station resources and near-term capital work. He said Station 21 and Station 20 together support much of Newberg’s coverage, that Station 35 is in temporary quarters as a full rebuild begins, and that Station 20 permitting is near final phases with an estimated one to 1.5-year construction timeframe. He told councilors the stations will include decontamination spaces and trauma-informed design elements to reduce long-term health risks to firefighters and to support gender-specific privacy and community access.

Why it matters: Fayle argued that building flexible, well‑designed stations and investing in community paramedics will keep heavy assets available for high‑acuity incidents while offering alternatives for frequent 911 users. That mix, he said, reduces response strain on lifesaving equipment and personnel.

Fayle also described StruggleWell (including the week‑long WarriorPath curriculum) as a program aimed at mental‑health resiliency for first responders. He said about 40% of the district’s employees have participated and cited program outcomes in broad terms: he reported that 33 of the state’s listed presumptive PTSD‑related cancer cases had participated in WarriorPath and that many returned to work after the program. He framed the program as part of a moral obligation to protect responders’ long‑term health.

Councilors asked practical questions about the station zoning terms Fayle used (hot/warm/cold zones), active‑threat cross‑training with Newberg Police, and recruiting. Fayle described the zones as contamination‑control practices (hot zone for gross decon and gear isolation; warm/cold for staged ventilation and living areas), said the district now uses 'strike teams' to enter active‑threat scenes with police protection, and said the service has had recent success reversing a prior recruiting shortfall by being proactive in national recruitment efforts.

Fayle also highlighted an internal performance metric: he said the district’s witnessed cardiac‑arrest survival rate is about 45% under a strict definition that counts neurologically intact patients who walk out of the hospital. He credited community CPR training and close law‑enforcement partnerships for that outcome.

The presentation concluded with a QR code to the district’s incident data and a brief question‑and‑answer period. Fayle said joint training with local police and additional public education on 911 use are planned.

Quotes (selected): "Approximately 70% of everything that we do is EMS related," Fayle said, describing call mix and the impetus for community paramedic work. "Once you receive a PTSD diagnosis, your likelihood of substance abuse goes up by 83 percent," Fayle said while explaining the rationale for wellness programming.

Next steps: Fayle invited councilors to review the incident dashboard linked via QR code and said the district will coordinate additional active‑threat and joint training with Newberg Police this summer.