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Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue outlines staffing push, advanced-medic program and bond project needs
Summary
Deputy Chief Patrick Fale told the West Linn council that TVF&R responded to record wildfire deployments in 2024, has new EMS and nurse-navigation programs to limit low-acuity 911 use, and will use a 2024 local-option levy to hire 36 additional firefighters over five years; the agency warned capital costs have risen since the 2021 bond.
Deputy Chief Patrick Fale of Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue delivered a state-of-the-district presentation to the West Linn City Council on June 2, summarizing last year’s wildfire deployments, local incident trends and the agency’s staffing and capital priorities.
Fale said 2024 was an "unprecedented year for a fire, on the landscape in the state of Oregon," noting roughly 1,900,000 acres burned statewide and deployment of dozens of task forces. He said TVF&R deployed crews to 2025 Palisades incidents, including a team sent to Southern California, and emphasized that local call volume inside West Linn is substantial (the city-limit dashboard showed about 1,800 incidents).
On staffing and EMS, Fale described programs aimed at reducing low-acuity 911 calls: community paramedics working single-unit responses and an advanced resource-medic (ARM) program that includes a nurse practitioner — a two-year state grant-supported pilot intended to treat some conditions on site and keep patients out of emergency departments. "We can't deploy our way out of this," Fale said, arguing for upstream solutions and partnerships.
Fale outlined funding and capital context: a 2021 voter-approved bond funds station improvements but rising construction costs mean some projects may need additional resources. He also summarized a local-option levy approved by voters in May 2024 that will fund hiring 36 additional firefighters and paramedics over five years; the levy increased the rate by roughly $0.24 per $1,000 compared with a previously cited $0.45 rate and TVF&R's total tax rate was stated at $2.10 per $1,000 (with the increase taking effect July 1). Fale and councilors discussed the agency’s recruitment strategies, development programs for internal leadership, and planned station rebuilds and training-center replacement.
