Administrative Member

This category is available for applicants who do not wish or may not be able to participate in Fire/Rescue or EMS operations, but still desire to serve their local volunteer fire department. Membership in this category is reserved for persons whose special abilities or skills may be considered beneficial to the Department and/or those who have a desire to participate in fundraising, departmental events, public service events, work details, administrative support and other non-emergency related functions. Administrative members will not be permitted to participate in fire and rescue operations

Explorer Membership

This category is available for prospective applicants between the ages of 15 to 18 years of age, and has limited availability. Explorer cadets may pursue Fire/Rescue or EMS training and may be eligible to participate in the various fire/rescue and emergency services duties listed above at the discretion of the Fire Chief. Parental permission is required to pursue this category of membership and certain restrictions apply to participation while school is in session including curfews and grade point average requirements. Letters of recommendations are strongly encouraged for applicants to this category.

Expectations

Although no previous experience or training is required, you need more than just a desire to help people in order to be successful with the department. You also need courage and dedication, assertiveness, and a willingness to learn new skills and face new challenges. Our service is one that calls on its members to perform hot, sweaty, dirty, strenuous work, often in uncertain and hazardous environments.

Our volunteers need to be team players, respecting each other’s role and contributions. You need to be able to work on-call and to deal with occasional interruptions to your lifestyle, dropping what you’re doing at a moments notice to respond to the emergency needs of your fellow citizen.

A new recruit can expect to spend about 80 hours of recruit academy time in the first 6 months and then between 2 and 3 hours each week on fire department business. This entails meetings, training, emergency responses and other miscellaneous activities. Some weeks will be more and other weeks much less. The days of the week or times may vary depending on the level of activity. However, most regularly scheduled events occur on Thursday evenings. While we try to be as flexible and accepting as we can be, there are certain objectives we expect you to meet:

• You must be at least 18 years of age to apply. A statement of parental or guardian consent must accompany an application from anyone under the age of 18 years.
• You must be a citizen of the United States or have legal alien status.
• You must be physically, intellectually and emotionally capable of performing the duties according to your area of assignment.
• You must reside or work within in the Harrisburg Fire District.

• New Firefighters must complete an approximate 80-hour NFPA Entry Level Firefighter course within 6 months of acceptance into membership.
• Probationary firefighters will not be allowed to attend any other courses prior to completion of the entry level firefighter course.
• Firefighters must attend at least 75% of regularly scheduled or special drills each year following successful completion of the probation period. Each session lasts approximately 3 hours. Regular drills are scheduled on every Thursday evening throughout each month. Extra training sessions are scheduled as needed.
• Firefighters must respond to at least 15% of the total fire calls per year and 10% of total medical/rescue calls.

• New EMS Personnel must complete an Oregon Certified Emergency Medical Technician-EMT course within 18 months of gaining membership.
• EMS personnel must attend 50% of regularly scheduled or special drills each year. Each session lasts approximately 3 hours. Regular drills are scheduled on every Thursday evening throughout each month. Extra training sessions are scheduled as needed. In addition, EMS personnel must attend 75% of all scheduled EMS drills. EMS drills are scheduled on the first Tuesday of every month.
• Active EMS Personnel must respond to at least 15% of the total EMS calls per year.

• New personnel classified as Administrative, must attend 100% of all regularly scheduled business meetings unless excused. Regular business meetings are scheduled the first Thursday of every month.
• Administrative personnel must attend 75% of all fundraising, departmental events, work details, and other non-emergency related functions.

Explorer Cadets

» The Explorer Program will be governed by Standard Operating Guideline 104.10

Application Process

1. Each prospective member must complete and submit a standard fire department application. The application will give authorization for criminal history and Department of Motor Vehicles record checks.
2. The applicant will be contacted upon completion of the background check and scheduled for an interview with the Personnel Committee.
3. The Personnel Committee will make a recommendation to the Fire Chief. The Fire Chief will render the final decision to accept or deny based upon the background checks, recommendation of the Personnel Committee, and if needed, an interview with the prospective applicant.
4. If the recommendation is to accept the applicant, the candidate will be contacted and scheduled for a medical screening and drug screen. This will be paid for by the District. Upon satisfactory results of the medical and drug screen, the applicant will be accepted as a new member.
5. If the recommendation is to decline the applicant or the results of the medical and drug screen are not acceptable, the applicant will be notified of such details. If the applicant is declined membership, he/she may not reapply for one year.
6. Unless otherwise documented, new members must complete the NFPA Entry Level Firefighter academy and/or new recruit orientation prior to responding to emergency calls.