District Description The Monitor Rural Fire Protection District is a very rural, primarily agricultural area. The District is completely volunteer, so response times are dependent on the availability of volunteers (many of whom are not available during the work day). The community is very supportive of the Fire District, as demonstrated by the five-year Local Option Levy that recently purchased two new engines. The District also has two retired forest service vehicles that are used as brush trucks. Monitor Fire averages about 200 calls a year and operates from two stations, located on Kropff Road and Woodburn Monitor Road.

The Monitor Rural Fire Protection District service area is in both Clackamas and Marion counties. For information on the service area within Marion County, see the Marion County CWPP.

Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) The Monitor Rural Fire Protection District is an agricultural area in southern Clackamas County. It is a relatively flat area, with good access and radio coverage. There is not much of a wildland urban interface in Monitor, because the majority of heavy fuels occur along the rivers and streams and there are very few homes located in these areas. The homes that are near wooded riparian areas and wetlands typically have defensible space around them. The primary threat of wildland fire ignition would be from an escaped agricultural burn.

Clackamas County developed a Wildland Urban Interface Map based on housing density and fuel types. Although there is not a great deal of localized wildfire hazard in Monitor, there are some areas that met the criteria for being included in the Countywide Wildland Urban Interface as illustrated by Map 9-10.

Structure Ignitibility Monitor Fire promotes the creation of defensible space, use of fire-resistant roofing and building materials, and community preparedness. However, with very limited staffing, there is very little communication with the Clackamas Department of Transportation and Development, which provides land use planning and building services in this area. Because protection capabilities are so limited here, Monitor Fire promotes home sprinkler systems, especially in homes that are greater than 3,600 square feet in area. Monitor Fire does not participate in land use reviews, and currently works with individual homeowners or contractors during development to ensure adequate access and fire flow. The District does not receive monthly notifications of new building permits and has not been trained on Velocity Hall. This has been noted in the Monitor Fire Action Plan.

Emergency Response Emergency response is challenging for Monitor Fire because staff is entirely volunteer and ranges from 12 to 15 firefighters, depending on turnover. A major wildland urban interface fire in Monitor would quickly exceed the resources and capabilities of the District. For this reason, Monitor Fire has mutual aid agreements in place, which allow for the sharing of resources across the county in the event of a large- scale disaster such as a wildfire.

Monitor Fire has an excellent training program for a volunteer Fire District, and the majority of volunteers are DPSST certified as Wildland Urban Interface Firefighters. Turnover is always an issue, so training new volunteers can be challenging. Monitor Fire would like to strengthen its relationship with the ODF by attending training (S-130, S-190) to assist in maintaining wildfire qualifications. The District is also in need of new wildland Personal Protective Equipment, including Nomex pants, shirts, and new generation live fire shelters.

Although there is a great deal of agricultural burning in this area, most farmers are well-versed in safe burning practices. Access is good throughout the District, with very few single access roads. Radio and cell phone communication is also good. Each vehicle is now equipped with an 800 MHz and a VHF radio. As the County moves toward narrow banding and higher frequencies, the overall coverage and quality of communication in rural areas such as Monitor are diminished and more repeaters may be needed.