Use this map to determine which Fire District/Department covers your property in Wasco County. Click the + or - buttons or pinch on mobile to zoom.

The area with yellowish highlighting is NOT with MCFR's boundaries. The area to the west and south of the green dashed line is areas within the MCFR boundary as well as under Oregon Department of Forestry protection.

Response to Fires Outside of the Fire District

The Mid- Columbia Fire and Rescue (MCFR) Fire District is bordered by neighboring Fire Districts and “unprotected lands”. Unprotected lands are those which are not within any Fire District Boundary. The boundary determines: who pays property taxes to MCFR, is under the District’s ordinance authority, votes for Fire District Board members (who are the elected governing body) or other Fire District initiatives, and who receives fire and rescue services from the Fire District.

When Does the Fire District Respond to Emergencies Outside of the Fire District Boundary:

Mid- Columbia Fire and Rescue responds to areas outside of the Fire District, within the protection districts of other partner agencies under Mutual-Aid Agreements, Automatic-Aid Agreements, or State Mobilizations.

          ·  Mutual-Aid and Auto-Aid are agreements for assistance with other agencies who in turn provide aid to the Fire District when emergencies exceed the capacity of the local resources. For example: commercial building structure fires or wildland fires which exceed the capacity of MCFR response resources. MCFR gives and receives aid to a 5- county area, with other agencies who also provide aid to MCFR.

         · State Mobilizations are authorized by the Governor of Oregon which requests and authorizes Fire Districts to respond under the Conflagration Act to manage any declared emergency the Governor approves. When MCFR participates in State Mobilizations, the Fire District is compensated for the wages of all employees and apparatus assigned to the mobilization. MCFR is one of the most common users of State Mobilizations for wildland fires which threaten the Fire District and the City of The Dalles.

 When the Fire District Does Not Respond to Emergencies Outside of the Fire District in Unprotected Lands:

The Fire District does not respond to unprotected lands with only a few exceptions. Unprotected lands do not have fire district coverage, do not pay for the services provided by the taxpayers of the fire district, do not have a mutual or automatic aid agreement in place to provide “like services” to the Fire District citizens and patrons, and do not have a contract with the fire district to provide services.

Exceptions:

     · Fires which threaten the Fire District. These include fires which are starting to encroach on the District boundary or if not contained will likely encroach on the District boundary.

    · Fires which are in proximity to the District Boundary and report a victim trapped. In this case, and based on resources available, the Fire District would dispatch a full response to save lives.

   · Emergency calls outside of the Fire District but within the Ambulance Service Area which require additional human or response resources. Examples would include a cardiac arrest call-for-service or a Motor Vehicle Collision.

These circumstances are exceptions and authority to respond are provided in the Oregon Revised Statues (ORS) and Board Policy noted below.

ORS 476.280 authorizes the Fire Chief to respond into unprotected areas to suppress fires when such fires cause or may cause undue jeopardy to life or property.

ORS 478.310 authorizes a fire district to, upon request, respond outside the limits of its district to a fire or other public safety incident and to aircraft emergencies and other incidents on transportation routes.

Mid- Columbia Fire and Rescue Board Policy 3.11

A. It is the policy of the District that the District's personnel, equipment, and material will not respond to a fire outside the boundaries of the District except if:

1. The District has an out of District written agreement for mutual aid or automatic aid.

2. When on property owned by a person with whom the District has entered a written agreement for the fighting of fires as provided for under Policy 3.10.

3. Emergencies outside the District may be responded to when it is determined to be in the best interest of the District. Such best interests are to be determined in the judgment of the Fire Chief, or in his absence, his designee. Example: Mid- Columbia Fire and Rescue's property being threatened by a fire outside of the District's boundary.

4. When the State Fire Marshal has activated the Emergency Conflagration Act (ORS 476.510 to 476.610) it shall be the policy of the District to follow the State Mobilization Plan as prepared by the State of Oregon.