Sitting on the University campus across from Hayward Field on Agate Street, Eugene’s Fire Station 13 – the University Station – watches over the campus area.
It is one of 11 fire stations that provide fire suppression and medical first response services in Eugene, and it is responsible for responding to all such emergencies on the University campus.
The three firemen who man the station also respond to Eugene’s older east side, according to the Eugene Fire and EMS Web site.
The station is staffed 24 hours a day; the firefighters and medics who respond to calls work 24-hour shifts then have 48 hours off.
The Eugene Fire Department provides both fire suppression and medical response, so all firemen in the city must have dual training.
To be hired in Eugene, firefighters must obtain at least an intermediate level of medical first response training, EFD spokesperson Glen Potter said. The emergency medical response training and certification program in Oregon is designed for participants to reach first a basic level, then intermediate level, before finally becoming a paramedic.
With each level, responders can offer more advanced emergency medical care.
“A paramedic is on top,” Potter said. And the University Station has at least one paramedic present at all times, he said.
“The majority of line personnel in Eugene are at the paramedic level,” Potter said, so usually Station 13 has two or three paramedics present.
Though the station provides medical first response coverage, there are no ambulances on site.
“At every fire station there is at least one fire engine … and each engine has medical (supplies),” Potter said.
The paramedics and intermediate level responders at the University Station are the first people to arrive at a medical emergency at the University or surrounding area and will administer on-the-scene medical care. An ambulance from a larger station arrives second and can provide transportation to a hospital.
“It is a lot more important to have a medic come to you than for you to get to a hospital,” Potter said.
The station will also be the first to respond to any fire on campus.
Eugene firefighters train “for all different kinds of (fire) responses, including high rise response,” which is what most University fire calls entail, Potter said.
The Eugene fire marshall inspects all new buildings in the city, but does not inspect existing buildings unless there is a complaint filed, Potter said.
The University works independently from EFD to prevent as many fire emergencies on campus as possible, University fire protection manager Chuck Campbell said.
Campbell personally inspects every University residence hall for fire hazards each year.
Campbell said the vast majority of items that are considered potential fire hazards are outlined and prohibited in the halls by the University Housing rental contract.
“I inspect every living facility the University has, and every year when I go I find items precluded by the contract because they are demonstrated fire hazards – and that’s the nugget of truth,” Campbell said. “Read the contract.”
Some of those items include candles, microwave ovens and portable heaters, Campbell said.
Four of the University’s residence halls have working sprinkler systems, Campbell said, including Barnhart Hall, the Living Learning Center, Carson Hall and the Graduate Village.
“Sprinkler systems are extremely effective in saving buildings from fire,” Campbell said. He added that in 98 percent of fires in buildings with a sprinkler system installed, the fire was put out by one or two sprinkler heads, which are individually activated by heat.
Campbell is more concerned for students who live off campus and do not have the benefit of University sponsored inspections.
“It is important to be careful,” Campbell said. “You need to realize that a fire can actually happen to you. It’s hard to believe or conceive that you can have a fire, but it actually can happen.”
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