Santa Clara Rural Fire Protection District
HISTORY
History of the Santa Clara Rural Fire Protection District
Sometime in 1942 or 1943 (no one is exactly sure of the date), a group of residents in a small farming community halfway between the growing cities of Eugene and Junction City, came together to form their own fire protection district. The District officially known as “Santa Clara Rural Fire Protection District”, covered an area just north of Lucky Lane, on River Road, to a point just south of Howard Avenue south on River Road in Eugene, Oregon.
First Fire Chief for the District, 1943-1950, was Chief Harold Overgard. In 1950, Chief Overgard resigned from the district and for six months Paul Wilson became Chief. Chief Wilson found working fulltime and operating the District too difficult on his family and tendered his resignation the board. After a few months of discussion the board appointed Henry Mortensen as chief of the District. Chief Mortensen will lead the District through the 50’s eventually leaving the District in January of 1959.
The early 1950’s brought new development to Santa Clara. Farm lands, which comprised most of the District, began sprouting housing developments in the core area of Santa Clara. The population was beginning to increase and so were the needs of District.
At the end of the 50’s, when Chief Mortensen left the District, a firefighter who joined the District three years earlier was appointed chief. His name was Jack Lamb and he was appointed in January of 1959, he would be the Districts volunteer chief for one year.
Early 1960 the District noted the need for a full-time employee to handle district business on a regular basis. The Board of Directors hired Chief Jack Lamb as the District’s first paid Fire Chief. Chief Lamb would go on operating the District for the next 26 years.
The need for more room had been determined a must and in 1960, the District began construction of a new fire station at 2600 River Road. This new station located directly across the street from what was Station One; small by today’s standards but still in use, is large enough to house two fire engines, one rescue and ten to twenty volunteers. The flag first flew over the new station in 1961. The old building is currently owned by Santa Clara Water District and is not being used.
Fire Chief Jack Lamb
In 1964, the District bought its first new modern fire apparatus. The 1964 Ford fire engine could pump 1,000 gallons of water per minute, two to three times as much as old fire engines. It also carried 800 gallons of water in its tank; which at the time was almost the total amount carried by two other engines. This new apparatus was designed to handle the hard-to-control grass fires within the District.
It was also about this time that the District began to change its shape as Eugene City began providing services to the area previously provided by Santa Clara Fire to the area south of Beltline. The first mention of Eugene annexing the Santa Clara area was written down in the monthly logs of the District, March 3, 1960.
The seventies introduced some big changes to our district. Noticeably, a boom in major housing developments boosted population growth; as well as, our call volume. Secondly, in 1971, the district began responding to medical calls with a new Ford rescue van and sending volunteers to school for Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training. The Districts first vehicle was donated by the Military Department through the work of Howard Kirshner.
The year 1972 saw purchase of the Districts third new fire truck. This allowed the District to take its two original fire engines out of service, ending their many years in our District. The 1946 Ford open cab still sits at Station Two where it has been restored and is currently used for fire prevention activities.
Towards end of the 70’s, Jack and the Board made two major decisions to prepare District for the eighties. First, build a second station at the north end of the District? This station, completed in 1978 and funded by a Block grant supported by the Federal Government, helped to keep response times to a minimum and maximize protection to all areas of District. The secondary advantage came with the District gaining the opportunity to recruit much needed volunteers from a larger area.
SCFD Station 2, 1978
Fire Chief Skip Smith
The second decision was to create the position of Fire Marshal to assist Chief Lamb with running of fire district to meet our District’s high standards. April 1979, Skip Smith was hired to fill this position and serve as the Districts training officer.
By the mid-eighties, our district advanced its high level of service by offering not only fire suppression and emergency care but an effective public education and prevention program. The newest fire truck was put into service in 1986, bringing total fleet of our district to: four fire trucks, two rescue trucks, one utility pickup, one fire prevention vehicle and one Chief’s vehicle.
At the close of 1986, the District saw the retirement of Chief Jack Lamb. In his thirty years of service to this District, 26 of which were served as Chief, Jack brought this district from a small rural fire department to a modern suburban protection district.
Starting in 1986 the newly appointed Chief, Skip Smith, continued the tradition of excellence to the citizens of Santa Clara by using cost saving measures to improve the Districts capabilities.
To assist with District functions, Chief Smith in February of 1987, hired Mark Mikkelsen to handle training and Fire Marshal responsibilities. Retiring in 2009, Assistant Chief Mark Mikkelsen completed 19 years with the District.
As the call volume continued to increase, so did the work load for maintaining the Districts assets. As a result, the District has hired support personnel over the years to assist with the emergency responses, equipment upkeep and the general station maintenance.
Assistant Chief Mark Mikkelsen
Fire Chief Randal Wood
Among Chief Wood's greatest accomplishments during his tenure as Fire Chief were the structural seismic renovations of Station 61 (2013) and Station 62 (2016). These renovations were both financed largely through grant funds, saving the citizens of the Santa Clara Fire District millions over 1.5 million dollars. Both stations are now built to remain standing, even in the event of a serious earthquake.
Like most other volunteer departments in the United States, in the 2010's Santa Clara started to see a sharp increase in the number of calls for service, but a decrease in the number of volunteers available to respond to calls. As experienced volunteers retired, the burden of the additional calls was increasingly being borne by the paid staff of the district. In order to address this issue, Chief Wood and the Santa Clara Board of Directors started exploring different options for alleviating the stress on the few paid staff that the district employed.
One of the earliest options that was explored by the Board was contracting with the City of Eugene for services. However, this would have necessitated a large increase in tax rate for the district that was not considered realistic. Another option that the Board considered was hiring on additional firefighters for Santa Clara in order to ensure that there was a paid crew ready to respond 24/7. However, this option was also too expensive for the district to realistically afford.
A third option that the Board considered, and ultimately decided on, was to contract with Lane Fire Authority for services. Unlike the City of Eugene, Lane Fire Authority was willing and able to contract for an amount that SCFD could afford without raising taxes. Santa Clara employees would become Lane Fire Authority employees working out of nearby LFA Station 115. This would allow LFA to staff a 24/7 ALS engine company that would respond to calls in SCFD.
After careful consideration, the Santa Clara Board of Directors decided to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement with Lane Fire Authority. The Board signed the contract in May, 2018 with an effective date of 7/1/2018.