Jackson County Fire District 5 officials say ongoing brownouts will continue for the district’s Neil Creek Road fire station near Emigrant Lake as the embattled district navigates budget struggles and staffing limitations.

Interim Fire Chief Aaron Bustard said service response times, even with an increase of calls during fire season, have been acceptable in recent months despite being unable to regularly staff the rural station off Highway 66. Bustard said the district made the decision the first week of August to leave the station, at 40 Neil Creek Road, vacant when staffing was unavailable.

District officials in August reported a budget shortfall of between $1 million and $3 million at least in the near term, and a need to reduce staffing by up to a dozen people if drastic steps are not taken. Bustard said the biggest impact to day-to-day operational issues has been maintaining staffing levels after the previous administration under Chief Charles Hanley boosted staffing with non-renewable grant dollars.

The fire district terminated Hanley’s contract Aug. 6 — three months after placing him on administrative leave. An investigator’s report, results of which were obtained recently by the Rogue Valley Times, shed light on allegations against the former chief that included a culture of alleged sexual harassment and misconduct.

Currently, two companies are housed at the Talent station No. 5 location — the one intended for that station and the one assigned to a newly constructed station in downtown Phoenix. That facility sits vacant while district and city officials work to iron out lease agreement terms though staffing is allocated and responding to calls out of the station along Highway 99.

Staffing for the Neil Creek station, however, has not been readily available since mid-summer. Under district guidelines, Bustard said response with a fire engine calls for three firefighters. In a pinch, fewer personnel can respond with different apparatus, such as a tactical water tender, which can be deployed with just two staff members.

“It does everything a fire engine does but carries more water. You can take that to any fire, and they would take a brush truck to medicals or motor vehicle crashes, those kinds of calls,” Bustard said.

Bustard sympathized with neighbors of the station and said the district is working to staff the station as often as possible. Residents served by the Neil Creek station, known as station No. 4, have voiced concerns in recent months about the lack of staffing at the station.

Meredith Reynolds, a former district budget committee member, told Fire District 5 board members she worried about slower response times for a primarily retired surrounding community. Reynolds told the board, “Very few of us in my community are young. We need to know there’s an emergency vehicle that can get there quickly.”

Brian Bumgarner, who spoke Sept. 10 on behalf of family members served by the station, said he understood budget constraints but that the station “needs to be staffed to serve and protect the many residents and properties that have supported and paid into this district for 50- to 60-plus years.”

“Without the staffing of this station, this will create response times that are unacceptable to the southern area of the fire district,” he told board members.

“As the board and interim administration review the many issues, address the personnel matters and redefine the new goals and strategic priorities, the district, in my opinion, needs to maintain its baseline response and service functions to the tax paying properties.”

To the district’s credit, Bustard said response on Sept. 4 to a 13-acre fire that closed down part of Interstate 5 near exit 11 that called for air and ground attacks from multiple agencies had not been hindered by the Neil Creek station being unstaffed at the time of the fire. While the Neil Creek station is the closest to the fire, response from that location would have only been “three or four minutes faster” for just a few personnel, he said.

“We didn’t have anybody at the station that day, but we were still the first crews on scene. … Even with the delay, they made it fairly quick and got it knocked down,” Bustard said, noting that the district issued a “general callback” requiring all paid staff to report for duty to respond to the fire. Oregon Department of Forestry and Ashland Fire provided mutual aid.

“We had a couple firefighters who went right over to that (Neil Creek) station and picked up rigs from there,” he said. “We probably could have had one unit to the fire a little quicker, but we got there pretty fast and made a good impact.”

Bustard said the district is awaiting grant dollars and tax revenues to trickle in for existing and added staffing. When staffing allows, Bustard said personnel can be sent to Neil Creek. 

“We’re handling it day to day, looking at the schedule. When there are enough, we send people over. We’ll have some days it’s browned out, but we’re staffing it as staff levels permits,” he said.

However, without added funding, the district could lose eight paid positions in February. Capt. Brady Graham, president of the IAFF Local 2596 union, said additional losses would reduce the district to 24 paid staff, whereas 30 is needed to minimally staff all three stations.

“If the goal was to open all three stations, 24-7 like it used to be, we would have to, for the time being, go down to two-person engine companies all the way across the board,” Graham said.

“I don’t know if we’re willing to do that. It’s a safety risk. There’s a reason why we went to three. There’s a reason why we bargained it into our contract.”

Bustard said much of the future of the district hinges on budgetary decisions. The district is working with Fire District 3 to negotiate an intergovernmental agreement in which District 3 would provide administrative services that would help reduce costs and maintain or improve service levels for District 5.

On a positive note, Bustard said 13 or 14 additional volunteers — with varying levels of experience — recently signed on to volunteer with the district, which could improve staffing levels for all three stations.

“A lot of what we’re dealing with right now is just waiting to figure out the budget stuff and finding creative ways to do more with less. … Having a station be empty isn’t what we want. We’re not trying to not deliver service. We’re just in a hard spot right now,” he said.

“The minute we recoup that money and get staffing back up we’ll adjust. … For now, we’re doing what we can do.”

Fire District 5 station no. 4 is located at 40 Neil Creek Rd.

The station originated as part of the Barron Rural Fire District, which annexed into District 5 in 1968.

All told, District 5 serves a more than 120-mile area, with station locations including District 5 headquarters along Highway 99 in Talent, a recently reconstructed station inside Phoenix city limits and the Neil Creek station near Emigrant Lake.

The Neil Creek Road station was given a facelift 15 years ago and seismic upgrades completed last year. 

District officials say call volume is low for the station, leading the district to focus limited available resources for other areas of the district.

During September, the main station responded to 127 calls for service to the Talent area, served by the main station.

Some 98 calls were made for service to the Phoenix area, which will eventually be served by the newly constructed station.

Calls for the Neil Creek station totaled 11.