The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2025-09-11
Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (8,816 words), shown in readable case and split into speaker turns. Speakers are not yet identified (colors just separate consecutive turns). Auto-captions can contain errors — check the recording for anything that matters.
Session summaryEditor-reviewed
The Labor and Workforce Committee of the Portland City Council met on September 11, 2025, with roll call noting attendance and two members absent. A procedural note referred an agenda item back to committee sponsorship for later discussion, tabling a planned conversation on a disparity study resolution. The main agenda item featured a presentation from the Portland Firefighters Association president, joined by the Fire Chief, an interim Deputy City Administrator, and Portland Fire and Rescue division representatives, marking Emergency Preparedness Month and the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Discussion covered the history of Portland firefighters who traveled to New York after the attacks, long-term health impacts including cancer risk and behavioral health, equipment and decontamination changes adopted since then, federal communications interoperability improvements, and a congressional bill addressing responder and survivor health funding. Additional topics included the number of fire stations relative to city growth, community emergency response team training, mutual aid partnerships, and a request to include seismic resilience funding as a legislative priority. Committee members offered personal reflections on the anniversary, discussed potential letters of support for federal legislation, and closed with remarks about community outreach events involving fire apparatus.
AI-drafted from the session's auto-captions, reviewed by an editor — describes the discussion only; recorded votes live in the vote ledger. Captions contain errors.
0 For.
1 Next time. Great.
2 Yes. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I think.
3 Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining our meeting of the labor and workforce committee of the Portland city council. I am councilor Loretta Smith, committee chair. The seat next to me would be normally filled by vice chair Mitch Green, but he and councilor Dunphy Dunphy are away this week. So it's just us three. It is councilor Steve Novick and Sameer Sameer Kanal. We are joined by craig cook. Do we got that? We have it right. We are joined by craig cook from council operations and deputy council clerk rebecca dobert. Thank you so much. Rebecca, could you please call the roll, please?
4 Novick here.
5 Green. Dunphy.
6 Canal here.
7 Smith.
8 Here. Did I ask craig? Will you please read the statement of conduct?
9 Thank you. Welcome to the meeting of the labor and workforce development committee. To testify before this committee in person or virtually. You must sign up in advance on the committee agenda at wwe ed.gov. Agenda. Labor and workforce development committee. Or by calling 311. Information on engaging with the committee can be found at this link. Registration for virtual testimony closes one hour prior to the meeting. In-person testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard. If public testimony will be taken on an item, individuals may testify for three minutes unless the chair states otherwise, your microphone will be muted when your time is over, the chair preserves order. Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others testimony or committee deliberations will not be allowed. If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting. Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. Additionally, the committee may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. Your testimony should address the matter being considered. When testifying, state your name for the record. If you are a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent. Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the clerk calls your name. Thank you.
10 Thank you. Craig. Before we launch into our first agenda item, I have a procedural note that we're going to do. I am going to, by unanimous consent, send agenda item to back to my office. And we're going to table that. Is that okay.
11 Item two will be referred back to your office.
12 Thank you. Thank you. Fellow councilors I appreciate your willingness to engage in discussions about my resolution. But after thinking about a bit more, I believe we should push off those conversations for a better time in the future. And unless either of you have immediate questions, we can move on to our presentation.
13 So supportive. Happy? Come back when it comes back.
14 Thank you. Agenda item one, please.
15 Item one Portland firefighters and first responders reflect on nine over 11.
16 Could I have bob cozzie lauren johnson? Andy ponce. And aaron johnson come up to the stage? Isaac, are you speaking? Yes. Are you going to do the. Yes.
17 You sit right there. Okay. Perfect.
18 So this is this brings me a lot of joy today. To be able to have you all here today, to be able to say to you, thank you for the sacrifices you make as emergency preparedness bureaus. And I really appreciate this so much. September is an emergency preparedness month, and in that spirit, we will soon have a presentation about Portland firefighters reflecting on the past 24 years since the attacks on September 11th, 2001. And thank you for the invitation this morning. The ceremony you had at the the downtown station fire station was great. And I think everyone can remember when we first learned about nine over 11, when we first learned about the first hit of the planes, I can remember where I was, what I was doing, and I can remember my son, he was eight years old. He was so afraid and he thought that his mom, something had happened to her because he was. I was already at a going to a meeting out at mount hood and he was gone. So he called my office. He was afraid. He was like, is my mom still there? And so for me, what you all represent is courage, commitment, dedication and sacrifice to me. And while it didn't happen here in Portland, but we stepped up in a way that was huge. It was big. And I just wanted to say thank you. And chief johnson, welcome to Portland. You you are in the right place at the right time. You know, locally, we've seen wildfires encroaching on city boundaries, and we've suffered through several destructive winter storms in recent years. And that's just the past. The future will bring more disasters and more emergencies that we need to prepare for. There is roughly a 35% chance that in the next 50 years, a cascadia subduction zone earthquake will come to Portland, if not the entire pacific northwest. Global warming and climate change are causing greater and greater risks of severe drought and other extreme weather events. I have lived through several major disasters and I haven't always been fully prepared, but I learned emergency preparedness has to be a regular part of our life and my family's lives. I encourage all portlanders to do the same. We all need to be prepared for emergencies. We rely on our government to establish conditions for us to live our lives well, especially city and county governments. And we rely on governments to help us during and after disasters and emergencies. But we also have to remember that there will be many times where we will need to rely on ourselves. And I remember the presentation that you gave the other day that said, basically, most people will be rescued by friends and neighbors, so we have to be prepared. The anniversary of nine over 11 offers us a chance to reflect on the tragedies of the day, in the emergency conditions we face. The days afterwards. But the opportunity that we have going forward, and we have opportunity to talk about how we've improved our preparedness as a city since then, and how the more we learn from the past, we can better prepare for the future. We're joined by isaac mckinnon, president of the Portland firefighters union. He will be offering us a presentation regarding nine over 11, how Portland firefighters responded, and the lingering impacts and effects. We're also joined by interim deputy city administrator bob cozzie and fire chief lauren johnson. She recently joined us here in Portland after 26 years of great service with the fire and rescue in dallas, texas. In addition to having several professional certifications, she's earned a master's in public service and public service administration last December. Chief johnson, we haven't had a chance to sit down and break bread together personally, but I'm looking forward to that. I have some places that I want to take you. I welcome you to the city of Portland, and please call on me and my staff if we can help you to settle into your new role. In addition to chief johnson and dca, we're joined by andy ponce and aaron johnson from Portland fire and rescue. We invited all of you here to answer any questions that come up, but please voluntarily chime in if you would like as we have a conversation. We appreciate all of you taking time out of your busy day to join us in recognizing emergency preparedness month and reflecting on 911. And isaac, if you could go ahead, if there are any other questions that my colleagues would like to say or any statements before we go into our presentation, put your hand up. Are you wanting to say anything? Councilor. Okay. Thank you very much. Isaac. Take it away.
19 Okay. Well, thank you very much. Chair Smith. Members of the council. My name is isaac mcclymont. I'm the president of the Portland firefighters association. And I really appreciate this opportunity to reflect not only on the events 24 years ago, but kind of, you know, where we've kind of gone along the way and how we got here. So just kind of briefly, just a quick overview. As we go through the presentation, you can switch sides. Just we're going to go through the the events of 911. The Portland firefighters who responded what they did, the impacts to the fire service at large, long term health effects. Next slide. The Portland firefighters association and the Portland fire and rescue never forget. And then also the nine over 11 memorial. And then where do we go now. So next slide please. So most of us in this room looking around obviously will remember this day as you very well accounted there, chair Smith. It was a dreadful day, one that will live with all of us as Americans that that lived through that, and even those that didn't will learn about it in the days and the years to come. And the fire service, it dramatically impacted firefighters, clearly. But not just, you know, you know, it was across this country. It dropped all of us to our knees this day, this dreadful day. Next slide please. So for firefighters from Portland fire and rescue immediately following this took it upon themselves to take leave from work on their own personal leave. They packed their bags and as the first airplane off the off the ground here in Portland that was going to new york, they were on it and they spent the next time next, you know, a few weeks there digging through the rubble with their new york firefighter friend bill quick, who lived, who worked just right near ground zero. And they knew he was there and they wanted to be there alongside him as they as they dug for their friends and comrades and fellow firefighters and anyone that was that could that that was alive. It was we talk about this often, you know, in the fire service, we aren't this is not just an occupation for firefighters. It's a family you are in. And, you know, we are all we share such a strong bond. And not just here in Portland, but any firefighter anywhere. Doesn't matter where you work. If you're a firefighter, it's like, you know, you you're you're a kinship. And there was a special bond there with billy back there. He has. Unfortunately, billy succumbed to cancer and died from the impacts from nine over 11. And then following, as so many have. So this next slide please. So as I mentioned the impact of the fire, this really dramatically impacted the fire service. Clearly we were already dealing with terrorism. For example. You know, there's been several terrorist attacks that have in the united states prior to this, but none that really impacted firefighters so dramatically. Clearly, we respond to them. We help people, we pull people out. We search for people. We, you know, we we get them help that they need. But this time, we were among those injured due to the collapse of the twin towers. Out of that, of course, became significant behavioral health awareness, not just from the nine over 11 itself, which was dramatic, but basically in the fire service in general. We in the fire service were sort of taught, if you can't hack it, this job is not for you. Obviously that's not okay. And we had a significant string of firefighter suicides that followed in the decades to come after nine over 11. And we, as firefighters quickly were realizing that we needed to do something about that. So the behavioral health is a cornerstone in Portland. Fire and rescue is, quite frankly, a leader in this because of the people that are here on stage and have come before them. It's you should know that Portland fire has done a great job at addressing this behavioral health issue. And then federal coordination realized after nine over 11 that that we weren't able to communicate with each other in those those days when that incident happened and the days to come. So you should know, this is the city of Portland was a recipient of federal grants and much to the, you know, passed by congress to centralize and coordinate our ability to communicate over the radio. And now regionally, if there's an incident somewhere in the region, we can all talk to each other. We all have each other's radio frequencies. That was not a thing before nine over 11. So that taught us that interoperability and the ability to communicate across, you know, different firefighters, but even fire to police, to nine-one-one, to, you know, ambulance responders all across the board. Now that capability exists and it exists because not only did the federal government respond with grants, but the people that lived here worked here, actually implemented all that stuff and put it into place. Next slide. Thank you. And then so I mentioned a little bit about this. But the long term health impacts you know cancer lung disease heart disease. And I mentioned suicide. They continue to they obviously were exacerbated by the incidents of nine over 1124 years ago. But we also realized that cancer now is the number one killer of firefighters. And so it surpassed lung and heart disease, generally speaking. But there was a significant number that came from the incident itself. But also this really took this really led us down a path to treat those as well. And here in Oregon, if you're a firefighter in Oregon, many cancers are are if you contract them, are presumed if you got them because of the work we do. Being a firefighter is the number one is a class one carcinogen. Meaning basically your risk of getting cancer is significantly higher than the general population. And the state legislature acknowledges that here at npr acknowledges that. So we're very, very thankful that those things are in place. And and what else has been done is cancer reduction techniques, second set of turnouts that were that's these are all recent things that have been done here in Portland and across the nation, made in dallas as well. Fantastic job down there. And that's really it's really keen to the people that are seeing this and acting on it, and also people such as yourselves and elected officials that provide the funding in order to do those things. So really appreciative. You should know that we are addressing those things, but they still they still are impacting us. We're still learning about those impacts to us. Like you may have also realized that the turnouts we wear, the protective clothing we wear, actually laid with pfas and have been poisoning us for years, had no idea. So we're just it's constantly learning and adapting and making changes. So just wanted to highlight those things. Next slide please. Yes.
20 Can you expand on your on your answer about the cancer reduction techniques that you all use that that help you to reduce your health risk as a firefighter?
21 Yes. Chair Smith, great question. I will tell you from my own personal experience, I joined Portland fire and rescue 23 years ago. We had a single set of turnouts. We have a protective hood that we wore. It basically covers, you know, everywhere, but your the front of your face. So it goes over your hair, down your neck and your collar. And then of course, we wear a mask that that hood incorporates with. And you wear gloves after, after a fire, I would place those turnouts right back where they were uncleaned. And I would wear those turnouts for months and months and months. And there was an annual cleaning system for your turnouts. But I mentioned that hood that I wore that almost never got cleaned or replaced. Now, fast forward 23 years later. Second set of turnouts, second set of gloves. We replaced that hood that goes right near our face and our mouth after every single fire. Those are clean and laundered to buy to, you know, to to acceptable standards. Excellent. And we have extractors in all of our stations and extractors, essentially a fancy washing machine for turnout gear. It's removing those chemicals as much as possible out of the cure so that you can quickly in the station, you swap your gear to your second set, you wash the gear that's dirty, and you can put that that gear back in service by your next shift. So it has time to air dry. So that that's what I would say. And I'm certainly open it to other people. But that's.
22 Yeah. For for the record, andy, I'm the division chief of emergency operations. In addition to the additional equipment, we do our best to get our crews back to the station within an hour for them to shower, because there's still exposure to our skin from the edges of the gloves, the cuffs around the face mask and stuff. The quicker we can get those carcinogens off of our body, the better it is for us. And then we also try to limit the amount of time we spend inside what we call the idle, the atmosphere that's dangerous to life and safety. I limit the amount of time that we spend in there, will give the structure some time to ventilate and get those those products of combustion time to dissipate before we actually go in and start the investigation and or completely overhaul the fire to make sure it won't rekindle and stuff. So this is a multi-pronged approach to try to get our cancer exposure and reduction completed.
23 Thank you. Thank you.
24 Yeah okay. Next slide please. And then you know firefighters in Portland fire and rescue. And with Portland firefighters association we we have continued to hold a ceremony every single year after the events of nine over 11 here so that we can honor those who have fallen and paid that ultimate sacrifice. We have done so every year, you know, not only just at fire stations in the morning when those towers fall. But we've held the ceremony at the union hall for a number of years. And then now finally, for the last 5 or 6 years or so, we've held it at fire station one, a great partnership with Portland fire and rescue, allowing those who need to reflect. We actually have some members here in Portland, Portland firefighters that actually worked for new york city fire department, fdny when the towers fell. They work here in Portland now. So, you know, it's obviously it's not something that firefighters, unfortunately aren't as willing maybe to come before council as I am. And so, you know, they are a little more private about how they feel. But I just wanted to know that they we have people that work here at Portland. So and I would add that not only 24 years running, and it's a promise that we all made to each other and to our firefighters in new york that we will never forget. Next slide. So, as you may know, this beautiful nine over 11 memorial was constructed in new york city. These fountains are where the buildings were, and they have done a masterful job at creating a space that is truly magnificent and allows people to reflect on those that have fallen, their loved ones. Their names are etched around, and it's done in such a thoughtful way. If you're if anybody ever gets the opportunity to go to new york, even just visiting these, the surface level towers memorial is extremely impactful. The memorial itself is another. Thing you can walk through. Basically they have it's. It's unbelievable the things that they have collected and organized and done in such a respectful way and truly also honoring specifically the firefighters and first responders, the police that that were there to, to help other people that rushed in when they were all rushing out. So I would just encourage people to do that. And of course, next year will be the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Next slide please. So now what as as you can see on this slide I mentioned this morning in congress, there's a bill to actually fund the nine over 11 responder and survivor health funding corrections act. While there has been a lot of interest to get some of these, these this, these health programs in place now, what's looming is the funding to actually carry it out so that the people that are enrolled in this program receive the the health care that they deserve for their days, for the days and the days to follow when they're when they responded. We are calling on congress, and I will. I know that many of you may or may not know people in congress. I will let you know that we have spoken to every member of congress from Oregon and our two senators, and we are we believe that all of them will co-sponsor and support this bill. So there's no no need for hard presses here in Oregon. But of course, you know, we will continue to work on this as we always do firefighters. We want to make sure our, our elected officials at, at the federal level understand the need for this to take care of those who take care of others.
25 And who's sponsoring this bill.
26 I don't actually have the information right here. Luckily, I came somewhat prepared. There's a it's a bipartisan sponsorship out of it's andrew carrabino from new york and jerry nadler from new york, as well as senator gillibrand. And I know that they're looking for a representative, a senator, a republican senator from the senate to join this bill so that it's bipartisan in both chambers. And so our goal, of course, this year, the first year of congress, is to get this bill passed by the end of next year.
27 And I will be in Washington, dc this September, and I will gladly take a letter from members of the council urging our delegation and others to support this bill.
28 That'd be wonderful. I'd be happy to work with your office on that. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Next slide please. So here at Portland, really? It's about these, you know, how are we going to respond to incidents? Not this. But like you mentioned in your opening statement what what do we do know that's coming. We do know that we live in an earthquake prone region. If an earthquake strikes of of a nine point something magnitude, we're looking at massive devastation and massive amount of loss of life. The number of firefighters on duty that day will make a difference in the number of people that live and die, and that's just a matter of fact. So our job as firefighters is to present, you know, to make sure that we manage the risk that is put before us. Obviously, firefighters did not build this city, but we are we are charged with its protection. So our job is to make sure that we know where our areas are that need, need to be supported, whether it be day or night, the weekend or weekday, and inform the people who make decisions about what those needs are. And then if we can fund them. And that's what that continued message will be for myself. And I know from other people who work in this job, you you can't. It's a partnership that firefighters need with our elected officials in order to do what we do best, which is put our turnouts on and go and get on those rigs and go to work. So we we have drilled and drilled and drilled on what to do with numerous situations. Clearly there's no one size fits all, but we we pay attention to what happens in our world and our community, and we try to build the most robust system possible to respond to any and all hazards, to make sure that we do our best to save lives and property. And then with that is that state of readiness. You have 31 fire stations across Portland. We know from the recent city gate study that it's not it's not sufficient to protect the citizens of Portland. We need to do better. We need to continue to grow. I know that many of you are are champions. So I'm preaching to the choir on this one, but that still remains to be seen. The stations are not. We still need to be built. We need to find ways to fund them and make sure that everybody that lives in the city has the same level of protection, no matter what, whether it be something personal to them, whether it be a house fire or cardiac arrest or something more large, like a full scale earthquake or terror act of terrorism. And then the last the last part I mentioned is partnerships. Well, when the first moments, as you mentioned, chair Smith, neighbors will be helping each other and there won't be enough firefighters to go around the whole city and, and, and help everyone, we will be relying on community to help each other. We are going to do our best to do everything we can, but we will. We will immediately be stripped of resources, so our ability to save lives and property will be paramount. On partnerships with our emergency operations, with boec, with Portland police, with amr, with Portland street response, with chad. Anybody wearing a uniform that day is now a first responder and will be saving lives. That's just a matter of fact. So the more of them there are, the more lives that are going to be saved. And that's just that's just simple math in my world. So with that, that's the one more slide, which is just basically thank you. Any questions? I've been speaking this whole time and I'm sure these people beside me would like some time.
29 We do you all have any questions before we go to the chief.
30 Can you update us on the the four firefighters that went to new york?
31 They are the four Portland firefighters are actually all since retired from Portland fire and rescue. And at this point, I do not seem to have any long term health impacts. So they're all doing well. And they have. I try to keep pace with them. I tried to invite them down to come, but as you as I mentioned before, the the limelight isn't necessarily something that many of them seek. So it's a it's why they obviously it's a huge thing for them personally. They aren't really prepared to be public about it, but they're doing well. Thanks for asking. Thanks.
32 Chief johnson, before you give your remarks, I just like to say before you came, there was a. There was a deadly accident out in fairview, not too far from my home. And the next Monday, I remember texting. Isaac, saying, your folks were amazing and outstanding with the Gresham fire folks to come together to help fairview. Our lights went out for about 4 or 5 hours, but that is when I think about the men and women who serve us here in the city of Portland. I think about that that afternoon. It was just a regular afternoon, and when that airplane hit the house in fairview, it shook the whole neighborhood all the way down to wilkes. I live in wilkes neighborhood, and everybody was was just they were mortified by something like that happening in our neighborhood. And we didn't see anything like that coming. So I just want you to know that you have a great group of folks who step in, even when they're not asked to. They stepped up and they helped out, and it was really something to watch. So thank you.
33 Yes, ma'am. So for the record, lauren johnson, fire chief, city of Portland, thank you for those remarks and thanks for the opportunity to be with you here today. Thank you for coming this morning to the ceremony that was at station one. I to note your comments. There's no doubt in my mind that those members showed up and did exactly what was needed that afternoon. I think it was my first week here. We had a fire in Gresham that I went to and got to see that in action myself. So one of the most attractive things about coming here to work for you was the people that work here in Portland fire and rescue. I really appreciate the opportunity.
34 You yeah. You know, I actually have some prepared notes, but isaac said most everything that I would have referred to. But in in my experience in public safety, I was in 911 in the 911 profession when this happened. And I remember very clearly getting ready for work that morning. And I had small kids at the time. They were watching cartoons on tv, and they ran upstairs and said, a plane hit a big building went, okay, I'm in my mind. I was imagining, you know, maybe a cessna or something like that that hit a plane. And I just continued getting ready that morning to go into work. And then they ran back up the stairs and said, another plane hit. And I went, okay. And I went downstairs and actually watched. And recognizing the impact that that event had on my kids who saw this during cartoon time in the morning. Okay. And, and on our family, but also on the broader public safety family realizing that our nation faced something. Absolutely atrocious, tragic. And I wasn't sure at that point how we'd be able to bounce back. And what I saw, you know, I got ready and I went in to work along with thousands of other public safety professionals who suited up and went in to work and got the job done. And now I have that memory of that time, as in the 911 profession. From that perspective, and recognizing that there is a brotherhood and sisterhood among firefighters, among police officers, but much larger among public safety responders, and recognizing the impact that events like that have on our collective mental well-being and our psyche. So thank you for for allowing me, you know, to offer some of my experiences in that. Slightly different, certainly, because I, I was not a firefighter at the time, but in the 911 profession it was equally as impactful.
35 Thank you. Do we have any other comments that folks want to give councilor Novick.
36 Yeah, I was really encouraged to hear about the cancer reduction efforts that you've been doing, and I've been really concerned to read about with all of these wildfires, the long term health effects that we expect to have when people are fighting wildfire after wildfire. One of the concerns about the cascadia subduction earthquake, of course, is if the sci hub goes, then you could have fires with, you know, with huge chemical composition, could be particularly damaging to the long term health of people who are dealing with that, which is another one of the many reasons to do everything we can to forestall a disaster like that. So I just want to say that, I mean, the health, the health of firefighters doing your regular job and also dealing with, you know, more dramatic emergencies has to be a high priority. We should all be thinking about. And if you are aware of things that we can do to help, make sure that we guard against long term health effects from dealing with your regular jobs and with any emergencies, please let us know.
37 Not sure if that was for me, but I'll say thank you for those comments. Yes.
38 We appreciate that and will do.
39 And in terms of of long term health impacts that you discussed, I know that hundreds, if not several thousand firefighters and rescue personnel worked in volunteered at the world trade site. And I understand that about 400 new york firefighters responded that particular day, and hundreds more streamed in from all over the country, in the world in the days and weeks afterward, and including the four Portland firefighters you specifically mentioned, has anyone been able to accurately determine the true number of people who actually worked and came and joined in with the firefighters? We were trying to find that number of folks that did the recovery and the cleanup operations. I don't know if that would come from FEMA, but I know that it was an enormous, big lift for everybody around the country. And we were trying to find out how many people participated. I just wanted to to give them applause for for doing that, because that that really, really helped.
40 Absolutely. Applause indeed, 100%. As far as the specific number, I think my best would be an estimate. But, you know, you know, I don't know that off the top of my head, I, I do know that, like I mentioned, there's 135,000 people that are enrolled in that 911 sort of response. You know, the sort of the after effects of that, that are in that program that are waiting for those, you know, that have been approved. So I don't know if that number is somewhat correlated to that. But, you know, like you said, the entire region just was.
41 Converged on, on new york.
42 And it was, you know, part of that memorial I mentioned, it goes through it shows you the convergence of that region on new york city to respond to that.
43 If I'm not mistaken, there was a a ride to new york city with folks here. Locally was a freedom ride. Was that with bill nato? He took a group of folks of Portland, a full plane to to help the community bring back some commerce and to to be there to support the city and to let them know that we cared and we, you know, we still want to come to new york and and have it be the commerce city of America, and also to show people that we cared. And that was that was huge. Knowing that next year marks the 25th year since the tragedies of 911, what can we do now to prepare for that occasion? Do you have any ideas for our city government specifically that you would want to highlight next year that we would need, you know, a nice little runway to to help you make it very special next year.
44 Who is that question for.
45 That is that's to you. And actually it's to chief johnson. I don't want to put her on the spot because she's new and she doesn't know all the levers that we may have here, but I'm talking to dca causey. I'm talking to you, isaac. If you all are planning something extraordinary. This morning was great, but I know that, you know, on the 25th anniversary, people tried to do something very special. But if you need our help, let's let's talk about that very early.
46 Well, madam chair, just real briefly. You know, there's I mean, the long the laundry list might be huge, but I will tell you this. You know, you guys are we are doing a great job and making sure that we're taking care of our community. We're building housing for people to live in so that they're, you know, we following the mayor's plan to end unsheltered homelessness, which is all fantastic. But what we're doing is we're building these buildings. We're having people put in there. And I can tell you that we're not increasing the number of people that are that are the number of firefighters, the number of fire stations. So what we're doing is we're stretching our resources thinner and thinner. And that was illustrated in the city gate study immensely. The area specifically in district one where we have not built new fire stations, but we are building 4 or 5 six story buildings and packing them full of our citizens, you know, in a way that it's unsustainable. So we need to that's one thing that I think is should always be on our radar is we as our city continues to grow, we continue to to look at this, we we need to make sure we can be there for people. Firefighters worst nightmare is that we're not there when someone needs us. So that's what we want. We want to just be there when someone needs our help. That's what I'll say.
47 And I sit on the transportation and infrastructure committee and councilor Clark, who is the chair of that committee, she had the pbem folks there and they talked about and put up maps of all these volunteers that we have around the city. I was just like, oh my god, all these folks are really here. But when I looked out in district one, I looked at my little neighborhood and I noticed that we didn't have one person. And at that moment in dca bob cozzie, I said to myself in that moment and I talked to my staff to, we're going to complete the 28 hour cert program, and this time next year we will be certified and try to bring others in our neighborhood to participate. Because like I said, we are at, you know, I'm at 158th, four blocks off of off of Gresham, and I consider us being the front door to the city of Portland. And I want to make sure that the folks that are out in district one, that they have folks who are going to be first responders if you can't make it, depending on what happens with this next disaster, that there will be people from the wilkes neighborhood, we have a strong cert team out of our gay and and parkrose, and we need to continue that all the way to the Gresham city line. So we are doing that and I am not making anyone do that. And I told my staffer, joel, who's our policy person, that I had committed to, to doing that certification, and he said, I want to join you, councilor, if you don't mind, and I don't mind at all. So I just want to say, you all inspire me. And I know as a grandmother of three kids that it is so important for you to be the example you want them to be, and hopefully that they will be people and little people in this, in this world, to step up and help those folks who become vulnerable because of a disaster like you all do. I'm very proud of you, and I'm proud of the work that you've done in the past, and I am so proud of the work that you're going to do in the future, because you represent us and you represent us well. And I, I couldn't think of anything that I'd rather do today than to recognize the work that our, our pbem officers and and our firefighters and to acknowledge 911 in a way that's meaningful and that people could tell stories about what it meant to them. So thank you, thank you, thank you for what you do and what you will do in the future. I see councilor Kanal.
48 Thank you, madam chair. Yeah. Thank you. Bob cozzie. Isaac. Chief aaron johnson in the back there. Your teams. Thank you. And welcome to chief johnson. And while we're doing thank yous, thank you to chief jackson as well. I really appreciated learning the stories of firefighters locks hall and martin. And I appreciate you bringing that forward. I think the mutual aid culture and obviously the broader culture of the fire service is really commendable, really important. And it was really, you know, heartening to hear these positive stories, especially when we've been hearing some stories of, you know, fire service folks going to fight wildfires and getting accosted by the feds and things like that. It's good to hear where this has been a really positive story and a reminder. I lived in in the Portland metro area when when 911 happened. But I lived in new york for six years, and I've gotten a chance to see the construction, the tail end of the construction of of both the freedom tower and the memorial and had a chance to go through. And I'll just cosign everything you said about, in particular, the memorial and museum. And, you know, they were still finding things in between the buildings for years afterwards. I went to school at down by, you know, get off of the world trade center, stop the subway. So you see around you see, I've walked by that gap in the buildings and then they found something in there for it was pretty crazy. And the tail on this story is long, so I appreciate that being brought up. Also cosign everything councilor Novick said about wellness. You happen to have three members of not only this committee, but the community and public safety committee. And so I think between the two of those talking about first responder well-being is you're well represented in both sides of that story here. And I also really wanted to to highlight, I keep talking about increasing capacity for firefighter training so that we can, you know, fill our vacant positions, but also increase the number of positions and appreciate the public reminder as to why that's so important. And then the last thing I'll say, and the question I had is I'm happy to join that letter chair Smith. But I wanted to ask if anyone knew if h.r. 1410 is on the city's legislative agenda formally, because I think it should be. I think it's a very easy thing to to get at it. So I just wanted to ask, I don't know if.
49 I will send a note to sam chase after this meeting. Yeah. Who is? He's the head of government relations for the city of Portland.
50 I know last year there was a blanket during, I should say, last April ish. There was a blanket plank of the platform, so to speak, about wellness and all of that. But I know that it gets operationalized to the specific bill as those are filed. So I don't think this particular one had been filed at that point. But maybe, you know, more.
51 Just to for the record, isaac mcclymont Portland firefighter association, I would say that I do know this bill has represents there's people who live in all 50 states, and I think just one short of every congressional district. So I'm there's somebody living here who's benefiting from this program here in Portland. I don't know their names. Obviously, I don't have access to that. But I do know that the broader statistics. So I appreciate that support for that, that that resolution, I don't have the background on the what city of Portland officially is doing on there. I welcome that 100%. It does, like I mentioned, it is getting support from our elected officials from Oregon, but I don't have the more than that.
52 Yeah. And I'm sure anyone who goes there will probably see jon stewart there arguing for as well. And you know, appreciate it. And yeah, I look forward to being a part of that going forward as well, to get that into the lobbying efforts where you look like you were going to say something.
53 I'm happy to make just one small comment to something that councilor Novick mentioned earlier, which is that the public safety service area is putting forward the cei hub as a major legislative priority in the 2026 short session.
54 Great.
55 Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Kanal and councilor Novick. Any comments?
56 Yes. First a question. This is definitely a topic we'll take up in the public safety committee. But isaac, I apologize if you already mentioned this, but do you know off the top of your head how long we've been stuck at 31 stations?
57 Oh, that's a great question. You know, essentially that's the same number of stations that I came in on 23 years ago. There's I think at one. So we've had one.
58 So I've looked at that.
59 Sorry. This is way better suited for that answer.
60 Yeah. Andi beyonce again. So I was hired in in 1998. Our on duty strength during 1998 was 169 members, or 168 members on duty every year or every day. We're at 171 now, so we've added three positions to our on duty staffing. We've also added over 48,000 responses to that same workforce. So we are we are doing much more with just about the same group. So it's not enough.
61 Yeah. And I have to say on a lighter, but I hope not. Frivolous note I recommend to anybody who hasn't seen it before. Streaming on hulu, rescue me, the fx show about firefighters in the new york city fire station in the aftermath of nine over 11. And although I hope that the over-the-top, outrageously screwed up personal lives those firefighters doesn't mirror those of any firehouse in the country, it does also sort of reflect the trauma of having lived through that experience. And just to let you know that I know an actual firefighter who endorses the show, rescue me, is part of tom, your predecessor, isaac tom. Tom chamberlain's email address. Yeah.
62 Well, thank you, chief johnson. I will give you the final word on anything that you want to say. What does today mean for you?
63 Sure. You know, we had the opportunity to reflect this morning as a group, and I mentioned to several people that having this first September 11th as the fire chief here was especially meaningful to be able to be with the crews and and see their faces as they're making runs today, just like they did yesterday. So it's top of mind for sure. September 11th for us really is a story that we should never stop telling. I know that before September 11th, texas city. So we're I'm my my home state was the largest loss of life firefighter life. But before that in in you know somewhat neat connection the great fire of 1910 which impacted this area was the largest loss of firefighter life. So I found it neat to just think through history that I've now kind of touched those areas and ended up here in Portland to remember today with you, that was extremely meaningful to me. I've enjoyed throughout this process coming to be the fire chief here, finding those little nuggets that really made me feel like I was on the right path. And that was one more connection. So looking forward, I think every year you'll hear from us to make sure that we don't forget. And then it just emphasizes the importance of reflecting on all of the lessons that we've learned since that day, how government has come together. Departments have come together, really advancements in technology. There have been so many positive changes, and that tells us and is a great lesson for us to remember that we should do that every time, every house fire that we have, we review, we think about what can we learn. We come to you informed so that we keep you up to date on our needs so that we can better serve the community. And obviously, September 11th was just a much larger scale so that we learned those lessons not just nationally but worldwide, and we're benefiting those from their sacrifice. We really appreciate the opportunity to be with you today.
64 Thank you so much. And since you brought up the 1910 fires, I was thinking, captain, what does firefighting look like today as opposed to the 1910? And and when we had fires and I remember when dca myers was here and he was in, in that position and he talked about some of the other things that you all do that I don't think people know or can appreciate that you do more than just fighting fires. Could you kind of expand on the scope of work that you, that you actually do on a, on a daily basis?
65 Yes. We are an all hazards response workforce. So it is more than just structure fires. We have hazmat calls technical rescue. We have a marine division. So if anything happens on the water we can handle that. And on top of that, all the medical response that we do, all of our units are staffed with paramedics. And so if someone is having a medical emergency, we will respond with the ambulance service to address their needs and help get them to the hospital. So we are truly the catch all for everything, and it seems like things keep changing on us. Just even with the advent of electric vehicles, those present a significant hazard to us and the public because of the products of combustion. Once they're on fire and we have to change the way we fight those fires in order to remain safe and put them out. So it's it's an ever evolving thing. And I like chief says, we review not only our incidents, but incidents that happen across the country and in our mutual aid areas, and we share information so that we can learn from each other's incidents and be prepared for what's to come.
66 So explain to me, because sometimes I've seen on the news where we have unsanctioned homeless camps and we see trash cans, we see cars on fire. Who are we supposed to call? Should we call 911?
67 Yes.
68 And you all will come out and handle that. Or who? Who?
69 If it is a camp on fire or something that is not supposed to be on fire, we will respond.
70 Okay.
71 Yep.
72 Okay. Excellent. Well, I want to say thank you all. Unless my counselors have anything else to say. Are you up again? Councilor Kanal?
73 Yeah, I just wanted to, since you mentioned the the marine side of it, to say thanks to station eight and 17 for for my, my, my ride along with y'all. And and we got to get some, some of that speed back on the fire boat up there because and I also wanted to say thanks to the folks at a couple of the other departments like mutual aid with and they obviously are, are in a similar line of work with a little bit of difference at the airport or whatever, and had a lot of nice things to say about about your new workforce. So yeah, I just wanted to make sure I shouted them out. And thank you.
74 Thank you. That's really great. And and I know we're all going to be looking at different things, the scope of work. So chief, I'm going to give you a another assignment. Please let your folks continue to bring the fire trucks to good in the hood, okay? Because.
75 Yes.
76 Ma'am, we love that parade. And we love to see those those fire engines coming down. I mean, you never when you look at kids and they look at those fire trucks, it's almost like christmas. Okay? So please keep that on on your list of things to do. And maybe you can join us next year. While I'm not a counselor of district two, I have a lot of family who live in district two, and I'm often in district two, but that is something that we can all look forward to every year.
77 Sounds great.
78 Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you councilor Kanal. Thank you councilor Novick. It's been great. And we will we will return to the disparity study at a later date. And thank you all for coming. I appreciate you.
79 Thank you, thank you.