VIDEOS/PHOTOS: The Portland Firefighters Association says many local departments are still reeling after learning of the heinous killing of two Coeur d’Alene firefighters. “My heart just sank. It’s an absolute tragedy to learn about this horrific incident. It just absolutely breaks my heart for the community and for the firefighters and their families,” said Portland Firefighters Association President Isaac McLennan. McLennan has been a firefighter in Portland for 23 years and said acts like these targeting firefighters are thankfully extremely rare.
“Obviously, we have to be concerned with the scene that we go on and always kind of keep an eye for scene safety. But generally speaking, our safety concerns are on the incident itself,” he said, noting that is particularly true when responding to a wildfire versus a home or a place where they are aware there may be volatile individuals at the scene. Portland Fire and Rescue has bulletproof vests on every unit because they may be dispatched along with police to incidents such as standoffs that require this, but McLennan pointed out that it would never occur to him to wear one when responding to a wildfire.
“You want to be kind of light, you know. It’s a wildfire. You are moving up difficult terrain. I mean, look at the terrain in this incident. It’s steep terrain. You want to be light. You want to have good boots. You want to be able to perspire and let your body do its job to keep you cool. Bulletproof vests would certainly slow you down, make you more tired and exhausted, potentially endanger your own life,” he said.
