;11 a, ra- February 1,2012 VouR COMMUNITY Page 9
Trauma team continues under new name
By Scan C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Linn County Trauma In-
tervention Program has changed
its name to Linn County Fire Corps
and is seeking new volunteers.
Volunteer training begins on
Feb. 6.
"We had to have so much
funding because of the name TIP,"
said Kathy Fitzwater of the Fire
Corps, explaining that the local or-
ganization had to pay a fee to use
the "TIP" moniker.
"The only thing we need mon-
ey for now is training classes."
Fire Corps volunteers still
perform the same services they did
under the TIP designation: respond
to fires, death investigations and
other tragic incidents throughout
Linn County to help victims and
their families.
"Volunteers help citizens and
emergency responders in times of
tragedy," Fitzwater said.
The Lebanon Fire District
has taken the Fire Corps under its
wing, Fitzwater said. Also helping
are Sweet Home, Lebanon and Al-
bany police departments; the Linn
County Sheriff's Office; and Sweet
Home Fire and Ambulance District,
along with agencies from smaller
communities in Linn County.
Currently, the organization
has 12 volunteers - 10 from Leba-
non and two from Albany. The last
Sweet Home volunteer recently
moved and resigned..
New volunteers will attend a
three-week training course, Fitz-
water said. Classes are held three
days a week in the evening. Fol-
lowing training, they work three
12-hour shifts per month.
"It's so rewarding to help the
community," she said. She has
been doing it for about five years.
"I actually got started when my
mother-in-law passed away."
Fitzwater said her own in-
volvement with TIP has been re-
warding.
"Your heart just goes out to
these people. We're there for the
citizens, especially on death calls
so they aren't by themselves. It
tears at your heart strings, but it's
so rewarding in the end - It's just
that good feeling you have after-
ward."
The volunteers give them
whatever they need and make sure
they don't feel pressured at the
scene of a tragedy to make a deci-
sion until they
are ready, she
said. With
emergency
responders,
the volunteers
sometimes just
listen and help
them make it
through.
"They go Fitzgerald
through a lot out
there," she said.
Volunteers must have a work-
ing vehicle and insurance, Fitzwa-
ter said. They need a cell phone
with texting capabilities and ac-
cess to a computer. There is also
a financial requirement, including
$33 (which is reimbursed) for a
background check and $20 for a
Fire Corps T-shirt.
Training begins on Feb. 6,
running from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30
p.m. three days a week for three
weeks at the Samaritan Lebanon
Community Hospital.
The organization can always
use donations, especially blankets,
stuffed animals and clothing.
For further information, to do-
nate or to volunteer, contact Fitz-
water at (541) 409-5299.
Cut pipe causes
A worker for K&R Plumbing
last week accidentally cut through
a gas line located three inches be-
low the surface of Ninth Avenue
last week.
The worker was cutting as-
phalt in the middle of the street
with a rotary saw, said Fire Chief
Mike Beaver. "The gas line was
right under the asphalt."
Firefighters blocked the
street, notified neighbors and con-
tacted Northwest Natural, he said.
The natural gas was allowed to
vent to the atmosphere.
Fire fighters responded at ap-
proximately 9:11 a.m .on Friday at
1548 Ninth Ave.
There was little to no wind to
blow the gas into anyone's homes,
Beaver said. Unlike propane, nat-
ural gas is lighter than air and can
be allowed to vent 99 percent of
the time. It can be a problem in en-
closed places, like structures.
The worker was lucky the
saw didn't spark and ignite the
gas, Beaver said.
"That line should've never
been 2 inches beneath asphalt,"
Beaver said.
natural gas leak
The project is part of Phase
IV of the city's inflow and in-
filtration reduction project. For
more than a decade, the city has
been replacing and repairing old
sewer mains and laterals to re-
duce i&I, water that leaks into the
city's sewer system during heavy
rains.
The worker was cutting as=
phalt to prepare for excavation
and cut through a 3/4-inch pipe
located three inches below the
surface of the asphalt, said Public
Works Director Mike Adams. The
pipe was marked on a locate, but
the depth is typically 2 or 3 feet.
"It doesn't appear anything
K&R did was wrong or anything,"
Adams said, The pipe was where
it was supposed to be, but it was
not at the standard expected and
recognized depth.
It shouldn't have been that.
close, but there are probably
more around like it, Adams said.
It could be so high in the ground
as a result of boring, where the
jet of water could have deflected
upward and then back down again
by the asphalt.
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