In fire stations across Oregon, you will find that the firefighters who are ready to help are more than just co-workers, they’re a family. This is a consistent theme across the Oregon fire service. These first responders are bonded by the work they do to protect and serve their communities.
Within many of these fire stations, they are more than all of that. You will also find brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons working together, responding to calls.
The Oregon fire service is the backbone of the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s (OSFM) response teams that travel across the state when communities are being impacted by a disaster like wildfire.
In August 2023, the family dynamic of the Oregon fire service was on full display within the task forces that mobilized, and the incident management teams were sent to help on the Tyee Ridge Complex in Douglas County and the Smith River Complex in Josephine County. Three sets of father and son duos working to help their fellow Oregonians.
On Tyee Ridge, for the first time as a part of the OSFM Incident Management Team program, Greg and Brett Deedon were assigned to the same incident.
Greg is one of the OSFM’s night line safety officers, while his son Brett is one of our public information officers. Both Greg and Brett work for Eugene Springfield Fire. Greg has been a part of our incident management team program for the last six years. Brett has been on the team for the last four years.
“It is awesome to actually work with Brett for the first time in our roles on a deployment,” Greg Deedon said.
The family affair doesn’t stop with the Deedons either. Levi Lindsey, an assistant task force leader with the Linn County task force, and his son Ryan are working side-by-side as well. Ryan, 19, just started as a firefighter with Brownsville Rural Fire District and was hired through the 2023 Wildfire Season Staffing Grant. He is getting ready to take his EMT classes this fall.
“Ryan is doing this on his own and I could not be prouder of his accomplishments,” Levi Lindsey said.
Levi has been with the Albany Fire Department for 26 years.
On the Smith River Complex on the Oregon-California border are the father and son duo of Fred and Devin Patterson. Fred is the fire chief at Idanha-Detroit Fire District and is a part of the OSFM Blue Incident Management Team as a resource unit lead. Fred has been with the team since 2010 and is currently a resource unit leader. Fred has been in emergency services since 1985. Devon Patterson is on the Marion County Task Force that was sent to the Smith River Complex. He’s an engine boss from the Idanha-Detroit Fire District. This is his first deployment as an engine boss. He has been going on conflagrations for about five years and has been in the fire service for 14 years.
This is their first mobilization together. They have both been deployed at the same time before, but never on the same fire.