By Ty Walker, The Mountain Times
Debra Sinz joined the Hoodland Fire District as a volunteer firefighter in 2010. She wanted to give back to the community that has helped her in times of need when responding to medical emergencies in her home.
“I called 911 a number of times at my house to help me with my daughter, who had medical issues,” Sinz said.
After her daughter died at age 10 – the same year her mother passed away – Sinz decided she wanted to do something for the Welches community she has called home for 38 years.
“Prior to joining the fire district, they had helped me through multiple calls,” Sinz said. “I felt like I had to give back. They helped me a lot.”
“I decided to look for a new family,” Sinz said, referring to Hoodland Fire District as that new family. “I heard they were looking for new volunteers.”
So she decided to train to become a volunteer firefighter.
She has fought some big fires over the years, including the three-alarm fire that destroyed the Golden Poles Chalet condos in Government Camp in 2015. But about 80 percent of the calls to which she has responded have been medical, she said.
“We save houses, we save lives, we save property,” she said of her experiences with Hoodland..
Sinz said she doesn’t fight fires anymore as she has gotten older. She is a trained community emergency response team (CERT) member, responding to disaster situations. She also takes part in the trauma intervention program (TIP). which helps people get through the first few hours after an incident with a death.
CERT members of the Hoodland Fire District are trained and educated on how to prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. CERT members are deployed to support various events and activities, including wildfires, search and rescue operations, and firefighter rehab support.
Hoodland Fire District relies heavily on volunteers and is always looking for new ones, Sinz said. The district is made up of about 30 volunteers and 11 paid career firefighters.
“You get a lot of experience and you can help your community,” Sinz said. “There’s always a need for more volunteers because if we have a call and it takes a couple of volunteers then we get another call, there’s no one to respond.”
When she’s not busy helping the Hoodland Fire District respond to emergencies, she works as a sales clerk at Hoodland Bazaar. She also makes silver and copper jewelry, which she sells at local shops and at the Mt. Hood Museum in Government Camp.
She enjoys gardening, camping and hiking with her husband. She and her husband worked together in the property management business for 10 years before she joined the fire district as a volunteer.