For a small, largely volunteer fire district like Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue, staying connected with the community it serves is one of the most important — and often most difficult — parts of the job.

A new grant is helping change that. The district received a $3,000 matching grant through the Special Districts Association of Oregon's Internship Grant Program, which it matched dollar-for-dollar to fund a short-term community outreach intern position. That intern is Maria Bartness, a recent college graduate who has spent the summer embedded with the station doing work that Chief Sean Hartley says rarely gets the attention it deserves.

Prevention Starts With Communication

"A lot of what we do, prevention-wise, is communicating with the public before an emergency," Hartley told media last week. "Having someone that we can dedicate to that, through the internship grant that we got through the Special Districts Association of Oregon, has been a huge help for us getting information out to the public."

Bartness, who earned a Bachelor of Arts in public relations in June, found the position through an online job posting and said it was an immediate fit.

"I was looking for marketing, social media, and communications opportunities, whether that was a full-time job, part-time, or an internship," she said. "When this came across my phone, I thought it was right up my alley."

No Two Days Alike

Her responsibilities have ranged from creating social media posts, brochures, and flyers to interviewing firefighters and volunteers, attending board meetings, and participating in Community Emergency Response Team training drills. She has also accompanied crews on actual emergency responses — including a vehicle fire and a lightning strike call.

"Every day, it honestly kind of changes, and that's the nice thing and the exciting thing about it," Bartness said. "It's definitely exciting. Never a dull day here."

The hands-on exposure has given her a front-row view of how public communications works in an emergency services context — something she said cannot be replicated in a classroom.

A Community Built on Volunteerism

Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue serves a rural residential community of an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 residents spread across high desert canyon terrain straddling the Jefferson and Deschutes county lines northwest of Redmond. The district operates with a mix of career staff and volunteers and covers a large geographic area with limited resources.

The district was already connected with Central Oregon Community College through a student program that gives fire service-track students field experience. The new internship extends that community-facing investment.

Crooked River Ranch also carries Firewise USA designation — a recognition that the community has taken active steps to reduce wildfire risk through defensible space work, public education, and pre-fire planning with neighboring agencies.

The Bigger Picture

The internship grant program through SDAO is designed to help Oregon's special districts — which include fire, water, library, and park districts — build capacity in areas they might otherwise not be able to staff. For a small fire district, even a single dedicated communications role can make a measurable difference in public preparedness and community trust.

For more information on Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue programs and services, visit crrfire-or.gov.