We are very sad to report that Mike Renault has resigned as Chief of Mosier Fire to take a position with the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
During his tenure as Chief, Mike transformed the department. He revamped apparatus (8 of the 10 apparatus have been replaced. Two type 1 engines, one type 3 engine, two water tenders, two type 6 brush engines, and one command vehicle). He has added a large super pump for large incidents that can be moved through out the district. He has also acquired multiple hand tools and equipment from other departments like Portland Fire, Gresham Fire, West Side Fire, Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue, Oregon Department of Forestry, among others.
Before Chief Renault started with Mosier Fire, it would be very rare for other fire departments to ask Mosier Fire for assistance. Mosier Fire would be skipped and then the neighboring department would respond to those calls and drive right by Mosier. Chief Renault has made it possible to get Mosier involved with Auto Aide, Mutual Aide agreements with neighboring departments. This in returned has helped Mosier Fire be able to receive help when needed in our district.
The training for Mosier Fire has grown leaps and bounds since Chief Renault started with the district over five years ago. At the beginning of this time Mosier Fire only had a few structural certified firefighters, now we have 12. We also have 18 of 20 members trained in wildland fire with a range of certifications for wildland fire.
He has helped with regional training for Wildland Fire, Columbia Gorge Training Association, and Mid-Columbia Fire Prevention Cooperative. He has helped other departments with loaning of a fire engine when their fire engine was out of service. He helped that fire department get in contact with another agency that had fire engines available at no cost. Also, he helped other departments with training, as well proctored EMT classes with the local college in The Dalles.