It’s a family thing.
Ever since he was a little kid in Gladstone, Aaron Beers remembers wanting to be a firefighter when he grew up. With a father who was a firefighter and a mother who was a paramedic, Beers seemed destined to follow in his parents footsteps.

It all may have started when he turned four years old and he got the surprise of a lifetime: a fire engine came to his birthday party.

“The youngest I can remember wanting to become a firefighter, I was four years old,” Beers said. “I had an Old Gladstone fire engine at my birthday party, which was cool. There was an old out- of-service engine in storage, more of a parade unit. So my dad asked if he could use it. They said yes and it pulled up on my birthday.”

Fast forward to Beers today and you’ll see that the 18-year-old is on track to seeing his boyhood dreams come true. This past fall, he joined the Hoodland Fire District as a part of its volunteer fire crew.
“I love it,” Beers said. “It brings me lots of joy helping people out. My eventual goal is to become a career firefighter at some department in Oregon. I don’t know if it will be in Hoodland or not but I plan on staying in Hoodland for a long time.”

Beers, who now lives in Brightwood, said he volunteers about 12 hours a week working side by side on regular calls with full time staff firefighters. He also is training for his Emergency Medical Technician certification at Mt. Hood Community College.

After just a few months on the job at the Welches fire station, he has responded to a couple of house fires and multiple car wrecks. One of his first calls was to help crews recover the body after a semi ran into a tree, killing the driver and shutting down Highway 26 for a couple of hours.

When he’s not volunteering at the fire district, he works full time on the parking lot crew at Timberline Lodge ski resort on Mount Hood. He also finds time for a little skiing and snowboarding.

Beers has nothing but good things to say about his experience with the Hoodland volunteer program so far and encourages others interested in volunteering to apply.

“I like helping out the public,” Beers said. “I like the brother and sisterhood at Hoodland between the volunteer and paid staff. We’re all one big family.”

For more information about volunteering at Hoodland Fire District, phone 503-622-3256 or check out this link online: www.hoodlandfire.us/volunteer-firefighter.