Public Safety
Public Safety Management in Tillamook County
November 2022
This month we begin an occasional series on Tillamook County public safety, including law enforcement, fire protection, and emergency response. When Dan Weitzel, Manzanita Public Works Director, missed the Council’s September 2022 meeting because he was fighting the Double Creek wildfire in eastern Oregon, we were prompted to wonder how emergency resources are shared and allocated within the county and the state. Related questions include decisions on which agencies respond to different situations, such as a fall from the Neahkahnie cliffs or a water-related emergency. Our series begins with an interview with Tillamook County Undersheriff Matt Kelly on county law enforcement.
Public safety and emergency response in Tillamook County.
March 2023
Many Nehalem Bay residents and visitors come from urban areas like Portland where emergency services are taken for granted. North Tillamook County is a rural area with just over 4,000 people living in North Tillamook County (table).3 Full- and part-time residents as well as visitors depend on far-flung emergency responders that include volunteers and may not provide the immediate response times that urban residents can expect.
It's not all about fire: How your fire district evolved into an "all hazards service."
June 2023
As part of our occasional series on public safety and emergency response in Tillamook County, we explain the basics of County fire department or district 1 operations using Nehalem Bay Fire and Rescue District (Nehalem or NBFRD) as an example.
How we get into trouble on the Oregon Coast
August 2023
Dateline June 14, 2003: On this Father’s Day weekend 20 years ago, five men in Mark Hamlett’s family boarded a fishing charter in Garibaldi. One of those five men, along with nine other passengers and the captain, perished.