I’m Oliver Tatom, a paramedic, registered nurse, and proud resident of rural Deschutes County. Since 2021, I’ve had the privilege of serving as your representative on the Deschutes County Rural Fire Protection District #2 Board of Directors.
I grew up in rural Deschutes County and experienced firsthand the destructive power of wildfire when my childhood home was one of the 19 houses destroyed by the 1996 Skeleton Fire. Losing my home just before my senior year of high school was a formative experience, and it fuels my passion for emergency preparedness today.
After graduating from Bend High, I earned my Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from the University of Southern California. I later trained as a paramedic while my wife, Amy, was in graduate school in New Haven, Connecticut. Amy and I returned home to Central Oregon in 2014 to raise our children in the place we love most.
I earned my nursing degree in 2019, and today I have the privilege of supporting kids with chronic medical conditions as a consulting registered nurse at Bend-La Pine Schools. I’m also an active volunteer in the community, serving on the COCC board of directors from 2019-2023, the Deschutes County Project Wildfire Steering Committee since 2020, and the fire board since 2021. (You can view my full resume on LinkedIn.)
About the fire district
Deschutes Rural Fire Protection District #2 (DRFPD2) is a special district surrounding the city of Bend. The fire district owns most of the fire stations in and around Bend, including Station 302 in Tumalo, but actual Fire and Emergency Medical Services are provided by Bend Fire & Rescue. Together, the district and the city of Bend are “partners in protection,” jointly funding the fire department’s operations.
To learn more about the district, visit our website. You can learn more about Bend Fire & Rescue at their website.
Central Oregon has changed a lot since I was a kid. Much of that has been for the good, but the threat of wildfire has only grown worse.
In the nearly 30 years since the Skeleton Fires, fires have become far more destructive, choking our skies with smoke and destroying entire communities. Even those who haven’t been affected directly by fire suffer from the increased cost of insurance – if we can get insured at all.
The causes are multifactorial and complex: A changing climate making our landscape drier, a surging population of tourists and new residents straining our infrastructure, and a housing crisis pushing homeless folks to camp illegally on public lands. Fire districts do not have authority to reverse these major trends, but in my four years on the board I have supported measures to increase law enforcement patrols for illegal fireworks on Independence Day and to encourage our partners in city, county, state and federal government to meaningfully address the fire threat from illegal camping.
I also joined my fellow fire board members and the Bend City Council in supporting a levy to expand the fire department’s operations. Passed by voters in 2023, this levy provides the funds necessary for Bend Fire & Rescue to fully staff our newest fire station and place a fourth Advanced Life Support ambulance into service. These measures will reduce the time it takes to respond to emergencies, preserving homes and saving lives.
Perhaps most importantly, I have been a consistent advocate for the men and women serving on the front lines of our fire and EMS service.
Looking forward
By nearly any metric, from response times to cardiac survivability, Bend Fire & Rescue is a high-performing organization, and that is in no small part due to the extraordinary support city and rural residents have shown in funding the department’s infrastructure and personnel.
But as nurses, Amy and I are acutely aware of the strain that rising costs place on both working families and those living on a fixed income. Just as we’ve tightened our belts at home, we need to find ways for our public agencies to cut costs, as well.
In the years ahead, I will, along with my fellow board members and our colleagues on Bend City Council, be looking closely at how we can secure stable, sustainable funding for Fire and EMS. In the short term, this means an increasing emphasis on prevention. There are steps individual property owners can – and, if we’re serious about countering the threat of wildfire, must – do to harden our homes and create defensible space (read more on my Wildfire Prevention page). The fire district supports these activities through our grant program for Firewise communities.
However, fire response is not the only – or even the primary – cost driver for Bend Fire’s operations. More than 80% of their calls for service are medical, and if we’re serious about bringing down costs then we have to work collaboratively with community partners to decrease the number of emergency medical calls. One good area to focus on is fall prevention, which I’ve written about here.
In the longer term, a sustainable funding model may involve consolidating the fire department with a new Fire and EMS district encompassing the city and the current rural district – and perhaps neighboring districts, too (Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue is the model in Oregon for achieving efficiency through consolidation). But it’s important to emphasize that a change this significant is not something the fire district can do on its own. It will require a robust community conversation and the support of voters in both the rural district and the city of Bend.
What we cannot do is to ask our first responders to do more with less. As call volumes continue to increase with our growing population, and as wildfire conflagrations become more destructive, we have to ensure the men and women of Bend Fire & Rescue – from the ambulance operators responding to minor emergencies to our highly trained firefighters performing technical rescues – have what they need to be safe and effective in their work. I understand how to best support our first responders because I was a first responder.
This May, please vote to re-elect Oliver Tatom to the Deschutes Rural Fire Protection District #2 board of directors.
Contact Me
Paid for by Team Tatom, Oregon PAC ID 21640
Oliver Tatom for Fire Board 