The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Sisters Fire Chief Roger Johnson has been named a Community Champion by the Sisters Country Vision Implementation Team (VIT) for his efforts in helping Sisters become a more resilient community.

Team members surprised Chief Johnson with the award last Wednesday. In its citation, the team stated that: “Chief Roger Johnson is the fearless leader of the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District who calmly and humbly manages a very high level of responsibility and a very demanding workload, never more so than during the pandemic, a year that also included devastating wildfires and other challenges for our community. For the Sisters COVID-19 immunization pop-up clinic, Chief Johnson immediately volunteered the fire station and his crew.”

The team further noted, “In the spirit of inclusiveness, the Fire District team has a goal to ensure that public documents on wildfire safety awareness and resources are also made available to the Latino community of Sisters.

This spring, Fire Chief Roger Johnson and Director Jack McGowan from the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District worked with Latino community leaders to coordinate the translation of the entire document into a Spanish version (with the help of Margie Lombardo, and Bill and Wendy Birnbaum to ensure the messaging was correct).

Chief Johnson is highly collaborative, listens and learns, keeps a positive outlook, and his continued leadership is critical to a more resilient Sisters.”

Chief Johnson told The Nugget, “It’s certainly nice to be recognized. There’s a lot of people doing a lot of great work on resiliency in Sisters.”

He noted in particular the Sisters Ranger District’s ongoing prescribed fire program, which is designed to create a buffer around the community to protect it from wildfire.

Chief Johnson defines resilience as “our ability to prevent or limit the impact of natural disasters and emergencies” and to speed recovery from such incidents as they occur.

He noted that the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District’s Fire Corps has been instrumental in educational efforts to help Sisters citizens be more prepared, and in offering risk assessments to community property owners.