Hoodland Fire Academy leads to U.S. Forest Service post

By Ty Walker, The Mountain Times

Jackson Rogers said he thanks the Hoodland Volunteer Firefighter Training Academy for helping him land a job with the U.S. National Forest Service fighting wildfires. Jackson started his new job last month as a crew member assigned to Engine 312 from Mount Hood National Forest.

“I’ve always wanted to fight wildfires,” he said. “Going through the Hoodland

Academy gave me my certifications for wildfire that I needed and that’s what helped me get the job.”

Jackson, who is 20, was in a class of 10 to earn firefighter badges this past March at Hoodland. His classmates ranged in age from 18 to 35. 

“It was pretty good,” he said of the academy program. “I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot.”

Jackson is The Mountain Times Hoodland District’s Fire Focus firefighter of the month for June. He grew up in Sandy, graduated from Sandy High School in 2024, then moved to the Brightwood neighborhood on the mountain about four years ago.

With his busy schedule and full time job with the U.S. Forest Service, he manages to volunteer for Hoodland one 24-hour day per week. He plans to start Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training in the fall.

“I always wanted to be a firefighter since I was little,” Jackson said. “Actually, I wanted to be a cop when I was really little but switched my interest to firefighting about eight years ago. My goal is to be a career firefighter.”

His stepfather is a fire captain in the Hillsboro Fire Department. Jackson said he likes the action of being a firefighter.

“I like the action, I like anticipating a call in the middle of the night,” he said. “I like the get-up-and-go, the fast-paced action.”

In his young career, Jackson hasn’t been on a fire call yet, just a few traffic accidents and a lot of medical calls, but he’s hoping to go on a fire call sometime soon.

“I just did a practice burn in Gresham and I gotta tell you, it’s pretty hot,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. It gave me a lot of experience. “It was a real house they bought to practice fighting fire on. It was as realistic as it can get without someone’s house actually burning down. It gave me a taste of what the real deal is.

Jackson enjoyed getting to know and making friends with his academy classmates. It began with 14 prospective volunteers, with 10 making it to graduation.

“They were all really good people,” Jackson said. “They all really helped me and I helped them. We started class with no one knowing anybody and ended the class with everyone having a pretty tight bond.”

Jackson spends most of his spare time playing guitar and teaching himself 1980s and ‘90s rock music. He also likes to cook. Breakfast is his specialty.

Hoodland is always accepting applications for volunteer firefighters, but summer is a good time to apply as the fire district gears up for its Fall Training Academy. Reach out to Lt. Evan Jarvis evanjarvis@hoodlandfire.gov with questions.