Meet Kirk Peterson, the newest board member for Hoodland Fire District

This past May, local voters passed a $19.1 million dollar bond measure to help build a new fire station for the Hoodland Fire District. They also elected retired attorney Kirk Peterson, a strong advocate for the bond measure, to fill a vacancy on the board of directors.

A member of the fire district budget committee since 2019, Peterson looks like a good fit for Hoodland. The newest director on the board has a handle on the issues facing the fire district. 

“After retiring as an attorney, I wanted to be more involved in the community,” Peterson said. “I felt I had the experience and ability to serve the community well in this type of position.”

Residents of the district elect a five-member board of directors to serve four-year terms. The board governs the Hoodland Fire District and is responsible for overseeing district policies, approving budgets, and making key decisions.

 Peterson, 70, and his fellow board directors are unpaid volunteers for the district. They meet the second Tuesday of every month at the main station in Welches, 69634 E Hwy 26. Meetings are open to the public.

During his 25 years as a labor and employment lawyer, he represented employers in the public sector, including special districts. Hoodland Fire District was created in 1966 as a special district by Clackamas County to serve the needs of small Mount Hood communities. 

Hoodland Fire District is located 35 miles east of Portland, along historic Highway 26, in East Clackamas County. The fire district serves a 45-square-mile area between Sandy and Mt. Hood. 

Peterson’s main concern last spring was pushing for the new fire station levy to be passed. Now that he is on the board, he expects to help shape the design as the project moves forward. There is still work to be done before it is finalized by the county.

“Being on the budget committee, I had a substantial understanding of what the issues were for the fire district and fire station,” Peterson said. “The existing primary station in Welches had a host of structural issues. Asbestos was patched together as a group and the components were not tied together very well. It is not seismically sound. There are no sleeping quarters in the station. On duty crews have to sleep in a trailer behind the fire station.”

Now that the bond measure has passed there is a lot of work that goes into finalizing the plans and making it a reality.

“My main concern was the bond measure,” Peterson said. “Since it passed, we have extra meetings that go into design. At this point, the county has not granted us the property. We have an agreement that they will. We don’t expect any problems. County government moves kind of slowly.”

A big issue the board faces in the new year is the search for a new fire chief to replace Fire Chief Jim Price, who, despite being retired, is working again as chief under a contract that expires this summer. The board has the option of extending his contract six more months if it doesn’t find a new chief.

Peterson and his wife live on two and a third acres on Barlow Trail Road across the Sandy River from the Hoodland Fire Station. They have owned the property for 18 years, living there full time for the past 10.

Peterson also volunteers as a delivery driver for the local Meals On Wheels program, bringing meals to seniors facing hunger and isolation.