Introducing Fire Chief Travis Henderson. Chief Henderson is an Oregon native who was born and raised on the Southern Oregon Coast .  The Chief has had a career in the fire service for over 15 years, beginning at the age of 20. He was a member of the Toledo Fire Department for over 10  of those years, gaining experience as a volunteer and moving up the ranks, becoming a Lieutenant and later promoted to Captain. His full time work has consisted of construction, utilities, and heavy equipment operator before becoming an EMT and working full time on an Ambulance. 

Paramedic School brought Chief Henderson to Douglas County. He has always enjoyed the Tenmile area, and searched for and found a home here in 2016. He became a member of the Tenmile Fire District at that time, and served as the districts Fire & EMS Training Officer before becoming the Interim Chief in June 2018, serving in that capacity until accepting the permanent position as the Fire Chief in December of that same year. He obtained his Paramedic degree at UCC in Roseburg and worked as a Paramedic with Umpqua Valley Ambulance until being hired as the first Full-Time Fire Chief of the District in July of 2020.  

In addition to the experience, Chief Henderson holds multiple certifications including NFPA Firefighter II, Fire Officer, HazMat Incident Command, Vehicle Extrication Technician, and Wildland firefighting certifications. Chief Henderson also has an AAS degree in Fire Science, a Fire Service Supervision and Management certificate, and an AAS degree in Paramedicine. 

As of July 1, 2020, the Tenmile Fire Chief is a full time career position. The chief works daytime office hours and remains available to answer calls for service during that time, and as a Chief Officer & Incident Commander for significant events at other times. Although a fire chief does perform firefighting, rescue and medical response services, he or she is primarily an administrator providing leadership, direction, and general administrative oversight to the Fire Departments personnel. The fire chief schedules and assigns duties to firefighters, trains and drills them in firefighting and rescue techniques, evaluates their performance and oversees their advancement. The chief also monitors the care and maintenance of the fire station and all equipment, submits requests for new acquisitions and works with fire department budgets. He or she makes sure firefighters follow established policies and procedures by keeping records and reports of all fire response actions.