PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — One Clackamas County resident with mobility issues is thanking Clackamas firefighters and a local roofing company for an unexpected makeover that was done on the ramp outside of her residence.
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the Clackamas Fire District responded to a phone call to assist a woman who fell while trying to leave her home. The crew arrived at the scene and helped the uninjured woman up, before noticing that the ramp outside of her house had collapsed in poor condition.
CFD says that the woman and her sister, who requested that they not be identified, each have mobility issues. The two told the firefighters, “this ramp is usually so slippery, we have to wait until it becomes bone dry in order to leave the house.”
According to Clackamas Fire, Lieutenant Dale Cook is the firefighter who initially responded to the call and knew that the women had limited means to fix the ramp. Cook asked a fire captain if there was anything their crew could do to further support the residents.
The fire district says that Captain Cullen Blake then reached out to a local roofing company to ask if they could donate the materials needed for roof resurfacing.
Kaitlin Cox, an administrative specialist at Bliss Roofing, excitedly answered “yes” to Blake’s call. She says the family-owned, Clackamas-based roofing company has donated as much as an entire roof to locals in need.
“We work with the Home Builders Foundation a lot and different associations and donate labor and materials for projects much larger than this one,” Cox said. “My husband is a Clackamas firefighter so I know quite a few on-the-line workers. So when they went on this call, they wanted to do something to help and thought of me and gave me a call directly to see if we would be interested in donating material.”
A week after responding to the call from the Clackamas County woman, CFD returned to her home to re-stabilize, clean and resurface the ramp using some materials donated by Bliss Roofing.
Clackamas firefighters say the resident was emotional following the ramp makeover. According to Cox, one crew member even said the resident was moved to tears.
“I can’t believe it,” she told the fire district. “I really appreciate all the firemen that came back and helped me with my ramp.”
CFD says Captain Blake thanked Bliss Roofing for providing materials and the Clackamas Emergency Services Foundation for their financial contributions to the project.