Firefighter Austin Smith Memorial Service

02/03/2023

Never Forget!

02/12/2022

Firefighter Austin Smith memorial attendee information

A memorial service to honor St. Paul Firefighter Austin Smith will take place on Saturday, February 12th, 2022. The memorial procession of emergency vehicles and personnel will travel from Woodburn, Ore. to St. Paul, Ore. on Saturday, February 12th, 2022. The procession start time is anticipated for 10:15 a.m. The team coordinating the memorial service is anticipating around 400 emergency vehicles from fire, EMS, and law enforcement agencies from Oregon and neighboring states. Closures will be in place and traffic will be impacted for several hours. Drivers should expect delays in Woodburn around the I-5 interchange, along the route on Hwy 219 and traveling through and around St. Paul.

The community members and members of the public are welcome to attend the memorial service at the St. Paul Rodeo Grounds. Those who are able to attend are asked to sit in the general public seating in sections B & C. Those traveling to the memorial should come into St. Paul from the South rather than Highway 219 to avoid traffic impacts. General parking can be accessed at the South Entrance to the St. Paul Rodeo Grounds from River Road. The entrance is marked by a large sign. All uniformed personnel attending are requested to enter the arena through the NW gate of the arena, and seating is in Section E. Uniformed personnel should be seated by noon at the latest. For attendees not participating in the procession, we recommend that you arrive in St. Paul no later than 11 am.

Memorial Attendance:
• The memorial service will begin promptly at 1 pm
• It is recommended that those wanting to attend, access the Rodeo Grounds from River Rd. NE on the southside of St. Paul.
• Parking for memorial attendees will be located at the South entrance to the St. Paul Rodeo Grounds off of River Rd NE where flaggers will be in place.
• There will be a high number of emergency vehicles and pedestrians, please drive carefully and slowly.

Additional traffic impacts in the North Marion County area to promote the safe flow of traffic during the memorial service:
• Highway 219 southbound from Newberg will be diverted east onto McKay Road NE starting at 10:15 a.m. and should reopen around noon.
• River Road northbound will be diverted east onto Davidson Road for traffic unrelated to the memorial service starting at 10:15 a.m.
• Residents living in the St. Paul community should anticipate congestion and multiple road closures in the area surrounding the St. Paul Rodeo grounds between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

The Smith family extends their sincerest thanks to the St. Paul Community, St. Paul Rodeo Committee, and the Oregon Fire Service Family for their support for the family and honoring Austin. They would like to send their love and gratitude to all local firefighters who were on scene the day Austin passed. Those firefighters were with Austin in his last moments and tried their best to save his life. The family and the St. Paul community are hosting a reception directly following memorial, all who attend are welcome at the reception.

02/11/2022

For those that are unable to be present in St. Paul to honor Firefighter Austin Smith, a live stream is available through KPTV12 for both the procession and memorial service.

https://www.kptv.com/ott/livestream/watch-live/video_d8589648-41e0-11ea-b117-23cba6b32bcf.html

02/11/2022

Memorial Procession Route Information

As part of the memorial service to honor St. Paul Firefighter Austin Smith, a procession of emergency vehicles and personnel will travel from Woodburn, Ore. to St. Paul, Ore. on Saturday, February 12th, 2022. The team coordinating the memorial service is anticipating around 400 hundred emergency vehicles from fire, EMS and law enforcement agencies from around the state and neighboring states. Closures will be in place, and we anticipate that traffic will be impacted for several hours. Drivers should expect delays in Woodburn around the I-5 interchange, along the route and traveling through and around St. Paul. Those who wish to show their respects for Firefighter Smith are encouraged to stand on sidewalks along the route.

Detailed Information

The following is the official route for the emergency vehicle procession for fallen St. Paul Firefighter Austin Smith. The anticipated start time for the procession in Woodburn will be at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, February 12, 2022. The procession is anticipated to arrive in St. Paul at 11:00 a.m.

The procession will start on Stacey Allison Way in Woodburn and follow Highway 219 to the St. Paul Rodeo grounds.

• Start at Stacey Allison Way just south of Walmart
• Proceeds through neighborhood streets to Kirksey Street
• Proceeds east on Parr Road NE
• Proceeds north on Butteville Road to Highway 219
• Merges onto Highway 219 and continues to Main / Church Street in St. Paul

Procession Safety Information for the Public in North Marion County.

Any members of the public wishing to view the procession are encouraged to do so at any point along the procession route, with the following exceptions:
• If motorists encounter the procession they are requested to pull over to the right side of the roadway and stop until the procession passes. Please do not attempt to cut into or interfere with the procession.
• There are numerous intersections the procession will pass by. Please do not block side roads with vehicles to ensure vehicles needing to exit the procession route may do so safely.
• During the procession, motorists should expect traffic delays along the travel route and within the city of St. Paul.
• Emergency services personnel will be staged along the procession route to assist with safety needs which may arise.

Additional traffic impacts in the north Marion County area to promote the safe flow of traffic during the memorial service:

• Highway 219 southbound from Newberg will be diverted east onto McKay Road NE starting at 10:15 a.m. and should reopen around noon.
• River Road northbound will be diverted east onto Davidson Road for traffic unrelated to the memorial service starting at 10:15 a.m.
• Residents living in the St. Paul community should anticipate congestion and multiple road closures in the area surrounding the St. Paul Rodeo grounds between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

The memorial service is open to the public and will start at 1:00 p.m. Parking will be at the South entrance of the rodeo grounds from Main Street and flaggers will be in place.

02/10/2022

Memorial Service Impacts for the community of St. Paul

On Saturday February 12, 2022, there will be impacts to the community for the memorial service for Firefighter Austin Smith scheduled for 1 PM at the Rodeo Grounds. We are providing you this information to give you an opportunity to plan your activities for the day.

Timeline: The procession of emergency vehicles will start in Woodburn around 10 AM and travel Hwy 219 arriving in St. Paul around 11 AM. We suggest if you need to travel out of town, you do that by 10:30 AM.

Street Closures: Due to the memorial service and the need to park 400 emergency vehicles we will have several streets closed and other streets restricted for traffic. Below is a map your reference and a list of streets affected. Streets are all West of River Rd.

McDonald Ave – Mission Ave – Church Ave
Blanchet Ave – Park Ave – Christie St – Bernard St

02/09/2022

We invite you to share stories, comments, messages, and photos of firefighter and friend Austin Smith on this post.

02/08/2022

GoFundMe Update from Reed Godfrey:

Good morning everyone. And thank you all so much for your generous donations. The family is beside themselves. I have received several questions on who Dawn Nelson is. Dawn is the St Paul Fire Districts secretary, and with Ashley’s permission is paying all the bills for this very large funeral. All expenses and purchases are being tracked by the incident management teams Finance Section Chief. I meet with the family every day and keep them up to date. Any remaining funds will be given directly to Ashley for any other expenses she sees fit.

Respectfully, Reed

02/06/2022

The memorial service for Firefighter Austin Smith is set for Saturday February 12, 2022, at 1 PM at the Rodeo Grounds in St. Paul.

02/06/2022

Donations are also accepted for St. Paul Fire District as a nonprofit organization. Please go to www.stpaulfire.org for information.

St. Paul Fire District provides fire suppression and emergency medical services to the residents of St. Paul, Oregon.

02/06/2022

On Thursday, February 3rd, the St. Paul Fire District as well as other mutual aid partners, responded to a reported barn fire at Champoeg Creek and McKay Rd.
Upon arrival fire was found located at the Barn and our firefighters began their firefighting operations.
Austin Smith, one of our Fire Fighters who was preparing for exterior, defensive fire operations was severely injured.
Paramedics on scene gave immediate aid to Austin and he was transported to OHSU by Life Flight Helicopter.
Firefighter Smith died as a result of his injuries. We and the community are all heartbroken over our loss.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Austin’s family, and friends as we all begin to grieve his loss.
There will be more information to come, as it becomes available. We want to thank the community and our neighboring agencies for their calls to help us during this time. During this time, we would ask for privacy as our family, the department and the community.

Please help support Austin's family in this very tragic time of need.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/7eysg-family-expenses?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cf%20share-flow-1&fbclid=IwAR21-lpXD3YsRXigYCTaDWTd2IgxYJc2g0uh0UfM9UudcqxCCWxRm9qzT1U

On Thursday, February 3rd, the St. Paul Fire District as well as other mutual aid partners, responded to… Reed Godfrey needs your support for Family Expenses