A volunteer firefighter from Prineville died Friday after striking her head in an Albany parking lot.
Shannon Lee Halvorson, 20, was in Albany for the annual Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association conference, which continues through today at the Linn Fair & Expo Center.
Prayer Vigil Held, Investigation Continues into Unusual Death
Update Courtesy The Democrat Herald
The Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association conference began its final day with a 7:30 a.m. prayer vigil for Shannon Lee Halvorson.
Details have not been released on exactly how Halvorson was injured. Also, nobody has said how Halvorson, a minor, obtained the alcohol or how much she consumed.
Friday's dispatch logs from the Linn County Sheriff's Office indicated someone called 911 just after midnight. The log said a man had fallen in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express, which is adjacent to the Expo Center, while carrying an intoxicated woman.
The log stated the woman suffered cuts and trauma to her head, and that medics conducted CPR at the scene before taking her to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. She died about 12 hours later.
The Albany Police Department investigated the incident and was to forward its report to the Linn County District Attorney's Office.
Thursday's conference activities had ended about 8:30 p.m., said Elaine Shinn, a spokeswoman for the firefighters' association.
"She was an attendee of the conference, but this was not during any conference activity," Shinn said.
"There was a lot of speculation as to what happened," said Dave Butler, a volunteer lieutenant with the Lebanon Fire Department. "I don't know the actual events that happened."
Albany police are investigating Halvorson's death.
A dispatch log indicates someone called an ambulance to come to the Holiday Inn Express for Halvorson just after midnight Friday. The log stated Halvorson was intoxicated and was being carried across the parking lot when the man carrying her tripped and fell.
An ambulance took Halvorson to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. She died there at 12:19 p.m. Friday.
The more than 300 people attending the conference learned at a morning meeting Friday that Halvorson had been seriously injured. News of her death was released during afternoon sessions.
About half a dozen members of Halvorson's department, Crook County Fire and Rescue, left Friday to return to Prineville, said Crook County spokesman Dan Wood.
A prayer vigil was scheduled at the conference this morning, and organizers set out a box for donations to Halvorson's family. Members of the Trauma Intervention Program of Linn County set up "safe rooms" where firefighters could come to talk.
Crisis Team Manager Lynn Koehn, the chaplain for the Lebanon Fire Department, said his team received visits all day Friday.
"You can't really say words to make it right, to make it fair, to make it just," he said. "Really what you can do is be there and be a shoulder to cry on and help them express their feelings and their emotions."
Classes and social events were to continue as scheduled today. Friday's casino night drew a crowd, although organizers said it was a quiet one.
"These folks paid for the training, they need the training," said Elaine Shinn, designated spokeswoman for the association. "We need to carry on with the social functions as well, because what are they going to do with their off hours?"
The conference began with a golf tournament Wednesday and will conclude tonight with an awards banquet.
Conference activities wrapped up Thursday about 3 hours before Halvorson was injured.
Halvorson is separated from her husband, Wood said Friday from Crook County. Her 3-year-old son, Garrett, is with his grandparents.
She had joined the department's 50-some volunteers 11 months ago and recently had completed her rookie training.
She worked at a medical clinic in Prineville during the day and was interested in the medical side of firefighting, Wood said. She wanted to be a paramedic and ultimately a nurse, and was interested in emergency medicine.
"In the short time she was here, she was a very valuable member of this department and had made several ambulance calls," he said. "Not a lot of experience, but she had an awful lot of competence."
