‘His impact was massive’: Portland firefighters honor late recruiter

For years, Erwin Warren was the bureau’s lead recruiter and training specialist. He died on Sept. 3, at the age of 72.

Dozens of firefighters attended the service, including new Portland Fire Chief Lauren Johnson.

Warren is credited with recruiting and/or training many of the Black and female firefighters who are on the front lines every day. 

A line of fire trucks — one adorned with a massive American flag — could be seen outside of North Portland’s Mount Olivet Baptist Church.

Many of the firefighters Warren brought into the bureau were there to pay honor to their mentor and friend.

“His impact was massive,” PF&R Inspector Lt. David Barron said. “Erwin recruited myself over 27 years ago. His impact at one time, he’s responsible for recruiting all of the women, all of the people of color in the fire agency, including all members for nearly two decades.”

Warren joined the bureau in 1976, serving for 30 years until he retired in 2006. He fought fires, then led the bureau’s recruitment and training efforts for new firefighters.

His mentorship lives on in the Erwin Warren Friend Firefighters STEM Summer Camp by inspiring youth — especially minorities — to pursue careers in firefighting.

Former Fire Chief Sara Boone was among those he mentored and trained.

“The odds were definitely not in our favor, but we had Erwin, and his unshakeable faith and belief in us,” Boone said. “We were standing on the shoulders of those who had come before us and, through their own determination and courage, trained a new generation of firefighters to rise.”

Even after he retired, Warren continued to lend his expertise to the bureau’s training and recruitment efforts and was a fixture in the community.

“Erwin embodied the best of humanity,” Boone said. “His magnanimous spirit was the center of our universe.”

Warren was part of one of the biggest extended Black families in Portland, going back four generations. Much of that extended family was there Monday.

“To hear all the firefighters. I mean, I went out to meet the firefighters, and so many of them were like, ‘He hired me, he trained me,’” Erwin Donta Warren, his son, said. “You know, you hear that hundreds and hundreds of times like, yeah, it’s wonderful, man. I’m getting choked up thinking about it.”