Alcohol, fire houses don't mix anymore.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

Used to be, firefighters returning to the station after battling a searing blaze would pop open a cold one and relax until the next call.

But it's been years since most Lane County fire agencies pulled the plug on the well-stocked beer fridge and made the switch from boys' club to life-saving organization concerned with liability, public safety and professional image.

"When I first joined back in '75, it was very common to have a refrigerator with alcohol," Junction City Fire Chief Carl Perry said. Beer cans in firehouse vending machines were a common sight into the early 1980s, South Lane County Fire and Rescue Chief Dan Olsen said.

"The fire service has changed a lot in recent years," Perry said. "It's more of an emergency services thing and not just a place to get away from the wife and kids - or husband and kids, these days."

Nationally, some firehouses still have bars or social halls inside department buildings. Olsen, who's seen a few, says some of these bars look like "really nice taverns."

"On the East Coast, it's very common," he said.

Fire chiefs in these hold-out states say the alcohol helps build camaraderie and is good for recruitment. But a recent series of drunken-driving incidents has brought the issue of alcohol at fire stations under intense scrutiny.

Fire chiefs in Wyoming, Indiana and New Jersey have been charged with drunken driving, some while driving department vehicles. A firefighter in Delaware has filed a federal lawsuit alleging his volunteer company retaliated against him after he tried to stop underage drinking at a firehouse party. And a firefighter in Newcastle, Wyo., pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide after the tanker he was driving crashed en route to a grass fire and killed a 16-year-old volunteer. The firefighter had consumed five 20-ounce beers in an hour and a half at a bar, according to court records.

Here in Oregon, prosecutors allege that alcohol played a role in a crash earlier this year that killed eight Roseburg-based contract firefighters on Highway 20 west of Vale. And a volunteer firefighter from Prineville died in June while attending the Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association conference in Albany. She apparently was too drunk to walk, and the man carrying her dropped her on her head.

State law requires that emergency medical technicians wait eight hours after consuming alcohol before they respond to a call. Many departments have extended that rule to include firefighters, too.

For instance, South Lane County Fire and Rescue's board voted Wednesday to adopt the eight-hour rule, and institute a zero-tolerance policy for all alcohol, narcotics and medication, either prescription or over-the-counter, that could affect a firefighter's performance while on duty, Olsen said.

One of the few local agencies that still allow alcohol in certain controlled situations is the Santa Clara Rural Fire Protection District northwest of Eugene. In the volunteer department, "your workforce is also your social group," Chief Skip Smith said.

So when the district has a big party, they include beer, wine and other beverages, but they ask Lane Rural Fire/Rescue to cover their calls for them. Not all of the firefighters indulge, and any firefighter who has been drinking must wait the required eight hours, Smith said.

"We have a good group of people who monitor each other's behavior," he said.

Eugene's written policy states that firefighters shall not possess, consume or be under the influence of intoxicants while on the job, said department spokesman Glenn Potter. The city forbids alcoholic beverages in any public building.

"I couldn't even bring a can of beer and set it on a shelf here," Potter said.

There's no drinking allowed in Springfield fire houses either, although a small amount of cooking wine is permitted, Battalion Chief Mark Walker said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report