New coordinator manages local wildlife defense activities

Maddie Tutton, here in Sweet Home Fire District’s main station, is responsible for administering much of a U.S. Forest Service grant to East Linn County communities for wildfire protection efforts. Maddie Tutton photos

Growing up less than a mile away from the beaches of Southern California, Maddie Tutton has really switched her lifestyle, trading waves for a career in Oregon’s mountain forests.

Tutton was hired in April as the Community Wildfire Defense Grant Coordinator, based at Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District.

Her presence in Sweet Home is a result of an $8.7 million grant awarded last fall to Sweet Home Fire and other local districts by the…