FIRES NEAR ENTERPRISE AND JOSEPH – FIREFIGHTERS ROLL FROM LAKE STATION

A house fire in rural Enterprise Sunday morning, Nov. 27, and a reported wildfire in rural Joseph in the evening rousted two Joseph firefighters living at Wallowa Lake, who responded both times on Engine 5 from the lake fire station.

Joseph Assistant Fire Chief Matt Walker and Joseph Firefighter Doug Buska, owner of Wallowa Lake Resort, rolled when the Joseph Fire Department was dispatched on a mutual aid assignment on Valley Heights Drive, where a fire had broken out in an unoccupied home. Later, they headed out when a slash-pile burn blazed out of control on Hurricane Creek Road.

Each time, Walker and Buska were ordered to the Joseph fire station to have Engine 5 stand by as the "second-out" engine in case another emergency occurred. Joseph's usual second-out engine was out of service for repairs.