After many months free of emergencies in the fire district, Joseph firefighters were dispatched twice Friday, Sept. 19, to the Village at Wallowa Lake.Shortly before 11 a.m., firefighters responded to the Wallowa Lake Tramway, where someone reported spotting smoke in the forest between Tramway Towers 4 and 5. What appeared from a distance to be white smoke turned out to be a column of water spraying from a broken water main.
Just after 3 p.m., Joseph Fire Department was summoned to secure a landing zone for a medical helicopter at Wallowa Lake Marina after a boating accident.
Joseph's volunteer firefighters do not respond for medical emergencies since they aren't trained to do so, but they perform rescues and sometimes provide backup such as traffic control and, as in this case, landing-zone support. Medical copters require a secure 100-foot-by-100-foot landing space free of obstructions and power lines.
Local medical emergencies are handled by Wallowa County Health Care District's ambulance service.