LAKE RESIDENT AMONG JOSEPH VOLUNTEERS DOUSING FIVE-HOUR STRAW-BALE FIRE

Ten Joseph volunteer firefighters, including Wallowa Lake resident Dusty Creps, fought a stubborn fire involving more than 300 tons of dry straw in stacked bales on Wednesday, April 11.

The blaze at the Triple Creek Ranch in rural Joseph broke out in late afternoon and burned for five hours. Creps responded from his home. Five Enterprise firefighters also took part.

Firefighters saved nearby structures, including the big landmark "TC"  barn on Liberty Road. 

Damage was estimated at $84,000. Fire Chief Tom Clevenger said the cause remains undetermined.

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LAKE FIREFIGHTER RESPONDS TO RURAL BLAZE

Joseph Asst. Fire Chief Matt Walker, a resident of Wallowa Lake, helped fight a grass fire between Joseph and Enterprise Sunday, March 25.

Enterprise and Joseph fire departments were dispatched when wind gusts blew a rubbish burn into a grassy field, eventually burning more than 40 acres. Walker was in Joseph and responded with two other firefighters to the scene on a Joseph engine.

Two other Joseph firefighters stood by at the station in case more manpower was needed or another emergency occurred.

Wallowa and Oregon Department of Forestry firefighters assisted. Engine 5, stationed at the Wallowa Lake station, was not dispatched.

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FIRE STATION GETS DOOR AWNING

A permanent awning has been built over the door used most often to enter the Wallowa Lake fire station.

Dustin B. Creps Construction, owned by Joseph Firefighter Dusty Creps, built the structure on the east side of the station. It enables fire district officials, firefighters and residents to enter without having raindrops trickle down their necks while unlocking and/or turning the doorknob.

The project also involved removing minimally useful gutters over several doors. The gutters would get bent and broken by heavy ice and snow slipping off the station roof, requiring repeated replacement.

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JOSEPH FIRE DEPARTMENT LANDS $247,000 GRANT FOR NEW FIRE ENGINE

The Joseph Fire Department, which serves our fire district under contract, has won a $247,475 federal grant to purchase a four-wheel-drive fire engine. This means that eventually the lake station will receive a more modern fire engine.

The grant comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Aid to Firefighters Grant program. When Fire Chief Tom Clevenger notified the Joseph City Council of the news Thursday, Feb. 2, he got a round of applause.

The city next will invite bids from manufacturers to build a truck matching specifications already developed by the fire department. This will be the first four-wheel-drive engine in the department's fleet.

When the department takes delivery of the new engine, Joseph intends to move its 1994 Boise Mobile engine to the lake station, replacing the 1974-era Engine 5.

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FIRE RATING REDUCED FOR WALLOWA LAKE PROPERTY OWNERS

The fire district's fire rating, increased last year when the Wallowa Lake fire station was declared as non-operational, has been restored to 5/9, the earlier rating enjoyed by lake property owners.

The national Insurance Services Office, which makes fire ratings used by many insurance carriers to determine fire insurance premium rates, has notified the district that it now considers the fire station to be fully functional.

If you are a property owner, consult your insurance agent immediately to receive the lower rates. To show an agent the new rating, click on "Insurance Form" in the right-hand column. When the document appears, click on the "Print" button.

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JOSEPH FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND FROM LAKE WHEN TRACTOR CATCHES FIRE

For the third time in slightly more than two weeks, Joseph volunteer firefighters responded from the Wallowa Lake fire station to a fire call in rural Wallowa County Monday night, Dec. 12.

Joseph Assistant Fire Chief Matt Walker and Joseph Firefighters Doug Buska, Dusty Creps and Steve Strampe rolled Engine 5 shortly after sundown when a tractor was reported afire inside a barn near Joseph.

Because other Joseph fire crews and firefighters from Enterprise also were en route and closer, the lake crew was directed to the Joseph fire station to "stage" in case of a second emergency or more help was needed at the fire.

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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.

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