A total loss

Photo courtesy of Annette fellow fire wife and friend

UPDATE: Tob watched his office burn completely to the ground last night before coming home completely and utterly exhausted. Not only did he lose a file (paper trail) of 15 years of all of his classes and qualifications, he lost momentos from past firefighting years, money, fire boots, among special things the kids have made for him. Of course we all know this is small in the scheme of things. We were lucky it was a weekend and only a few fire crews were working and that they were not in the office at the time of the incident. Had it been a weekday people may not have been so lucky.

If you have never been up to the building or seen it driving by you missed out. It was beautiful amazing log structure. It's main support was a 400 year old ponderosa pine that was still standing last night even when the rest of the building collapsed around it. I don't know if it is still there this morning. Not only was this the building for the Eagle Cap Ranger District it was an exceptional visitors center with many displays artifacts and historical information from Wallowa county, Hells Canyon, and Wallowa Whitman National Forest. It included the USDA offices as well as the service center for the natural resources conservation and the soil and water conservation and US Farm service agency.

This has turned out to be a huge loss for our community and the people who visit.