News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The walls are up on ODF’s new headquarters on Highway 126 east of Sisters.
The Oregon Department of Forestry has long outgrown its 1930s-era facility on Washington Avenue and Elm Street. With the help of a legislative bond passed five years ago and Go Oregon state stimulus money, the agency is now building a 6,000-square-foot facility on Highway 126 just east of Sisters.
"Our vehicles don't even fit in the garage anymore," said Ben Duda, assistant fire protection supervisor with the Sisters ODF contingent. He also noted that the location can be problematic on major event weekends in the middle of wildfire season, due to traffic congestion.
That won't be a problem at the new facility, which will have a four-bay garage/shop, storage space and a training area. Two engine bays will be heated, which will eliminate problems with freezing water in the early and late fire seasons.
Duda said the ODF headquarters is staffed with 18 fire personnel and seven apparatus during fire season. Some eight to 10 personnel are on hand in winter, when ODF teams up with the Forest Service on thinning projects in the area.
The facility sits on a little more than four acres, and Duda said that ODF plans to use the land to create an example of no-water, fire-resistant landscaping for the Sisters Country.
Construction will continue over the summer, a welcome shot in the arm for a soft industry.
"It's a prevailing-wage job for a lot of local contractors," Duda noted.
"We're hoping to be in in November," he noted. "So we've got one more fire season in our current location."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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