The district headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service in Enterprise was destroyed in a spectacular fire Sunday, July 11.
The leased building built of logs was a total loss, according to Forest Service spokeswoman Judy Wing. No one was in the building when the fire broke out after 4 p.m., she said.
"It was devastating," said Mary DeAguero, district ranger for the Eagle Cap Ranger District, whose office was in the building. Also burned were offices of the Wallowa Valley Ranger District, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, an extensive visitor center, the Farmers Service Agency, National Resource Conservation Service and Wallowa Soil and Water Conservation District.
Officials of the state fire marshal's office were expected to arrive today to begin an investigation into the cause of the blaze. The approximately 70 Forest Service employees who worked in the building were told to meet with Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Supervisor Steve Ellis at Cloverleaf Hall at the county fairgrounds.
The agency recently negotiated a two-year extension of its 20-year lease. One Joseph firefighter was taken to Wallowa Memorial Hospital with symptoms of heatstroke and released at midnight. No one else was reported injured.
"We will now focus on how to get office functions and public services back to normal," Wing quoted Ellis as saying.
The building was already in flames when firefighters arrived. Units from Enterprise, Joseph and Wallowa responded, and some stayed on the scene through the night. The ruins were still smoldering at 8 a.m.
Ellis paid tribute to the fire departments "for their support and response," Wing said.
Republished with permission of The Wallowa County Chieftain.
