History of the
Helix Rural Fire Protection District
7-411
Everyone asks "When was the Fire Department established?" Well, we finally have some of those answers for you.
The City of Helix was established in 1880 and the first school building was built. The town boomed in 1888 when the railroad reached it. The town began to build very rapidly between 1889-1892 but hard times followed soon after and left business desolation in its track, and it was not until 1897 that business revived, showing that activity which is indicative of a prosperous town and community with 3 churches, a school, a bank, a barber shop, black smith shop, hardware shop, Mason lodge, Flour mill, print shop, and numerous hotels, shops, and saloons.
People were coming and settling all over the area to farm this area. The town knew they needed to have a fire department to cover the growing town.
In 1912 the community got together and decided they needed to establish a Volunteer Fire Department to service the growing community. They already had many volunteers that were there to help put out a fire but no place to store their hoses, buckets, etc. So on January 5, 1912 Edgar L. Smith and Mercy E. Smith sold the property commonly known as "The City Shop" to the City to be used for the Fire Department. It still remains in the name of the City of Helix.
The department was finally established by registered voters as a Department in 1974. The basic operations of the District were financed by taxes on property holders within its taxing boundaries.
On March 28, 1975 the Fire Department purchased the land where Station 1 is located as they had been using it for many years, and on January 7, 1977 purchased the lot behind the station.
As our area of need grew, we knew we needed another station to help service the area further away from the City with a faster response time to cover the area. On March 18, 1992 the Fire Department entered into a 30 yr. sublease agreement for our Station 2 - Juniper Station with Gerald & Jerry Tergeson for property owned by Tom & Signe Terjeson.
On June 13, 2013, expanding again, we purchased the Office and Maintenance Building from Darrell Moon.
On July 1, 2019, we entered into an IGA (InterGovernmental Agreement) with East Umatilla County Fire, Athena City Fire, and East Umatilla County Ambulance - Medic 400 to serve the local communities with better service. An IGA is just an agreement between the 4 parties to share resources, etc for safer & faster service to our communities. Now instead of us needing to call in assistance, we have members from all 4 departments responding to the "incident" to help the solve the situation quicker to the best of our ability. Many hands make lighter work.
I am sure since I know we had fires in the area long before 1912 we had Community Members as part of the Fire Department as Volunteers who gave their time and effort to keep this community safe and their legacy continues with our current crew. We, the Board, are very proud of each of our volunteers that give with their time, effort, and heart to keep this community safe.
The City of Helix was established in 1880 and the first school building was built. The town boomed in 1888 when the railroad reached it. The town began to build very rapidly between 1889-1892 but hard times followed soon after and left business desolation in its track, and it was not until 1897 that business revived, showing that activity which is indicative of a prosperous town and community with 3 churches, a school, a bank, a barber shop, black smith shop, hardware shop, Mason lodge, Flour mill, print shop, and numerous hotels, shops, and saloons.
People were coming and settling all over the area to farm this area. The town knew they needed to have a fire department to cover the growing town.
In 1912 the community got together and decided they needed to establish a Volunteer Fire Department to service the growing community. They already had many volunteers that were there to help put out a fire but no place to store their hoses, buckets, etc. So on January 5, 1912 Edgar L. Smith and Mercy E. Smith sold the property commonly known as "The City Shop" to the City to be used for the Fire Department. It still remains in the name of the City of Helix.
The department was finally established by registered voters as a Department in 1974. The basic operations of the District were financed by taxes on property holders within its taxing boundaries.
On March 28, 1975 the Fire Department purchased the land where Station 1 is located as they had been using it for many years, and on January 7, 1977 purchased the lot behind the station.
As our area of need grew, we knew we needed another station to help service the area further away from the City with a faster response time to cover the area. On March 18, 1992 the Fire Department entered into a 30 yr. sublease agreement for our Station 2 - Juniper Station with Gerald & Jerry Tergeson for property owned by Tom & Signe Terjeson.
On June 13, 2013, expanding again, we purchased the Office and Maintenance Building from Darrell Moon.
On July 1, 2019, we entered into an IGA (InterGovernmental Agreement) with East Umatilla County Fire, Athena City Fire, and East Umatilla County Ambulance - Medic 400 to serve the local communities with better service. An IGA is just an agreement between the 4 parties to share resources, etc for safer & faster service to our communities. Now instead of us needing to call in assistance, we have members from all 4 departments responding to the "incident" to help the solve the situation quicker to the best of our ability. Many hands make lighter work.
I am sure since I know we had fires in the area long before 1912 we had Community Members as part of the Fire Department as Volunteers who gave their time and effort to keep this community safe and their legacy continues with our current crew. We, the Board, are very proud of each of our volunteers that give with their time, effort, and heart to keep this community safe.
Office102 Columbia St
Helix, OR 97835 |
Station 1
201 Concord St
Helix, OR 97835 |
Station 2
82146 S. Juniper Canyon Rd
Helix, OR 97835 |