Submitted photos

The warehouse/bunkhouse building at Allison Guard Station in 2011. 

At approximately 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 14, smoke was reported in the main bunk house at Allison Guard Station on Emigrant Creek Ranger District of the Malheur National Forest. The guard station houses wildland fire fighters throughout the summer months.

Employees at the work center began working to put the fire out with fire extinguishers. No injuries were reported. The fire damage was contained to the main bunk house, which is presumed to be a total loss. No other buildings were damaged. The cause of the fire is currently unknown and under investigation. The Forest Service is asking the public to please refrain from visiting the site until after investigations are completed.

Allison Guard Station was one of many Forest Service lookouts, campgrounds, and buildings constructed during the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was one of the most successful social programs of the New Deal developed by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The CCC had duel purposes of job training and financial relief for unemployed workers (mainly men) and conservation measure for public lands.

Although a national program, the CCC had special significance for the small, timber-dependent communities of the Pacific Northwest, including those in and around the Malheur National Forest. As a part of this conservation program, Allison was constructed in the Depression-ridden 1930s, originally as a ranger station for the Snow Mountain Ranger District. It was a Ranger Station until the 1950s when the station was moved to Hines, and it has served as a fire guard station since that time. This was one of the most intact CCC era Ranger Stations in the region until the fire on Friday, Aug. 14.

The CCC camp responsible for the construction of the Allison Ranger Station was most likely “Camp Mill Creek. Comprised of young men primarily from Chicago, a subset of Company 1648 was stationed at Allison beginning in November 1934, with the rest of the crew arriving in May 1935. Company 6417 arrived around July 10, 1940, and stayed until at least June of 1941. In sum, at least four different CCC companies were stationed at Allison Ranger Station in the 1930s-1940s.

The Fire Warehouse, which became a bunkhouse, was likely constructed in 1937 as indicated by drawings, material list, and millwork specifications mailed to the Ochoco National Forest in January 1937.

All buildings on the Allison Ranger Station compound show elements of the distinctive Pacific Northwest Region Rustic style. Prescribing to the design ethic of non-intrusiveness and harmony with the natural environment, local native and natural building materials were specified in the building plans. The pine tree logo was a common element in most of the buildings constructed by the CCC. The tree symbol decoration was emblematic of the Forest Service, served as the only explicit ornamentation, and was most often depicted cut-out in boards.

For further information regarding guard stations and lookouts on the Malheur National Forest, please call 541-575-3000.