The Story of Sacheen Lake Station

Historian Beryl Pielli had the opportunity of interviewing former Firefighter Ron Schmidt. Also contributing to this article was Mrs. Betty Janson, wife of former Firefighter Glen Janson. (January 29, 2008)

Ron Schmidt stated that the building of Station 32 could not have happened without the involvement of Mr. Warren Harter. Warren and his wife Alta resided in the large white house near the old Circle Moon Barn, a former eating establishment on State Route 211 near Sacheen Lake. “Warren was a visionary who was always thinking outside of the box. He was instrumental in the engineering of the new State Route 211 highway as well as establishing a fire station near the Terrace at Sacheen Lake. In about 1978 Harder donated the property on which Station 32 was built.”

Mr. Bud Johnson, a resident of Sacheen Lake, spent a great deal of time traveling to Olympia to secure financing for the new Station 32 on Terrace Drive near Sacheen Lake. He was also instrumental in obtaining the first couple of donated apparatuses. Bud never took part in any firefighting activities but was heavily involved in the local “Search and Rescue” organization. A photo of Bud Johnson standing by the new Station 32 in 1979 is located in the Pend Oreille County Fire District No. 3’s photo album and Web site. (Ron thought that much of the construction costs for the new Station 32 were collected from property taxes).

Prior to the building of the new Station 32 the old donated fire engines were stored at Neal Johnson’s garage on Fertile Valley Road and Gordon Reed’s garage on Reed’s Landing.

Some of the initial crew members at the new Station 32 were Darrell Abbott (retired Hanford employee), Dick Fields (teacher at Mead Middle School), Glen Janson (United States Postal Service), Neal Johnson, (occupation unknown), Blaine McMurray ( M & M Glass Company), Roy Nesbit (retired telephone company), Gordon Reed (developer and trapper), Ron Schmidt (Burlington Northern Railroad), Paul Snyder (Banner Fuel), Dick Tachell (Excess Garbage), Jack Thome (home builder) and Robin Weber (farmer).

Bill Woltering (home builder) and Louie Johnson (Kaiser Aluminum) later became involved at Station 32.

As mentioned earlier Bud Johnson was instrumental in obtaining donated apparatuses. The first two came from Fairchild Air Force Base. Ron stated that “one rig froze up and parts were then saved” for rig number two. Dick Tachell and Jack Thome were responsible for keeping the districts broken down donated apparatuses going.

“Another donation the district received was again from Fairchild Air Force Base. It was a 4 x 4 slow moving machine with a big, old, ugly canvas top. The Sacheen Lake Betterment Association donated a used 200-300 gallon trailer in which to haul the water. It was heavy and cumbersome”. Ron noted that “When going to a fire everyone would pass us.”

Banner Fuel donated a Chevrolet truck which the district added an engine and built it into a tanker.

Station 32 was built by a professional contractor (name unknown). “No eves were built and the first time it rained the water came running down the walls and into the station”.

District volunteers and local residents hung all of the dry wall. “Sacheen Lake Ladies of the Lake”, including Renee Schmidt, painted the complete interior of the new Station 32. Through Dick Fields, the Mead School District donated all of the kitchen cupboards and Jack Thome installed them. Paul Snyder made all of the towel racks and Larry Wetterau put in all of the plumbing. Through Ron Schmidt the Burlington Northern Railroad donated the painted Fire District No. 3 Station 2 sign which hung on the front of the building until it was sold in 2007.

They ran the water for days so it would be drinkable. While volunteers were digging a line from the well to the station they cut the telephone line severing telephone service to the Sacheen Terrace for several days.

The old Sacheen Lake Fire Boat’s engine was removed (and later placed in the Chevrolet truck donated by Banner Fuel). The fire boat was taken to Station 32 for a fire training where after many attempts it finally burned up.

Initially when a fire call came in from the Sheriff’s Office, Renee Schmidt would call the Station 32 firefighters listed on her telephone tree. The firefighters would then respond to the station. Radio communication was almost non-existent. It was impossible to talk to firefighters on the south side of the lake while on the north side.

Ron recalled the first night-time fire that the volunteers from Station 32 were involved with. The four or five firefighters had to drive their antiquated engines to Deer Valley, turn left at the Sherman farm and proceed two miles in the dark to where the Tucker house trailer was engulfed in flames. They had head lights on the apparatuses but nothing else. Ron said “When the fire died down we realized we did not have any lights to clean up the scene with. We got back to Station 32 very slowly. Four big spot lights were purchased after that”.

Fire District No. 3 commissioners were Clarence Altig, Chuck Quick and Cliff Snow. Commission Secretary was Tina Snow. As it was then and still is today, all requests for equipment and training must be reviewed and approved by the fire district commissioners and chief. Ron stated that back then he and Dick Tachell had to fight for everything:

Communication was done via CB’s and requests were repeatedly put in for hand held radios. Finally Chief Dick Tachell and Captain Ron Schmidt were issued hand held radios. Only later were radios finally put in the apparatuses to communicate with the Sheriff’s Office.
After many months negotiating for another apparatus, the commissioners purchased an old International from DNR. The rig did not even have a ladder. Louie Johnson, a “Jack of All Trades”, welded a ladder on the old International. “One time we almost got rear ended on highway 2 because we didn’t have any lights on the back”. Ron stated that he went to General Fire where they sold him three back lights for the price of one. He was later reprimanded for arranging this transaction.
Ron had established a good rapport with General Fire in Spokane. They generously donated used fire helmets to the district firefighters.
Chief Dick Tachell and Captain Ron Schmidt repeatedly asked for first aid training. Ron stated “We were told that we were here to fight fires”. Mark Hatfield from Spokane Fire District #4 put the fourteen volunteers through firefighting and several first aid classes. Even teenager Michelle Schmidt was able to take the first aid classes taught by Mark Hatfield.
Dick Tachell and Ron Schmidt decided that a Chain of Command was needed. Dick would be chief and Ron would be assistant chief. They approached Commissioner Altig who flatly denied their request. Ron put his badge on the table and Dick followed, saying they were leaving the district. Robin Weber then took over as Captain of Station 32.
Because they were in need of firefighters at Station 32 Ron called Commissioner Altig to tell him he would be back. Some time later firefighters were called to the Diamond Lake area. When Ron arrived at Diamond Lake he was unable to locate the fire and called on the radio asking where the fire was. The fire was never located. Ron later received a letter from the Commission Secretary discharging him from Fire District N. 3 as he had not received Radio Training and had used the fire engine radio. Ron Schmidt, Bill Woltering and Dick Abbot then left their equipment and boots at Commissioner Altig’s home and resigned from Fire District No. 3.

Ron Schmidt said that it was important to have a flag flying at the new Station 32 in 1979. Ron donated the pole which was installed by Darrell Abbott and Bill Woltering adjacent to the station. The flag pole supported many American flags between 1979 and 2007 when the new Station 32 was built north of Sacheen Lake on State Route 211 and the old Station 32 building and property were sold to local residents. Sacheen Lake “Ladies of the Lake”, the “Sacheen Lake Betterment Association”, Ron and Renee Schmidt as well as other local residents continued to supply the district with new flags as the old ones became torn and tattered.

Numerous garage sales/fundraisers for the Sacheen Station were held at Station 32. Local residents were very generous in their donations. Because it was a fund raiser for the fire department many items were purchased that would have normally been discarded. Station 32 raised more money through garage sales than Station 31 or the nearby Riverside Fire District. All the monies raised by the volunteers at Station 32 went to support the Sacheen Station.

It was interesting to learn how Fire District No. 3’s station numbers were decided. The captain of the Sacheen station and the captain of the Diamond Lake station flipped a coin to see which station would be designated number 1 and number 2. Diamond Lake became Station 31 and Sacheen became Station 32.

Ron also mentioned that Mr. Cliff Snow generously donated the property on which the original Diamond Lake Station on State Route 2 was built. The Deer Valley Station 33 was built at a later date.

Ron Schmidt is presently the Chair of the Sacheen Lake Water and Sewer District. He and his wife, Renee, are actively involved in the local community and are members of the Fire District No. 3 Gold Card Club. Their continued support of Fire District No. 3 is greatly appreciated.

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