VALE – The Malheur County community is rallying to support firefighters and ranchers in a big way through several donation drives.
Two donation programs collected tons of food, water and other supplies to distribute to firefighters as fires – large and small – ignited across the region.
Meantime, a local business organized a hay drive to help ranchers feed their cattle after the Cow Valley Fire charred critical rangelands in Malheur County.
Riverside Feeders, a Vale feed company, accepted feed donations on Saturday, July 27, and Sunday, July 28. While it is unclear at press time how much feed Riverside Feeders collected, the donations poured in from as far away as Idaho.
Catherine Stein, owner and chief executive of Stein Distributing and her husband, John Sepulveda, had two tons of hay on the market before they heard about how the Cow Valley blaze scorched more than 200 square miles of private and public land essential to feed thousands of cows.
Stein said her daughter, Cortney Stein-Ditto, the company’s chief executive, kept her abreast of the blazes in the area, especially the Cow Valley Fire that hit private landowners scorched rangeland.
Stein said the wildfire’s destruction could hit “anyone at anytime,” given the hot and dry conditions across the West.
“There before the grace of God go I,” she said. “This country is dry everywhere.”
Stein Distributing, a Boise company, has a location in Ontario, Stein said. The company donated hundreds of cases of water to the Red Cross, which, she said, went to firefighters battling the blazes in Malheur County. Other distributors donated products, including Swire Coca-Cola. The company gave the Vale Rangeland Fire Protection Agency cases of water and Powerade.
Charlotte New, a dispatcher with Ontario Fire and Rescue and other firefighters’ wives, collected 1,100 care bags, filled with supplies that included sunscreen, snacks, toothpaste and other essentials.
The donation drive, which New said was not sponsored by the Ontario and Fire Rescue Department, occurred throughout last week.
Good expected to get enough supplies to fill around 50 bags before kicking off the donation drive last week. On the first day, her office at the Ontario Fire and Rescue office was nearly full of provisions for firefighters. By the third day, according to Good, she and the other organizers, including Madison Waddell, Melissa Culbertson and Jennifer Bivert had enough supplies to fill the 1,100 care bags.
“In my mind,” she said, ” I was thinking we would collect enough for 50 care bags. I was so wrong.
New said the purpose was to give the community a way to feel involved and show support to the firefighters.
New said the group delivered to crews at the fire camp at Wadleigh Park in Vale, the incident command center at Vale Elementary School, the Vale District Bureau of Land Management Office, Stepleton Electric and local Rangeland Fire Protection Agencies, a collection of volunteer firefighters who live on or near the rangeland.
New said the rest of the donations went to a firefighter camp in Huntington.
In Vale, Holly Stepleton spearheaded a drive to provide supplies for members of the Vale and Ironside Rangeland Fire Protection Associations.
“I’m just a friend helping friends,” said Stepleton.
Stepleton’s effort kicked off Sunday, July 21, when she offered to open up one of the bays of her and her husband’s business, Stepleton Electric, LLC., in Vale.
Stepleton said she and her husband decided to help because they know so many ranchers that were impacted by the Cow Valley and Durkee Fires.
Stepleton said she was “humbled” by the response from the community.
She said six to eight pallets of water and Powerade were collected at her business along with packages of non-perishable food, Chapstick, wipes, bandages, Tylenol, first aid kits and toilet paper to give to the members of the Rangeland Fire Protection Associations.
Help, she said, came from as far away as Kuna and Meridian.
“Coke brought a truck over,” she said.
Stepleton’s effort was “huge,” said Kelsey Haueter chairman of the Vale and Ironside Rangeland Fire Protections Associations.
“There is so much stuff it is unreal. Just about anything you could possibly think of,” said Haueter.
Haueter said when she heard about Stepleton’s effort she expected residents to donate, but “not this much stuff.”
“I was shocked,” said Haueter.
Haueter said she’s picked up and dispersed the supplies throughout the two rangeland agencies last week.
Rangeland Fire Protection Associations are made up of volunteers who operate fire vehicles and work with state and federal agencies for training and equipment. Each member of an association pay dues to help fund the organizations.
Haueter said the Vale and Ironside rangeland associations consist of about 30 to 35 local people.
The Ironside and Vale Rangeland Fire Protection Associations have been on the front lines of both the Cow Valley and Durkee Fires for several weeks.
“They do it knowing they’re not going to be reimbursed,” said Stepleton.
News tip? Send your information to [email protected].
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE – The Malheur Enterprise delivers quality local journalism – fair and accurate. You can read it any hour, any day with a digital subscription. Read it on your phone, your Tablet, your home computer. Click subscribe – $7.50 a month.