Firefighters say goodbye to Bush Point Fire Station

The Bush Point Fire Station closed its big garage doors for the final time Oct. 31.

Known as Station 34 of Island County Fire District 3, the Bush Point station was the scene of a final celebration Halloween night as 60 nearby residents and district personnel gathered to remember the past. The community that banded together years ago to build the station was also there to honor its retiring battalion chief, Earl Lane. Lane served as a volunteer at the Bush Point station from 1982 and 2002.

The Bush Point station, as well as an old station on Harbor Avenue in Freeland, are being replaced by a large, new station on Cameron Road.

Island County Fire District 3 Chief Don Smith presented Lane with a plaque honoring him for his dedication to the district and particularly to Bush Point. Lane accepted the plaque, but chose to remember the people who actually built the station.

"Tonight is more about the efforts of a community that came together 43 years ago to build Bush Point station," Lane said. "They worked together and made it happen."

A faded color picture hangs on the bulletin board at Bush Point showing several men standing in front of a cake with five candles celebrating the opening of the station. The five candles signified the number of years it took the community to raise enough money to build the station.

Warren Farmer is in that photo and is the only volunteer from those days who is still living. He attended the Bush Point station's closing party.

"We began collecting donations for the new station in 1954," Farmer said. "It was finally completed in 1959, and we had a party much like this one when it opened. People were very generous."

Farmer remembers going door to door in Bush Point to solicit funds for the station.

"Everyone was willing to help, give what they could afford," Farmer said.

He admitted it was hard to see the station close.

"It hurts a little," he said, touching his heart. "But that's the way things go. It's time to say goodbye."

The cozy, box-shaped building was built on a corner of High Street on land deeded to the county by a local farmer. But in recent years the station had become a little too cozy. The station is large enough to shoehorn in a fire truck and a tender, and to house a small restroom and an obsolete hose-drying tower used back when fire hoses made of cotton.

"We would come back from a fire and have to climb the ladder in the drying tower to drape about 100 feet of hose over a rack," Lane said.

Lane recalled driving in and out of the station during the winter months provided a challenge to firefighters because the station sits on a steep, narrow road.

"Our hard and fast rule was to put the trucks into 'granny gear' until we were clear of the intersection," Lane said.

The station closing was a sign of progress for Lane. While he was letting go of the past, he was looking toward the future of firefighting. A retired Boeing aircraft inspector, he said the technology for firefighting has changed dramatically. He remembered the first fire truck the station had: A pickup with firefighting equipment mounted in the back. When the station got a new truck in 1995, the district had added eight feet to the front of the building. Even then, the new truck was a tight fit.

So tight in fact, there is a hole in the ceiling at the back of the station where the ladders scraped open the sheetrock. Lane said volunteers had to keep the truck full of water so it would sit lower.

The Bush Point station is on the northern boundary of Fire District 3. Firefighters at the station have long joked that they are the "French Foreign Legion" of the district.

But the station was an important outpost. Bush Point volunteers handled emergencies in their community and those in most points north and south. Lane said the biggest fires he remembers going to were in Sunlight Beach and Coupeville -- miles away from the station.

Firefighting at Bush Point was a way of life for Lane and his family. His wife, Bev, often joined him on fire calls.

"She came along with us and took photos of each fire," Lane said.

According to one longtime Bush Point volunteer, Penny Bush, Bev Lane was a great support for Earl and the station.

Chief Don Smith said the decision to close Bush Point station came with the construction of the new station on Cameron Road.

"We have a number of volunteers who live close to the new Freeland station," Chief Smith said. "Coupled with the outdated building, it's logical to close Bush Point."

The old Freeland and Bush Point stations will be put on the market for sale sometime in the future.

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