The idea of having a fire department in or near Husum, may have been around for sometime, but came to a head in 1955, with the occurrence that year of several fires.  The fire that was the final straw, was when the old Turk place burned that fall.  I don’t recall what started the fire, but it was slow enough that neighbors and passers by were able to remove a large amount of the furnishings.  As usual, the one truck from White Salmon, contracted by the District 3 commissioners, arrived after the fact.  There was a lot of talk at the fire and in the community that if any type of equipment had been available this home could have been saved...

Our “New” truck, was a 1934 Ford. I understood that it had been a farm truck hauling cotton in the south. That it had been used to move someone out here, and had been purchased by White Salmon and made into a fire vehicle. Somewhere along the line the engine had been replaced by a 1937 Ford engine. It had a four-speed transmission, a very high-speed rear end, a long wheelbase, and of course mechanical brakes (more about this combination later.) As a rural fire truck it left a lot to be desired, as it only carried 225 gallons of water...

Our alarm system couldn’t have been simpler.  We still had the old crank telephones.  While the system was poor, with no expectation of privacy, it was perfect or us.  I remember that there were 21 people on my line, and that you heard every ring.  It was early call forwarding, for if you were at someone else’s home that was on your line and you heard your ring you could answer.  We checked with the telephone operator to confirm that five long rings was not used, and adopted that as the fire alarm.  This stayed in effect for a number of years until the phone company replaced the old crank system and made us move on to the next phase, which was using a one way call in only telephone placed in selected homes.

The first fire we responded to was in July of 1956.  It was the Hoppe – DeWilde Mill Fire at Gilmer.  I had been in White Salmon and was on my way home, it was one of those record heat days with the temperature above 100, and I could see this large smoke as soon as I left town.  When I got to Husum, Art Moore was just getting the truck out of my lube room.  As we were getting ready to leave, the White Salmon fire truck, the O.C.D pumper, and the old rescue car went by.  We pulled out a short time later.  The rescue car was stopped with a vapor lock about Glacier Orchards, where we picked up a couple of W.S. firemen, the O.C.D unit was stopped with a vapor lock just short of BZ Corners, we picked up some more firemen, just across the bridge of the Gilmer grade the heat had stopped their fire truck, we picked up some more firemen...

All of this had taken place in 1956.  We realized that the next order of business was a building to house the truck, and some equipment to put on the truck.  We needed to raise some money, and were still on our own as far as the fire district was concerned...

By the first of august 1956, we had permission to put a building on the State highway property in Husum.  We also had buried a 3000-gallon water tank at BZ Corners next tot the Logs Tavern. We had the site and the desire, but no money.  For the next few months...

Up until the first of January 1957, White Salmon was still answering calls in the district and we were assisting.  On January 15, 1957, we announced that we would now handle all call from Bald Mountain to Camp Five Hill.  We had also kept our promise about the Fire District Commissioners, and had elected Art Moore as our first replacement the previous fall.  We replaced the other two as soon as their terms came up for election.  That summer we also joined the Mid Columbia Mutual Aid Association...