Fire destroys NE Oregon forest ranger offices

The building that houses the U.S. Forest Service visitor center and ranger district offices for the popular Wallowa Mountains region of northeastern Oregon has burned to the ground.

One wall was left standing Monday after the 20-year-old log building erupted in flames late Sunday afternoon. It housed the Eagle Cap and Wallowa Valley ranger districts of the Wallow-Whitman National Forest.

A state fire marshal and the local sheriff's office were investigating the cause of the fire.

Forest Service wildfire firefighters pitched in with local volunteer fire departments to keep the flames from spreading in windy conditions, said Forest Service spokeswoman Judy Wing. Two other buildings on the site, a barn and a warehouse for firefighting equipment and personnel, were left standing.

Officials met in the barn to figure out where to put the 90 Forest Service employees and 10 U.S. Department of Agriculture service center employees whose offices burned.

"One of our goals today is to start assessing what we lost and to kind of help support the employees so they can return to a normal program of work as soon as possible," Wing said.

Some employees who had taken home laptop computers and had field work to do were able to keep working, she added.

Wing said among the losses are historical photos and other artifacts in the visitor center.

"Our hearts go out to employees and to the community for this great loss," Northwest Regional Forester Mary Wagner said in a statement.