The Row River Valley is home to several rural, unincorporated communities east of Cottage Grove. Locals say the densely forested area is especially vulnerable to wildfire and other natural disasters.
Two years ago, in an effort to bolster their chances of surviving a catastrophe, the communities banded together to create their own fire district.
Community members are now raising funds for the next phase of that effort, getting their first fire station off the ground.
Wildfire risk concerns
Gary Mowrey said when a wildfire raged through neighboring farms in 2018, he used sprinklers to save his home.
"When it got to my house, I had two sections with fencing, and the fire came within three feet of my fence," Mowrey said.
Mowrey lives near the unincorporated community of Dorena. In an interview from his backyard, he said help used to be at least 40 minutes away, if neighboring communities had engines free.
Mowrey said he feels safer now that the new district’s trained volunteers are just a few minutes down the road. He’s hoping a permanent fire station will make fire response faster, and more reliable.
“It's something that's just very, very important,” Mowrey said. “We've had a lot of fires, we've had a lot of homes burn to the ground because the equipment, if there was equipment coming, couldn't get here in time because we're too far out."
The Row River Fire District covers about 500 homes surrounding Dorena Lake and stretching almost to the border of the Umpqua National Forest.
Darin Rhodes, a member of the Row River Rural Fire Protection District’s elected board, said the district already has land set aside for its main Dorena hub.
He said raising funds to build that station has become much more urgent. The district, which formed in 2024, is using fire trucks donated from other fire departments around Oregon. That equipment is stored outdoors on private property that’s now up for sale after the owner decided to move to another state.
“That situation has changed, so the urgency to get our main station up has moved forward in a timeline that we were unprepared for,” Rhodes said.
Fire station supporters are also concerned about weather damaging the equipment, vandalism and theft if they don’t build a large space to store fire engines.
Supporters say the main hub will likely cost about $3.4 million.
Row River Valley Community Partnership, a nonprofit which supports emergency preparedness and fire prevention, is raising money for the new main station hub.
The group’s Executive Director, Kathleen Istudor, said she’s hoping to fundraise across the wider region. The Row River Valley is a bicycling destination, watershed and a direct route to the Umpqua National Forest and historic Bohemia Mines.
"This station will be the infrastructure that supports medical and fire emergencies throughout the valley,” Istudor said. “Not only for the 500 homes, but also for the tens of thousands of people who travel through our area."
She said the fire district and supporters have asked Oregon’s two U.S. senators, and Rep. Val Hoyle, to champion their application for federal funding. If successful, the community would still need to come up with their share, about $1.5 million.
Istudor said it will be a challenge for local taxpayers to raise matching funds on their own.
The property tax base voters approved when they created the fire district generates about $140,000 a year. That’s enough to cover the cost of operating the volunteer fire department, but not much extra.
She said a significant share of the community’s small tax base is already struggling, and can’t afford a bond measure or higher property taxes.
“If anyone can help, we ask for your assistance,” Istudor said. “This is an area well worth preserving, and the people who visit here, the people who live here, their safety is critical."
Istudor said the community has already started working with the county on permitting and other logistical hurdles, and should be able to break ground quickly if it can raise the funds.
Community members are also hoping to launch a smaller satellite station on the east end of the district in the unincorporated area of Disston. A request for funding for the satellite has gone before Oregon lawmakers several times, but they have not yet funded it, according to organizers.
