Spring Hill, truck blazes draw firefighters

A pair of fires and multiple calls mean a busy day for area volunteers

The Forest Grove News-Times, Jul 28, 2010

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Originally, it was a brush fire on Spring Hill near Laughlin which sent Gaston Fire Lieutenant Alan Spry out to Highway 47 to investigate last Friday, July 23.

But as Spry was making his way to the fire station on Main Street, he encountered clouds of thick black smoke, which had stopped traffic in both directions on the highway just south of the Gaston city limits.

This second incident, which had been called in as a truck fire, was actually a disabled semi-truck whose faulty turbo mechanism was forcing oil into the engine.

Spry sprang into action as a problem solver. He helped ease the truck to a stop and fixed the problem, according to Ken Bilderback, Gaston Fire Department’s volunteer public information officer. Then, Spry made it back to town in time to catch a third fire truck that was just leaving the station.

“An engine from Forest Grove Fire and Rescue, already responding to assist on the [truck] call, continued in to make sure there was no additional threat of fire in the disabled truck,” Bilderback said.

It turned out to be an unusually busy day for area firefighters.

Crews from Gaston Fire, along with the Yamhill and Carlton fire departments, were able to successfully extinguish the fire on Spring Hill.

“It’s just what volunteers do,” said Spry, “We help people.”