Silver Star Search and Rescue settles into new home

Silver Star Search and Rescue (SSSR) is settling into its new home north of Camas-Washougal.

The search and rescue group moved into East County Fire and Rescue’s Station 92, located near the intersection of Northeast 292nd Avenue and Northeast Ireland Road north of Camas-Washougal, in October 2023, after the group’s lease with the city of Washougal for a building near the Washougal Police Department expired, forcing the organization to find a new home close to the Washougal area.

“We’re highly relieved that we have a place to keep our equipment,” said SSSR Rescue Coordinator Rick Blevins. “It’s a decent facility for us. It’s fairly secure, and we can still maintain our (machinery). And we can make improvements around here. I just have to talk to the fire chief, and most of the time, he’s pretty good about saying, ‘Yeah, go for it.’”

Formed by a group of CB radio operators in the early 1960s to assist the local sheriff’s department, SSSR had been operating out of its former Washougal headquarters, located at 1220 “A” St., next to the Washougal Police Department, since 1983, when its leaders struck an agreement with the city of Washougal to build a site on city-owned property and to lease that property for the next 35 years.

In 2019, however, the City informed SSSR leaders that their lease, which was set to expire in October 2023, would not be renewed. The City is planning to use the building as a temporary fire station during its fire-police station remodel project, which it hopes to kick off next year if voters OK the construction bond in the Aug. 6 election.

“The problem was that we knew that it was coming, and then COVID hit, and all of our efforts to try and reach out to folks were hindered by the fact that we were simply unable to communicate our dilemma,” said SSSR medical officer Jeff Berner. “We couldn’t meet face to face with folks for a while, which just compounded the issue. Fortunately, the folks (at ECFR) came through for us, and we’re super appreciative.”

Blevins credited the efforts of SSSR board president Wade Oxford, who negotiated a renewable two-year agreement with ECFR, which allowed SSSR to use the station for free.

“They were just using this building for storage (because it’s) not up to standards for the fire department,” Blevins said. “They tried to make it into sleeping quarters, but it doesn’t meet the criteria. There’s no water. There’s no septic tank or anything like that. There’s nothing. This is just a building that can house equipment, that’s all. The equipment that was in here, the chief told me it hadn’t been used for years because it was just stored there. It all got towed out.”

SSSR volunteers respond to wilderness and urban emergencies and perform search-and rescue-missions in Southwest Washington. They cover miles of wilderness while looking for missing hikers, climbers, hunters, or mushroom- and berry-pickers who have been reported overdue and are potentially lost or injured.

“We have close to 30 members, and I would say at least 16 that are really active,” Blevins said. “Our numbers have actually been increasing. I wish we had a bigger facility to hold all of them.”

SSSR volunteers also help city police officers and county sheriff’s deputies search for lost children, people with cognitive difficulties and other at-risk individuals.

“The day we got the letter that confirmed that (the City wasn’t) going to renew the lease, the stress level just went tenfold because we have a lot to deal with,” Blevins said. “Trying to find a place … was very stressful because time was just moving at jet speed all the way. It was like, ‘We’re going to run out of time to do this.’”

SSSR leaders conducted a “moving sale” in September 2023 to unload some of its equipment that it wouldn’t be able to fit in its new facility. They were able to keep some of their furniture, however, relocating it to The Outpost in Washougal.

“(The move) was rough on the team, for sure, because we’ve been in that building for a very long time,” said Jacie Bogar, vice president of the SSSR board of directors. “We had to sell a lot of our stuff because we just don’t have anywhere to put it now, and I know The Outpost has a lot of our tables and furniture and stuff like that. We had been in that building forever, so it’s bittersweet. We have a place now, so we’re very thankful and grateful for that.”

Station 92 is just big enough to house SSSR’s rescue truck — a Ford Super Duty F250, affectionately called “Sasquatch” by the volunteers — snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and other equipment.

“Parking is tight, but … we do a lot of stuff out towards Skamania, and a lot of the calls are out in the Gorge, so it’s nice to be closer to the highway,” Bogar said. “And we’re very excited to be working with ECFR. We’re looking at setting up some joint training sessions and working together in the future, so that’s exciting. That’s a positive outcome.”

Station 92 doesn’t have any meeting space, however, forcing SSSR board members and volunteers to gather at The Outpost and the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Orchards, where they also sometimes hold training sessions.

“I know eventually, we’d love to have our own building all together again, but I don’t think we’re looking,” Bogar said. “I don’t think we have the means (to do so), or that’s even in discussion at this point. It was really nice to be able to do our training in the same building where we have all of our equipment. But I think right now, we’re just happy to have a place to have all of our equipment and have a new home.”