TROUT LAKE, Wash. -- Firefighters on Wednesday wrapped protective foil around a two-room cabin in an effort to save the oldest building in Gifford Pinchot National Forest from a 1,937-acre forest fire.
Located northeast of Trout Lake and built in 1909, the Gotchen Creek Guard Station was the first U.S. Forest Service ranger station constructed in the area. Rangers used the cabin to monitor grazing allotments near Mount Adams. It was used by Forest Service staff into the 1990s.
Volunteers rehabilitated the building recently, and had been staying in it this summer, said Ken Sandusky, a spokesman for Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
The cabin is located near the southeastern edge of the Cascade Creek Fire. A shift in wind direction pushed the fire's path away from the cabin, but another shift could change that.
The foil wrapped around the cabin reflects heat and is flame resistant.
Copyright 2012 - Yakima Herald-Republic, Wash.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
