The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Dear Editor,

Living in a small town has its downsides, but it comes with many perks. My family was reminded of this when a shop caught fire at the end of June.

Thanks to the quick response from Columbia County Fire District 3 and Columbia-Walla Walla Fire District 2, the damage was minimized to my parents’ shop. Though the shop, a camper, and a vehicle ended up a total loss, no one was hurt, and all the animals were safe. A quick-thinking firefighter went as far as cutting the fence around the chicken coop so that the birds could get out of the smoke and extreme heat.

If it weren’t for quick action by Bill Moran, my parents would have lost their 120-plus-year-old home. In its early days, the house served as the halfway point on a large sheep operation that moved back and forth between the Tri-Cities and the Blues.

Bill happened to drive by the property just before the fire started and said that when he looked back less than two minutes later, the entire shop was engulfed in flames. Bill returned in his front-end loader tractor and knocked the shop in on itself, directing the fire away from the house. The shop was less than 20 feet away from the north side of the house.

Bill was the first one on the scene and one of the last ones to leave. He drove into the fire, using the loader to dump dirt on the flames and extinguish potential hazards- including the Ford pickup that was burning from its underside.

This isn’t the first time that Bill has come to the rescue. If you can’t quite place the name, Bill has spent countless winter hours removing snow from the streets and making safer driving conditions. He does so without expecting anything in return- including reimbursement for diesel for the tractor. He represents the best of a small town and lives up to the ‘love thy neighbor’ mantra, as I’m not sure that he had ever spoken more than a friendly hello to my family before this.

On behalf of my parents, Ann and Lanny Adams, I would like to thank everyone who responded. You can bet our family will support our local emergency services with any future asks and encourage everyone else to do so, too.

And Bill- we can’t say it enough, thank you for all you do for the community!

Beka Compton

Waitsburg, Wash.