Illinois Valley News

Next week, volunteers from many states are going to roll up their sleeves and make some much-needed improvements to some facilities at Illinois Valley Airport, the former Siskiyou Smokejumper Base.

Members of the Siskiyou Smokejumper Base Museum Project have scheduled a project period from Monday, June 14 to Friday, June 18.

Projects at the airport, off Hwy. 199 a few miles south of Downtown Cave Junction, include roofing the parachute loft, restoring the interior and exterior of the administrative building constructed in 1936, and painting the structures.

Cave Junction resident Roger Brandt has spent the past few years trying to establish the museum at the airport. That vision took one gigantic step toward reality on May 17, when the Josephine County Board of Commissioners signed a 10-year lease with the non-profit smokejumpers group.

Brandt said that the project week is something that the group has been planning for about a year. It coincides with a national smokejumper event set for Redding, Calif. Friday through Sunday, June 11 through 13.

“It wasn“t intentionally done that way,“ Brandt said. “It just so happened that the two events were back-to-back. It worked out perfectly.“

Approximately 45 people have signed up to help restore the airport site. Brandt said that he anticipates having people from as far away as Florida, Kansas, Iowa, Idaho, Colorado and Arizona as participants.

“A lot of them are traveling up here. They“re staying through a good part of the project week to work at the project,“ Brandt said. “A lot of them are former Cave Junction smokejumpers. Others are people who jumped at other bases who are interested in the project.“

Brandt said that the airfield at I.V. Airport originally was established in 1940 by the U.S. Forest Service for fire-related purposes.

“It was mostly to drop supplies,“ he said.

The smokejumper program started at the site in 1943, Brandt said. It mostly consisted of a small hangar, a watchman“s cabin and a fuel station. Buildings were moved there three years later, and barracks were constructed. By 1950, Brandt said, the parachute loft and main operating buildings were in use.

Prior to the establishment of the smokejumper program, Brandt said, firefighters had to ride mules to access remote regions of the forest.

“It might take a day to get there,“ he said. “In a day, the fire can go from campfire-sized to a thousand acres,“ Brandt said. “That was always a problem. By the time the guys got there, they were worn out and had no energy to fight fires.“

But through the smokejumper program, a two- or three-man crew of firefighters could be dropped from a small airplane within minutes of the blaze being spotted.

“It was that fast of a response,“ Brandt said. “They would get right on it and put it out.“

After a lightning storm, a small plane at the smokejumper base would be used to look for plumes of smoke. Once a blaze was discovered, Brandt said, the pilot would contact the base, then return and pick up smokejumpers.

“Two or three guys would put out a fire, rather than hundreds of guys,“ Brandt said. “It was a much smarter and low-expense operation compared to the way they do things today.“

Brandt said that master carpenters, plumbers and electricians are among those coming to help restore the I.V. Airport smokejumper facilities to their past glory.

“We have a really highly qualified crowd of people coming,“ he said. “A lot of them are bringing their own equipment.“

Volunteers will be at the airport from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the project week. Lunch and dinner will be provided by community members.

Events for the week include a memorial for former smokejumper Hal Ewing, who died March 8. The memorial is scheduled for Friday, June 18 at 2 p.m.

Brandt said that he has high expectations for the project week.

“By the time they get done with the administrative building, it will look brand new,“ Brandt said. “We will get it all back to its original historic appearance.“

The work that volunteers plan will help establish the smokejumpers“ legacy, Brandt said, and add another attraction to Illinois Valley.

“A lot of that history has been lost,“ he said. “The buildings and bases at other locations have been moved or torn down. This is really the oldest one that“s still standing out of all the original bases.

“It“s the logical place to bring the smokejumpers“ story and show it to the world. It“s one of the big opportunities in this valley, because nobody else is doing this anywhere.“

For more information, or to RSVP for the project week, phone Brandt at 541-592-4316.

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