The Joint Fire Protection District Ferry County #3 & Stevens County #8 was established in 1977, and actually formed in 1978. The JFPD covers a narrow strip of land on the west side of the Columbia River and along the eastern and western shores of the Kettle River, extending 58 road miles from the Canadian border south to the Colville Indian Reservation. Their area of responsibility covers over 100 square miles, and includes the Northport-Flat Creek area as well as Deadman Creek. The JFPD is an all-volunteer fire department, consisting of approximately 40 volunteers with over 150 combined years of service to their community. The district serves approximately 2500 remote and widely scattered residents, and defends the oldest operating school in the state at Orient, as well as the federal border compound at Laurier...
...Those first few years were a struggle for the new department. None of the firefighters possessed turnout gear, and they all fought fire in jeans and boots that they had to buy themselves. Their first trucks were retired Army vehicles with windshield wipers that had to be pumped by hand.
From the single original station located in Orient, the JFPD now has grown to five stations: (from north to south) Sand Creek (2010), Orient (1979), Barstow (1999), Barneys Junction (1980), and Tipton Hall (2000). This community growth has brought most of our taxpayers within 5 to 10 miles of a station, saving numerous lives. The District currently (February 2014) maintains 11 brush trucks, 7 engines, 8 tenders, 5 medical vehicles and 5 support vehicles. Many of these vehicles were acquired through the generosity of the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of National Resources, although some of those have been acquired through grant assistance.
From the JFPD