December 11, 2007
By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer

“Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” announced Eric “E-bay” Bailey to a crowd of West Side firefighters on Saturday.

About 120 volunteers and their family members had gathered in the Rockford station for the Order of the Door presentation. The wall above the seating area was hung with three panels depicting names of those who had “won” the dubious distinction.

“Good luck (Jim) Trammell,” said Bailey in an aside to the fire marshal.

“It wasn’t my fault,” protested Trammell, in reference to having his vehicle wrecked by others in two separate incidents this past year.

“Famous last words,” retorted Bailey.

He was about to reveal the name of the person who had committed the most serious mishap during 2007. First, the four members of the Order of the Door Committee presented a training video that showed incidents involving all of the likely contenders. The “bloopers” included photos of a vehicle that had slid into a deep ditch and camera footage of an engine crashing through the locked gate on a chainlink fence.

“We are trying to take accidents and near-misses and put them in a fun atmosphere so it reinforces everybody’s attention on what they are doing,” said Rusty Gilbert, a member of the committee.

Firefighter Russ Gray beat out other candidates for this year’s listing. He was dubbed “Captain Crunch” for driving Engine 54 into the side of Trammell’s vehicle. The accident occurred last summer during the Frankton Road wildfire.

Gray and his new nickname will now be memorialized on a door panel. The tradition began in 1965 when “Door Buster” Jim Murphy, present for the Dec. 8 dinner, destroyed the station doors while trying to park an engine.

The doors were cut into panels that each display eight names. Gray will have his painted on Order of Another Door, which follows the original Order of the Door and Order of the Other Door. Firefighter Peter Mackwell was dubbed “Backwell Mackwell” in both 2001 and 2002 for running an engine in reverse and ramming other vehicles.

“Everybody makes mistakes, it’s going to happen. We just want everyone to learn from them,” said Gilbert.

The Order of the Door program helped West Side earn state fire practices recognition in November. The Oregon Fire District Directors Association paid tribute to the local firefighters for their commitment to public safety. West Side has 55 volunteers who work with Trammell, the sole paid staffer, to provide coverage for properties within a 25 square mile radius.

The special district, which is funded by tax dollars, consults regularly with safety consultants to look for ways to improve its delivery of services.

“We take a proactive approach to safety,” said firefighter Pete Peterson.

Although the Order of the Door selection was the focal point of the evening, Saturday’s event was also planned by the West Side Board of Directors to pay tribute to the emergency responders for their service. The Volunteer Firefighters Association had raised enough money to provide prizes in a drawing that ranged from a dinner cruise aboard the Sternwheeler Columbia Gorge in Cascade Locks to a weekend stay at the Oregon Coast.

“This is just one big family and this is our way of saying thank you,” said Fire Chief Chris Nickelsen.

He and firefighters Don Springer and Dan Miller cooked 100 pounds of prime rib that was served — with all the trimmings — to the crowd by the Hood River Gymnastics athletes. Included in the feast was Miller’s specialty dish of twice-baked potatoes. He said the secret to the mouth-watering taste was “a lot of butter, sour cream and four different cheeses — but not really much potato.”

The dinner and awards ceremony lasted about three hours and was filled with good humor and camaraderie.