Fire at our range tonite

[Nick Burkhardt]

The entire pistol range is up in smoke. East End Rod and Gun Club, Milton-Freewater, Oregon.

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[Sgt Nambu]

Aw man, that really sucks! I hope insurance covers it! Best of luck! SRG

 

[Certaindeaf]

I got a frog in my throat. lol

 

[orygun]

That bites! How did it start?

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

We don't know yet. I am guessing that a spark from one of the black powder cowboy shooters smoldered for a few hours and got a fire going after the range was closed.

 

[41Slinger]

Bad news Nick, maybe with insurance you'll end up with a nice new facility, sucks right now though. Keep us up to speed. Other parts of the facility ok ?

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

Yes, only the pistol range was lost. The whole facility will be closed for a week or two for clean up.

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

I don't know if the shooting lanes were insured against fire damage. Most of the structures were built by our members with donated materials. The most recent official word is that the pistol range is closed indefinitely and it will be quite some time before the shotgun and rifle ranges are open. Our range has always opened the 1,000 yard range up to the public in the fall so non-member hunters could come zero their rifles. Hopefully everyone in the community will pitch in. Maybe we can start a GoFund Me or something like that?

 

[clearconscience]

I'm sorry to hear that.
I hope they had some insurance and don't have a ton of red tape or road blocks trying to rebuild and open.

 

[mrblond]

Watch for Arson.. I never trust what an ANTI would do to shut a range down.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Did it take out half the town or was it a localized event?

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

Watch for Arson.. I never trust what an ANTI would do to shut a range down.

We did have a lawyer who bought his house two miles away try and shut us down in 2013 through planning and zoning, but we have been operating since before 1995 so our non-conforming land use was grandfathered in. The lawyer appealed to the State LUBA and lost, but it cost us six figures for our legal defense.

There is a caretakers house at the gated entrance that was not effected. I am thinking that it was stacked hay bales fermenting or the last black powder shooter of the day.

Did it take out half the town or was it a localized event?

You can see in today's picture that some of the fields were scorched, but it was contained to the range property. Town is over a mile and a half away.

 

[Flopsweat]

You'll be in our thoughts. Please do keep us posted. Is this a private range, member owned non-profit?

 

[tikkahunter]

Sorry to hear that I used to shoot shotguns there with friends of mine 13 yrs ago when I was going to school in walla walla. Good luck with the rebuild

 

[etrain16]

That's a major bummer. Glad no one was hurt. I hope you guys can get things up and running sooner rather than later.

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

Non-profit, member run and supported. We have a card lock gate, but open the range to non-members for various events and training throughout the year. Local law enforcement is also welcome to train there free of charge.

http://www.eergunclub.com/

 

[Kid@Heart]

Was Bloomberg in town?

 

[spookshack]

Nick,
Convo started.

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

Nick,
Convo started.

We have a Donate page up on our website now

<broken link removed>

 

[45alive]

Watch for Arson.. I never trust what an ANTI would do to shut a range down.

Thaaattttsss what I was thinking, hmmm.