When an executive committee of the South Fork Grange met early this week to weigh their options following a Feb. 8 fire that completely destroyed the organizations hall in downtown Lostine, they had in hand pledges of support from two other Wallowa County Granges, both of which offered, as just a start, the use of their halls.

This spirit is hardly surprising from a network that sprang up long ago in almost grassroots fashion to strengthen rural communities and promote the well-being of the family farm. If theres a single unifying thread to the nearly 150-year-old Grange movement, its a conviction in the necessity of helping others, especially those who may have nowhere else to turn. In its long and storied history, the movement not only lists such achievements of practical import to all rural dwellers as winning free rural delivery of the U.S. Mail, but it also was there, for example, for Japanese-American farmers after their release from internment after World War II, offering them property and casualty insurance.

Not to imply here that South Fork lacks resources or is in a desperate state. According to the Granges secretary, Claudia Boswell, after the Wallowa Grange disbanded approximately five years ago, the Oregon State Grange channeled proceeds from the sale of Wallowas hall into a trust fund benefiting the South Fork Grange, the Grange the remaining Wallowa members had elected to join.

Although South Fork has occasionally tapped the trust fund, the idea of regularly using it to pay for fire insurance was apparently never much on the table. When scores of Granges nationwide abruptly lost affordable fire coverage for their halls when an insurer pulled the plug on a special program in 2010, South Fork, like most others similarly affected, soon determined that products on the broader insurance market were priced beyond its reach, and some insurers were unwilling to cover the hall because it adjoined a welding shop. We just couldnt find anything that we could afford, Boswell said.

At Liberty Grange in rural Joseph, master Brinda Stanley said her community group eventually reached the same conclusion about affordability. After initially purchasing an expensive fire insurance policy, Liberty Grange realized it was burning through its savings too quickly and opted to drop the policy. And at North End Grange in Flora, master Don Mallory says fire insurance has never been considered because local fire protection capability is virtually nil.

Among Wallowa Countys four surviving Granges, only at Hurricane Creek Grange is there a fire insurance policy in place. Heather Tyreman, the Granges president (the preferred title to master at Hurricane Creek), said the affordable level of their fire coverage premium currently around $800 annually was made possible largely through major improvements to the hall, which now has new electrical wiring and a new roof, among other upgrades.

Hurricane Creek Grange also happens to have a goodly number of useful possessions its willing to share with South Fork once the Lostine-based sister reaches the point of again setting up somewhere. Were collecting things for them, Tyreman said, including practical things like pots and pans and silverware and dishes… We have plenty of those things in our Grange Hall.

At the state level, meanwhile, people from Wallowa County Granges are keeping an eye out to see if theres anything that can be recycled for example, podiums, Tyreman adds, explaining the Oregon State Grange has the items in storage from Granges around the state that have closed down.

South Forks Boswell, who acknowledges the local Granges support and agrees that the states cache will be brought into play, summarizes the situation simply: Theyre waiting for us to say what we need.

It should take more than an uninsured structural blaze to deter Wallowa Countys Grangers.