Cove rural fire district gets grant for new handheld radios

Cove’s volunteer firefighters will soon be carrying new handheld radios after the Cove Rural Fire Protection District won a $15,300 Wildhorse Foundation grant to replace equipment that had become no longer serviceable.

For a small district that covers a broad rural area from one station with about 26 personnel, the upgrade reaches far beyond convenience. In Cove, where volunteer firefighters also provide quick-response medical service, radios are the lifeline on structure fires, wildfire calls and mutual-aid responses when crews are split across long distances and multiple agencies have to work together.

The district was formed in 1955 and continues to provide volunteer fire protection throughout the community. Chief Scott Loree leads the department, Assistant Chief Darren Hansen is listed with the district, and Debra Hansen oversees the Cove Quick Response Team as director of emergency medical services. That local structure reflects how much of Cove’s emergency coverage rests on a small volunteer base that has to stay connected in real time.

The old handheld radios were failing at the worst possible moment. With Oregon officials warning in 2026 of a dangerous wildfire season and dry conditions across the state, dependable communications have become a public-safety necessity, not a routine equipment update. In a rural district like Cove, one bad radio can slow a size-up, delay a water shuttle, or complicate a medical call when units are spread out over roads, hills and isolated properties.

The new radios are expected to be dependable, reliable and compatible with mutual-aid departments, a point that matters in Union County’s emergency system. The county’s emergency plan calls for coordination with incorporated cities, fire protection districts, law enforcement agencies, special districts, healthcare providers, schools and private-sector partners in a whole-community approach to emergencies. That kind of coordination depends on equipment that can keep volunteer responders talking to each other and to outside agencies without interruption.

The Wildhorse Foundation, managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in partnership with Wildhorse Resort & Casino, has awarded more than $20 million since 2001 and distributes grants quarterly. For Cove, the funding will help protect a service model that has been in place since 1955, when neighbors built a local fire department around volunteer response and fast medical help. In a dry season, better radios can be the difference between fragmented communication and a coordinated response that reaches Union County residents when they need it most.