On the Grade: Neighbors Helping Neighbors
The Oak Creek Fire Department
The Passing of the Guard: Chief Jack Slater Retires

Story and photos
by George Gramlich
It was 1988 when Jack and Audrey Slater, owners of The General Store on Oak Creek Grade, (they’re on the Fremont side about a mile north from the Custer County border,) decided that due to their remote location, some sort of firefighting capability was needed on the Grade’s plateau. (The “plateau” starts around mile marker 10 on County Road 255 and extends north past the Fremont County line to the National Forest Lions Canyon Trailhead campsite going down “the hill”. About five miles long.)
So Jack, being Jack, (he IS from New York, originally), started the Oak Creek Grade Volunteer Fire Department (OCGVFD) headquartered out of The General Store. Beginning with one humble piece of home grown equipment, over the years Jack accumulated several pieces of fire fighting vehicles including an ex-military 6×6 (“deuce and a half”), a brush truck and a water tanker. He also installed a tall pole by The General Store and placed a very loud, electrical siren on it. Along the way, Jack gathered a whole bunch of local residents as volunteer fire fighters. It was a great community effort.
The Fremont side of the Grade receives no Fremont County/Cañon City/Penrose fire response support. (Although Deer Mountain or other western Fremont County small truck units will sometime make the long drive to help out.) They are on their own. It was one of the reasons Jack started the OCGVFD. But there was, and is, an angel in the wings. Even though they are not legally obligated to provide service to that part of Fremont County, our excellent Wet Mountain Fire Protection District based in Westcliffe has always come to the rescue with their big equipment for the Fremont Grade residents (including two incidents just recently). A stand up, top-of-the-line organization.
Over the years, Jack and the OCGVFD volunteers have probably put out hundreds of fires on the Grade and taught fire prevention awareness to all (often when customers came to The General Store for a meal).
This winter Jack knew it was time for a change. His old bones (Jack is gently pushing 80 years old) could not do the job anymore: constant maintenance of all of the equipment, and the actual work required to fight fires. It was time to retire as Fire Chief, and pass the hat.
Jack chose local resident, and professional fire mitigator, Ray Swota as the next Chief.
A big meeting of local residents was called at The General Store in March, and Jack officially handed over the reins to Ray. Long Live The Chief.
Ray wasted no time. Canvassing the Grade, Ray signed up over 25 locals to enlist and began having monthly meetings to get organized. The organization’s name was changed to the Oak Creek Fire Department (OCFD) and a Colorado non-profit entity
was established.
Jack’s equipment was transferred over to the new crew and a ton of maintenance and repairs (primarily by Jeff Ashworth) was performed. A local water source was located and permission to use was granted. Several volunteers built their own fire fighting trailers with a water tank, pump and hoses. Something new was born.
And it was just in time. A fire broke out in a local garage that threatened to spread to the forest behind the garage. The OCFD immediately responded with its equipment, preventing the blaze from spreading to an adjacent building, and more importantly, stopping the fire from getting into the forest. About an hour later, the professionals from Wet Mountain Fire showed up and put it down. (God Bless you guys.) Just a few weeks later, a modular home caught on fire in the area and OCFD again responded, holding the fort until the Wet Mountain Fire angels arrived and put the big guns on it. OCFD even provided water to the USFS fire fighters during the initial few hours of the Adobe fire.
One hears a lot, in fact all the time, about the dissension in various neighborhoods in Custer County (especially in those hellacious HOA’s). Not on the Grade. It is neighbors helping neighbors. The effort put in by Ray Swota and the rest of the OCFD volunteers is simply astounding. In addition to rehabbing all the vehicles, a beautiful website (see oakcreekgradefirebrigade.com) has been built and another volunteer built an automated telephone alert system that calls every volunteer when a fire is detected and relays the pertinent information to the fire fighters.
The OCFD is actively looking for fire fighting equipment donations from other area fire departments (and are, hopefully, on the verge of getting a genuine fire fighting vehicle from Cañon FD and one from Deer Mountain FD.) A bank account was opened at the First State Bank of Colorado in Westcliffe to receive donations.
(Folks, these great volunteers need some money. Repair and maintenance parts cost a fortune. These big trucks eat gas and diesel like candy. And nobody gets a dime for their time or labor. To donate, please send a check to the Oak Creek Fire Department, and bring it to the First State Bank of Colorado in Westcliffe or send it to Ray Swota, 85 Kiowa Drive, Cañon City, CO 81212. Any questions, please call Ray at 719 783-4477. And, if you need fire mitigation work done on your property, Ray Swota is the best in the business.)
The unofficial motto of the Oak Creek Fire Department is “Neighbors Helping Neighbors”. Blue collar, white collar, young or old, male or female, rich or poor, the Oak Creek Grade plateau is an example for all: Love Thy Neighbor As Thy Self.