Embers Brew House and Pub in Joseph made dinners and sack lunches Sept. 1-2, 2022, for 300 firefighters battling blazes in Wallowa County.

JOSEPH — Two local restaurants took it upon themselves to help battle the wildfires in Wallowa County, but not on the fire line — by feeding some 300 firefighters.

Teresa Sajonia, owner of Embers Brew House and Pub, fed the firefighters a tri-tip dinner “with all the fixings” Thursday, Sept. 1, and planned sack lunches for Sept. 2, with sandwiches, chips, nuts and “everything the Forest Service requires” for their crews. “There’s good stuff going out to them.”

The Cheyenne Cafe provided breakfast, said owner Kara Meyers, who said she had to get up at midnight to prepare the meal that’ll be ready by 5 a.m. The menu included bacon, eggs, pancakes and biscuits and gravy.

Sajonia and Meyers each had three employees helping out.

They said they’ve done this chore in the past.

“I’m very happy to be able to help,” Meyers said. “When they called, I thought, ‘How am I going to be able to do this? But we’ll figure it out.’”

Sajonia, too, has done this before. “I’ve done fire meals for well over 30 years,” she said.

A catering truck was onsite for the Sept. 2 dinner, relieving both restaurants of the need for a further herculean effort.

But Meyers said the job nearly wiped out her inventory.

She said her supplier sent an extra truck from Boise that she met in Elgin to replenish her depleted stock.

“When it’s this fast, we just do the very best we can,” Meyers said. “We follow all the guidelines.”

Tom O’Conner, who alerted the Chieftain to Meyers’ and Sajonia’s efforts, said he thinks they’re doing the effort more as a service than to make a profit.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “(They are) doing it more to help the firefighters than anything else.”