One dark and stormy night, one of Oak Harbor’s giant namesake Garry oaks toppled.

The tree blocked a street not far from the Oak Harbor Fire Department.

When firefighters showed up to clear the road, the chief — a master woodworker — saw an opportunity.

A year later, the fire department has turned that specimen into a sleek, massive banquet table for the fire station that will likely serve Oak Harbor’s firefighters for decades.

“There is something special about this table,” said Chief Ray Merrill. “Everybody had a hand in it.”

“It’s a part of us.”

The more-than-century-old oak was perfect for woodworking, its long trunk smooth, straight and unmarred by fungus growths. The night it blew over, the chief made sure firefighters kept the trunk intact before they dragged it off the road.

Merrill tracked down the property owner, David Cohick, a retired Naval officer. He and his wife, Patty, own a rental on that spot on Kettle Street. They didn’t know the oak had taken a death dive until the fire chief called.

The Cohicks wanted to donate the tree — not make a buck on the wood.

“I think it’s beautiful,” David Cohick said. “They saw its true value.”

The fire department used a forklift to cart the 1,000-pound tree trunk back to the station. The chief’s son, a carpenter, milled four planks from the trunk.

Most everyone in the department helped with the project. They set up the planks on sawhorses in the engine bay between the trucks.

Men and women in the department took turns working on the project during lulls in their shifts.

The Oak Harbor High School wood shop teacher let the firefighters use the shop to finish the final planing of the wood — the only local place big enough.

The wood wasn’t easy to work with. Oak is hard, dense wood and it tends to crack as it dries. The planks also warped and the firefighters had to smooth out the wood more than once.

They welded a metal frame as a base for the table and finished the top with 10 coats of varnish.

The table is now the star of the fire station kitchen, replacing three store-bought tables topped with formica. It consists of three joined planks and another plank was fashioned into a long bench.

The wood is rich and buttery and shows off knots and interesting imperfections.

The project is unrelated to the ancient felled Garry oak that used to grow outside the Oak Harbor Post office. The remains of that tree are under cover and the city has plans to re-purpose it into things like clocks, picture frames, light fixtures and the like that could be placed around town at city hall, schools, the library, senior center and Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce.

The project at the fire station allowed some of the more seasoned woodworkers on the department to mentor younger firefighters who didn’t grow up at their father’s knee in a home wood shop, said Steve McCalmont, a firefighter with the department for 26 years.

“Most everyone picked up some simple skills. Some had never finished a big project and they felt a part of it,” he said.

“It created some nice camaraderie.”

Merrill said firefighters McCalmont, Don Baer, Otto Haffner and his son, Tony Merrill, all put in many, many hours on the project.

Firefighter Mike Engle said the table is more than a place to share a meal — it’s a way to celebrate the heritage of the city and the traditions of the department.

The chief agreed: “This belongs in this firehouse.”