KALISPELL - It’s that time of year when firefighters and first responders across Montana put their lives on the line fighting dangerous wildfires.
Firefighters rely on top-notch equipment to help them fight fires to their best capability, often in heavily forested and mountainous areas. Now, a rural fire district west of Kalispell is asking for help from the Flathead community to replace an outdated fire truck.
“For our primary response area, we’re about 69 square miles for our fire district, and we help cover also some of the fire service area for the county, which is another 180 square miles,” said Smith Valley Fire Department Fire Captain James Brower.
In order to cover all that ground you need reliable, trustworthy equipment. That’s why the Smith Valley Fire Department is looking to replace an outdated wildland fire engine built back in 1993.
“It’s outdated, it’s overweight, engines worn out, that kind of stuff, so we’re trying to update it, replace it, that way we can have some good, safe equipment for our volunteers and our members to respond to wildland fires.”
The fire department is made up of 16 members, including 14 volunteers.
Brower said they stay busy during the summer months, “We’re averaging about 100 emergency wildland calls a year.”
Smith Valley is holding a fundraising event on Saturday, July 22, 2023, with all proceeds going towards buying a new fire engine. The event includes horse rides, a chili cookoff, a firefighter dunk tank and more.
“We’ve got a dunk tank that you can purchase tickets to dunk the firefighters, the officers and maybe even the chief,” added Brower.
Brower said having safe, reliable equipment helps ensure all firefighters make it home.
“That we can get to the fires and safely fight the fires, and then get our members back home because that’s the most important thing, is everybody safe, everybody’s coming home at the end of the day, at the end of the shift, at the end of the fire.”
The Western Roundup Fundraiser takes place on Saturday from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. at the Smith Valley Fire Department at 3496, U.S. Highway 2 West in Kalispell. There is a $5 entry fee per person, while kids 5 and under are free.
Activities include face painting, horse rides, a bouncy house, a firefighter dunk tank, sumo wrestling, lawn games, hot dogs, a firefighter obstacle course, a chili cookoff, a dessert auction and more.
