The Foundation of a New Fire Hall

Our fire district has been in need of a new fire hall for many years. We have outgrown our current main station (we have four stations altogether). Fortunately, we have a fire chief and a board of trustees with a great deal of vision. They were also committed to building this station without raising taxes on the residents of our district. Our firefighter’s association members have worked tirelessly over the past 8 or 10 years to raise the money to build this station.

The footing pour was scheduled for yesterday morning. By the time I arrived at 7:30, the first truck of mud and the line pump were already in place:

This is looking north up the Swan Range. Glacier Park is somewhere up in the middle of the photo, behind the mountains. We are getting a lot of wildfire smoke and by lunchtime, temps are pushing 90F. The mornings, though, are actually quite pleasant.

[Yes, Montana is breathtakingly beautiful in the summer. Don’t move here thinking it will be like this 12 months out of the year. March is horrible. Also, it gets cold and we have snow, which actually sounds wonderful to me right now.]

About a dozen volunteers showed up to help, including many of the current firefighters. One of our employees came and helped because he lives here in the district. Our former tenant came to help because he also has construction experience and his dad was a firefighter for many years. They poured the footing for a shop on his property (around the corner from our house) on Friday afternoon.

Everyone here had at least a little bit of construction experience (or could take direction). Even the chief, who has many skills besides chiefing, got in there with a trowel.

That’s our chief in the maroon hoodie, talking to Rich, who is a former firefighter and now one of the trustees. Rich and his wife, Libbie, are heading up the bike tour planning for our church.

The footing pour was done mid-morning. I am not sure what is next on the schedule and when (walls?), but I am sure the volunteers will show up to help again.

This is how things get done in Montana.

I did two more grocery runs once Costco opened, then helped out at the church with the final cleanup. Seeing everyone come together to help with this bike tour and the bathroom construction project has been such a joy. When our congregation decided to become lay-led at the beginning of 2026—the preferred term is “congregation led” but I find it so cumbersome to say “congregation-led congregation” so I just use “lay-led”—we wondered if it would work. Our former pastor was there for 26 years and then we had a transitional pastor for three years. We are still searching for a pastor, but I think this time has been good for us as a congregation. This is going to be a long week but we’re going to have fun.