08/10/2026
With deep sorrow, I announce that the Heart Butte Fire Department was broken into, and our engines, equipment, and fire hall were damaged.
Yesterday, August 8, 2026, when a firefighter arrived at the fire hall to assist with traffic control and participate in the parade, we discovered that the rear door of the hall had been kicked in. What we found inside was devastating. The individuals responsible did a tremendous disservice—not only to the Heart Butte community, but to every firefighter who selflessly gives their time, energy, and resources to provide emergency services to our community.
As many people know, the value of fire equipment is not in what someone could potentially sell it for. Its value is in the lives it can help save and the people it can protect. To the average person, much of this equipment is difficult to resell or even use. So why steal and destroy equipment that exists for one purpose: to protect and save lives? Our engines were damaged and will be out of service until we can determine what repairs are needed and find the financial resources and manpower to complete them. This could not have happened at a worse time, as we are in the middle of wildland fire season and need to be fully operational.
Heart Butte Fire Department receives only $10,000 annually from the Blackfeet Tribe. We do not receive county funding or private funding. That limited budget is primarily used to keep the fire hall functioning. Browning assists with many equipment and mechanical repairs and replacements, despite having an annual budget of only approximately $40,000 themselves. We, as Blackfeet Fire Rescue, have worked diligently for years to keep these departments alive, operational, and available to the communities we serve. We carry an extremely high call volume compared with many volunteer fire departments across Montana.
This incident has pushed us so far backward. It is difficult to put into words what this feels like for the firefighters who have dedicated so much of themselves to this department. Every firefighter gives more than just their time. We give our evenings, our weekends, our families' time, our personal lives, and, for many of us, time away from our paying jobs. We leave work, lose wages, miss family events, and put ourselves in harm's way because we believe in serving our communities. So yes, this hurts.
It feels like a slap in the face to every firefighter who has spent countless hours training, responding to calls, maintaining equipment, and standing ready to help someone on what may be the worst day of their life. This is more than a broken door, damaged trucks, or stolen equipment. This affects an entire community.
Without our trucks, equipment, and facilities, what service can we provide when someone calls for help?
We are asking our community to understand the seriousness of what has happened. We are asking for information from anyone who may know something about this incident. If you saw anything suspicious around the Heart Butte Fire Hall or have information that could help investigators, please come forward.
Our firefighters will continue to stand ready to serve. We have always found a way to answer the call, and we will continue to do everything we can to protect our community. But today, we are hurting.
To the firefighters who have given so much: we see you, we appreciate you, and your service matters! You don’t see very many people doing a service for FREE!!!!
And to the person or people responsible for this: you did not just break into a building. You damaged equipment that belongs to a community and potentially took away resources that could be needed to save someone's life.
Our community deserves better.
