History

Big Sky was a very rural and rugged area before commercial and residential development arrived. Local residents were few but hardy and, for the most part, had taken care of themselves since this area was originally settled. In 1971, community members formed what became the Gallatin Canyon Volunteer Fire Department. Funding was scarce, and their equipment was either donated or purchased used from other departments, with money raised locally by department members.

In 1979, two Gallatin Canyon Rural Fire Districts were formed; one each for the Gallatin County and Madison County portions of Big Sky. Although separate governmental entities, the districts were operated as if they were one, and regular funding from property mill levies helped better support departmental operations. When it was later found that running the two districts as one was improper, formal action was taken in 1994 to create the single Gallatin Canyon Consolidated Rural Fire District, which spans both counties.

In 1986, the McBride Family donated land in Westfork Meadows for the construction of the current Fire Station 1. Local tradesmen performed much of the station's construction, and the station has had several additions since then to accommodate growth. This allowed the department to move from a smaller building that had been converted into a home nearby.

Emergency medical services originally came via a private ambulance service from Bozeman, so help would take a long time to arrive. An attempt to address this was made in 1986, when a full-time Emergency Medical Technician was hired. Unfortunately, this person remained for only 5 months, and for the next 7 years, volunteers continued to be the sole source of manpower.

With the formation of what was later to be known as the Big Sky Resort Area District (BSRAD) in 1992, a stable source of funding became available to strengthen operations. It was decided to create an ambulance service. In 1993, the Gallatin Canyon Volunteer Fire Department hired retired St. Paul, Minnesota, Fire Department battalion chief Robert Stober as the first paramedic. By 1994, Stober became the first paid fire chief of GCCRFD.

In 1997, Fire Station 2 was constructed on land donated by Boyne USA across Highway 64 from Big Sky Resort to improve fire department coverage on the mountain.

Upon Chief Stober's retirement in 2003, Chief Jason Revisky took the helm. He continued to guide the department's two shifts of career members, who worked at Station 1 during the daytime and responded from their homes at night, with support from volunteer members throughout. To better reflect the community it served, the Gallatin Canyon Consolidated Rural Fire District was renamed the Big Sky Fire Department in 2009.

This was also during one of the most impressive growth periods in Big Sky, and the department's emergency incident volume jumped drastically. Over time, the number of community members available to volunteer with the department declined as pressure from incident volume increased. This necessitated the steady addition of more career members to provide adequate services.

A 2005 study of the department's operations recommended that at least 4 Firefighter/EMTs or Firefighter/Paramedics be on duty at Fire Station 1 at any given time, with the ultimate goal of 7 people per shift, due to anticipated growth. In 2008, BSFD sought to increase its operating mill levy for the first time, hoping to hire enough career members to meet the needs outlined in the study. Voters did not approve the request, and BSFD continued to work diligently for the community while seeking a solution to the problem.

In early 2011, Chief Revisky resigned, and for the first time in its history, the department brought in leadership from outside of the organization. After utilizing a consulting firm to assist with the search process, William Farhat was appointed the 9th Fire Chief of BSFD in September 2011.

One month later, BSFD moved to have three shifts of 3 career Firefighters on duty in Station 1 at all times, along with the Fire Chief and the Administrative Assistant. This drastically reduced the time it took for a BSFD unit to respond to a call. However, there were still usually only two career members on duty and a dwindling number of volunteers, who were responding to fewer than 5% of incidents. This led to periods when emergency incidents had dangerously few responders or no response from BSFD at all.

In 2012, BSFD again approached the community to request an increase in the mill levy. The goal was to add 5 additional career members to improve the safety of departmental operations and service delivery. This would not only increase the number of people on duty; it would also lead to more career members off duty who lived in the community and could respond during emergencies. This mill levy was approved,d and 5 Firefighter/EMTs and 1 Firefighter/Paramedic were hired (one of these positions was to fill an existing vacancy) in 2013.

In 2013, the department began compensating volunteer members, making them on-call employees. While not increasing the number of on-call employees, it helped those who sacrificed their personal time to serve our community, so they were not financially burdened for their efforts.

In 2015, the department was able to demonstrate to the Big Sky Resort Area District (BSRAD) how the growth in development had been overwhelming the Fire Chief and Office Administrator's positions with land use permits, pre-construction safety reviews, subdivision and final plat reviews, as well as numerous requests for information and consultation. In response, BSRAD approved funding for a Deputy Fire Chief of Operations position to oversee operations and training, thereby freeing the Fire Chief to fulfill his other responsibilities.

In 2016, the department secured internal funding to hire a 15th career Firefighter and an Administrative Assistant. In 2016, a master planning process was also completed with the assistance of Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI). It identified several opportunities for improvement regarding response times and adequate staffing for emergency incidents. The Board of Trustees formally adopted the master plan to address current issues and prepare for the future needs of the Big Sky community.

From this master plan, a comprehensive strategic plan was developed for both operational and fire station improvements. For operations, the strategic plan added 9 career Firefighters, 3 Battalion Chiefs, a Deputy Chief of Community Risk Management, and a full-time Training Captain. With the assistance of BSRAD and funding from a Federal Emergency Management Agency Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant, the 3 Battalion Chief positions were added in 2017.

Also in 2017, BSFD placed a mill levy request before voters not only to fund the strategic plan's remaining positions but also to remodel Fire Station 1 and create sleeping facilities at Fire Station 2, enabling 24-hour staffing for the first time. This mill levy increase was approved, and in 2018, the fire station remodeling projects commenced, along with the first phase of hiring, which consisted of 2 Firefighters and the Deputy Chief of Community Risk Management.

The station remodeling projects were completed in 2019, and the full-time Training Captain was added to ensure that the staff performance remained at a high level. In 2019, the Master Plan and the Standards of Cover document were updated to help BSFD prepare for the exponential growth being seen in the community.

As BSFD evolved to meet the needs of the community, employee training had to become more refined and formal, necessitating that on-call members participate in additional mandatory training. Hence, their skills are adequate, and they can operate safely, especially in firefighting positions. This required more frequent training, which in turn required a greater time commitment from them. With these increases, our on-call firefighting staff was unable to keep up with training,g and their roles were reduced to an exterior, non-combat firefighting role in early 2017.

Even with the above reduction in their firefighting role, it was difficult for the on-call firefighters to participate safely, and they were unable to devote the time needed to be effective members of BSFD. For safety reasons, BSFD ended the on-call firefighter program in 2018, bringing 47 years of volunteer/on-call firefighting to a close.