In Butte, we have never been known to shy away from a fight.
Whether it is a scuffle outside a bar, a cage match at the Civic Center or an internet spat with some weirdos from around the state who claim we throw batteries at high school players on Friday nights at Naranche Stadium, we will usually step up and say, “I’m your huckleberry.”
This fight we have seen over how to run Butte-Silver Bow’s fire services, though, is one nobody wants. It has just been a sad spectacle, and it is time to end this nasty chapter once and for all.
Tension between volunteer and career firefighters in Butte date back at least to the city-county merger in 1977. Those emotions heated up over the last several years, and they reached their boiling point during this past election.
Leading up to the vote to change the Butte-Silver Bow charter last week, we saw name calling, dirty accusations and flat-out slander in an attempt to persuade a puzzled electorate.
On a ballot that read like an ACT test, voters were asked to change the language of the existing Butte-Silver Bow charter. Then they were asked if fire services should be changed.
Then they were given the choice between a unified system under the authority of Butte-Silver Bow or for giving all volunteer fire departments and rural fire districts their independence from the county.
With that, a good percentage of the voters looked at each other and said, “Huh?”
Now, there is no denying that this is an important issue. There is also no denying that the public was not educated enough to solve it.
The election results show that the electorate was confused, to say the least. Voters chose to change the language of the charger. Then, in the sub questions, they voted to pretty much keep everything the way it is.
It was as if they said the only thing they fear more than the status quo is change.
That means we will still have a chief executive, and the fire language will remain the same.
The truth is, the fire issue should have never been put before public to decide. It also should have never been sent to the Montana Legislature in House Bill 547 last year. Gov. Gianforte vetoed that bill after it passed the house and senate because, in part, it is a Butte issue.
He said Butte should deal with it, and he was right, for once.
Having legislators from around the state solve a Butte issue never made any sense. Neither does having voters vote on an issue that a good portion do not understand.
When they did that, they succeeded in putting a lot of people in the middle in the crosshairs of the Facebook crusaders. Anyone and everyone were open for attack in the battle that should have never been waged in the first place.
Yes, this is a complicated issue. I would be lying if I told you I completely understood it. I would be lying if I told you how the vote should have gone. I don’t know if a unified system is better or if volunteer independence was the way to go.
It all came down to whether you are a volunteer firefighter or a career firefighter.
I felt like I was the child of a nasty divorce and my parents were bashing each other to me every single day, and I know I’m not alone. I have nothing but respect and admiration for any firefighter who is willing to run into a burning building to rescue me.
Since I ran for chief executive of Butte-Silver Bow in 2024, I have probably been thrown into the middle of the fight more than most. It got worse when we tried to understand the issue on podcasts.
Once the rumor started to swirl that I was going to announce my candidacy in the fall of 2023, I was contacted by volunteer firefighters.
What I told them in October of 2023 is the same thing that I say in November of 2026. This is an issue that needs to be resolved by the firefighters. I told them that, if elected, we would sit down at the table and talk our way through all the issues like adults.
I told them that volunteer fire departments were historically the lifeblood of the neighborhoods in the Mining City. They were the community centers that helped hold those neighborhoods together through some difficult times.
Never did I believe that the career firefighters were trying to get rid of the volunteers in an effort to hire more career guys. Most of them were not, anyway. But I knew many volunteers were set to quit if the vote did not go their way.
After the absentee ballots were mailed out, I had several people reach out to me to ask how to vote. The were not asking my opinion; they were literally asking me how to vote.
So, I told them how the volunteers want them to vote and how the department wanted them to vote, and walked them through the steps. Not once did I tell anyone which way they should vote. But I was accused of taking sides on the issue by both sides.
I was even confronted by multiple people who were told I said a certain career firefighter was unqualified and only hired because he had a relative in high places. They said I made that statement on the Mad About Montana podcast.
The thought that I would say that about any firefighter is completely insane. The fact that I did not know the firefighter in question even existed really made it come out of left field. Anyone could have gone and listened to the podcast — or read the AI generated transcripts that come with it on Spotify — to know that it was not true.
Instead, they ran with the crazy accusation, and it spread like wildfire, leaving me in the unenviable position of trying to prove I did not say something I did not say.
The truth is that I, like most people, would go to war for both sides. That is not fence sitting. That is the truth.
The truly beautiful thing is that the career and volunteer firefighters have worked together so well during the many fire calls that came over the years of this dispute. When the bell rings, they put aside any differences and do their job.
If my house catches on fire at 3 a.m. when it is 30 degrees below zero, I know my street will be filled with career and volunteer firefighters willing to risk their life to save me and my family. How could anyone possibly want to go against either of those sides?
Now that the election is over, we are back to square one in this dispute. The legislature and the Butte-Silver Bow voters did not put the issue to bed, and feelings are still hurt from the fighting on social media and arguing in the hallways of the capital.
Now that the dust is settling from an election that accomplished nothing, it is time to end this fight and start the healing.
No more Facebook. No more arguing. Let’s just sit down at a table and talk it out. If they could bring peace to Northern Ireland, we can certainly smooth out any issues our firefighters have at the bargaining table.
If that doesn’t work, we can always bring out the cage at the Civic Center.
— Bill Foley, who is not your huckleberry, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter.com/Foles74 or on Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
