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By Mira Brody CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGIST
BIG SKY – In 1971, Big Sky began to grow from a small ranching community into a place where people lived and worked, so did the need for a functional fire department. As they always do here, locals stepped up and formed the Gallatin Canyon Volunteer Fire Department, a team with scarce funding and donated equipment, led by Tim Prather, the first fire chief and general manager of Big Sky Resort. Their first firetruck was used from Powell, Wyoming and stored in the old log garage at Crail Ranch.
In 1979, two Gallatin Canyon Rural Fire Districts were formed: one each for the Gallatin County and Madison County portions of Big Sky, operating as one department and funded by property mill levies. By 1986, the McBride Family donated land in Westfork Meadows for the current Fire Station 1—the construction was performed by Big Sky’s local tradesmen.
By 1992, the Big Sky Resort Area District was formed, providing a steady source of funding for fire and emergency operations in the area, allowing the station to create an ambulance service and hire a dedicated paramedic and first chief on payroll, Robert Stober, a retired battalion chief from the St. Paul, Minnesota Fire Department.
In 1997, Station 2 was constructed across from Big Sky Resort on land donated by Boyne, providing improved service coverage in the still-growing community. In 2003, the leadership button was passed from Chief Stober to Chief Jason Revisky, then in 2011 to Chief William Farhat who served until his retirement in 2020.
Today, BSFD is led by Deputy Chief of Operations Greg Megaard, the organization’s 10th fire chief. Explore Big Sky spoke with Chief Megaard about his time at the fire department and alongside a compelling history lesson, like any good chief, he reminded us about fire prevention month.
This series is part of a paid partnership with the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce. The following answers have been edited for…..
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