St. Ignatius Fire Department Auxiliary hosts 30th annual Firefighters’ Picnic
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ST. IGNATIUS — Guns, ping-pong tables, chainsaws, and deer skulls: did a new pop-up shop come into Mission this past Saturday? Not quite. The goods being sold were a part of the annual St. Ignatius Firefighter’s Picnic that brought community members together to celebrate on an overcast day. Last weekend marked 30 years of the annual picnic, with many of the original firemen who started the event in 1995 helping serve lunch, run the auction, and educate participants on the continuing importance of community involvement in the town’s fire department. Proceeds from last weekend’s fundraiser go directly to the St. Ignatius Auxiliary, a fund established in 2012 to act as a backup “safety pool” in case taxpayer dollars fall short of meeting the volunteer fire service’s yearly budget. Though the picnics date back to 1995, the Auxiliary was formed in 2012 by retiring firefighters who wanted to take the task of helping fundraise for the department off the hands of active members, and in 2023 the Auxiliary was opened up to all community members wanting to volunteer. The organization’s fundraising helps alleviate the need for further taxpayer levies, as anyone can instead directly help the department at the picnic while enjoying a tasty barbecue meal. In recent years, funds from the Auxiliary have gone to wildland firefighting gear, truck maintenance, and additions to the firehall that have allowed the service to free up bays previously used to store picnic equipment. When it comes to giving back, the Auxiliary offers a $2,000 scholarship every year to high school students with a strong record of volunteering and community service, as service is one of the greatest attributes valued by a fire department run fully by volunteers.
However, the department’s most pressing need remains unaddressed, no matter how many dollars townspeople pitch in: bodies. According to Mission Fire Chief Paul Adams, the need for volunteers never dissipates, especially since all who volunteer for the department typically do so in addition to their full-time jobs, meaning that there may only be a handful of individuals able to attend to calls at any given time. “A lot of times, we are Mission Fire,” Chief Adams joked as he gestured to one of his fellow fire captains. Chief Adams encourages community members young and old to try their hand as volunteers, stressing to not worry about having experience, as new recruits will be taught everything they need to know. “There are no menial tasks,” he said. “If you’re holding a sign during a highway accident, you’re saving lives.” According to Adams, volunteers of all sorts, from young 20-year-olds, to husband and wife couples in their 40s, have been successful at going through the training and then helping out according to their personal schedule.
As for the picnic itself, preparations by the Auxiliary Board start as early as January, as members of the committee solicit donations for the auction, order the pig for picnic-goers, plan for activities such as bouncy houses for children, and get the word out to the community as much as possible. The event’s location has remained consistent, but the number in attendance and level of activity has fluctuated over the years. According to former firefighter Dave Synder, during the late ‘90s and into the early 2000’s, the picnic had a much more excited, carnival-esque environment, with the firemen of the time chartering cheerleaders (Monte included) from the University of Montana, a life-size Smokey the Bear mascot, hay rides, LifeFlight helicopters, and whole slabs of bacon to feed what used to be close to 700 attendees in small town Mission. Now in 2025, those present offered varying explanations as to why the event was not as large in scale as it used to be. While some speculated that the effects of technology and the rise of working from home was to blame, others such as Lynn Delecaris, resident of St. Ignatius for 37 years, thought that changes in the economy affecting gas prices and the cost of living has led many working-class locals who may have once shown up to skip the fundraiser altogether. According to Tom, the reality of busier, action-packed summers, combined with greater competition for donations may cause some newer residents who are not yet attuned to the town tradition to fail to recognize its importance. However, some longtime attendees such as Stuart Morton refused to cast the changes in a bad light, explaining how though some of the initial organizers are now passed away, their legacy has been carried on through the annual gatherings of today, and that if someone comes along and wants to run it bigger, they will.
Also present at the event were members of the CSKT Division Fire, handing out information and frisbees about fire prevention. The tribal fire service works with all of the fire departments on the reservation, including Mission, with its main focus being wildland firefighting and making sure forest fires are contained and do not spread to towns, and vice versa. When not fighting fires, the service goes into rural forest with the aim of preventing fires, and during the winter months travels to reservations in the Southern United States to help them do the same. The service also provides free assessments for homeowners to give them tips on fire safety.
Looking to the future, nearly all members of the fire department, active and retired, were in agreement that now more than ever volunteers are needed to help respond to the growing number of fires year by year, an issue forecast to become even greater in coming years. While the task of becoming a full-fledged firefighter may seem daunting and appear to be a young man’s work, no matter your age, experience level, or gender, there is always a place for you in the volunteer firefighting service, says Chief Adams. Those interested in volunteering can contact their local fire department, and in St. Ignatius can be reached through their Facebook page.
