The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The East Fork Fire Appreciation Dinner was held last Saturday night at the Commercial Building at the Blaine County Fairgrounds. Soon after the 20,000+ acre fire was controlled in mid-September, Ted Crowley and his family wanted to show their appreciation to all the people who helped the landowners in the south Blaine/Hill County areas. Landowners got together and planned an event that drew 400+ guests.

Ted and Barb Crowley's ranch was the site of the Central Fire Command during the fire, the hub from which firefighters and supplies were sent to fight the wild fire. Ted said, "Right after the fire I wanted to do something to show all the people who came to our aid how much we appreciated their efforts. My son was the first to propose the idea of a dinner. When I talked to other landowners about doing an appreciation event, they all were for the idea."

Barb added, "Without the effort of these folks we wouldn't have what we saved. We wanted to show how grateful we were for their help." She said around Halloween landowners selected a date that would work for ''folks on both the Clear Creek and Hill County side of the area." Organizers began using social media and phone calls to invite volunteers. Barb explained, "We didn't really know who all helped. We figured if we contacted the people we knew about they could, in turn, contact others they knew that came to our aid." Without a precise notion of how many guests to expect, the group planned for 400.

The group's Facebook invitation pretty well summed up the idea behind the appreciation dinner: "Ranchers affected by the East Fork Fire are hosting an appreciation dinner. All who helped to fight this fire are invited; firefighters, volunteers, those who donated food, time, supplies, equipment, fuel, money and more, all are welcome!!" Potential guest were encouraged to send photos or videos before the event, there was a slide show with photos about the fire during the dinner.

Barb Crowley said the menu would be flat iron steaks, baked potatoes, salad, homemade buns and dessert. Before the evening event kicked off, landowners and their families were preparing

parts of the meal inside while three cooks prepared the steaks. Scott Young, Barb Crowley's brother, was directing the crew that was preparing to grill the meat. He said, "We've got 400 flat iron steaks (a fairly recent shoulder cut developed about a decade ago) and 100 hot dogs."

While none of the organizers could really predict the turnout for the dinner, turnout was huge. The parking lots were filled with vehicles and inside volunteers and their families were enjoying the dinner and the comradery of friends and neighbors. The numbers on the vehicle plates suggested a good turnout from both Blaine and Hill Counties.

Kraig Hansen is the Fire Chief of Chinook Fire and the Fire Warden for Blaine County and attended the dinner. Asked about the idea of an appreciation dinner he said, "This is a great gesture to the large number of people who helped during the fire. I appreciate the landowners getting together to make this happen. In my nearly forty years as a volunteer firefighter this is the first time I've seen anything like this appreciation dinner."

Looking around the room Hansen knew a lot of the firefighters who battled the East Fork Fire and where they were from. He noted firefighters from areas and departments from both counties and some nearby neighbors: Harlem, Chinook, Hogeland, Turner, South Blaine County and Lloyd, Bear Paw, Wild Horse, Kremlin, Gilford, St. Joe, Box Elder and Big Sandy firefighters from Chouteau County.

Looking at the crowd of diners at tables and the line of people yet to get food, Ted Crowley summed up the response to the event by saying, "I'm afraid we'll run out of meat." Obviously the aid givers were enjoying this special return act of kindness from the people they helped.