BUTTE — A duplex on Granite Street in Uptown Butte was damaged in a fire on Jan. 30, the last of five structure fires in just one month, making it a very busy month for Butte firefighters.
“A little busy for us, yeah, we had just about 400 calls in the month of January, so that’s up from our average Januarys,” said Butte Fire Chief Zach Osborne.
The fire department responded to 12 fires, of which five involved structures, including this detached garage off Dewey Boulevard on Jan. 26th. Many of the fires were due to the cold.
“We hit that cold snap and people find different ways to heat their house up and keep their pipes from freezing, so if they’re going to use space heaters in their house they’re going to have to be careful with them,” said Osborne.
In 2022, the Butte Fire Department had just over 4,600 calls for service, with a total of 143 fires and 48 structure fires. It was one of the department’s busiest years in terms of call volume and 2023 is starting to look like a busy year.
“You know, if we keep having months like this we’ll be higher than we were in 2022,” he said.
The fire department is prepared for a busy year and once one probationary firefighter is hired the department will be fully staffed.
