At a capstone performance in Missoula, dancers presented "82 Fires," an Irish‑dance production that linked the 1910 Big Burn to contemporary wildland firefighting and family stories of service.

The show combined choreography, spoken narrative and community ritual to remember the 82 lives lost in the 1910 fires and to portray the experiences of modern wildland crews. An organizer said the event was recorded and will be published digitally with assistance from Missoula Community Access Television.

"Welcome to our very special production of 82 Fires," a presenter said at the start of the show. The production incorporated a dramatized central story about a young firefighter named Sadie, scenes of training and rescue, and a delayed community vigil that the performance staged as part of its narrative.

The program highlighted personal and intergenerational themes: Sadie’s doubts and development as a crew leader; scenes referencing family members who served as firefighters; and a reading of archival family material that the script framed as a way of passing memory across generations. The production explicitly invoked the historical 1910 fires, saying those blazes consumed "over 3,000,000 acres," and staged a ceremonial lighting to honor the 82 who died.

An onstage organizer said Missoula Community Access Television (MCAT) was on site to record the capstone as part of MCAT’s media assistance grants for nonprofit organizations; the organizer said the recording will be made publicly available digitally. The production also staged a vigil sequence in the narrative, which the script described as having been postponed earlier because of smoke from a separate, later wildfire; the script then depicted crews returning from a multi‑week firefighting rotation and the town holding the delayed vigil.

The cast mixed dance and spoken‑word narration to connect historical memory to the work of current wildland firefighters. The mayor, identified onstage as Mary, addressed the community during the vigil portion of the presentation: "Tonight, we remember 82 souls claimed by fire," she said, and presented a medal passed down in the story’s family to the character Sadie as a symbolic recognition.

Organizers and cast members emphasized the show’s dual intent: to honor past losses and to portray the risks, training and teamwork of contemporary wildland crews. Missoula Community Access Television’s involvement means the event will have an archived digital record beyond the live performance, organizers said.

No civic action or formal government decision was taken at the event; the program functioned as a community performance and memorial.

The production is expected to reach a wider audience through MCAT’s recording; organizers did not specify dates for the digital release or audience size.