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Heated Hearing Over Bill to Restore Butte-Silver Bow Local Control of Fire Services
Summary
House Bill 5-47 would repeal limited statutory protections and return fire-service governance in Butte–Silver Bow to the local charter, creating a single director of fire services accountable to the chief executive; proponents stress safety and training, opponents warn of loss of volunteer autonomy, legal uncertainty and rushed process.
Representative Scott DeMouris sponsored House Bill 5-47, which he described as a narrow cleanup of state statute to allow Butte–Silver Bow to follow its 1977 charter provisions regarding fire services. DeMouris said the change would only affect the two consolidated city–county governments (Butte–Silver Bow and Anaconda–Deer Lodge) and aims to remove conflicting 1979 statutory language so the county’s charter can operate as intended.
Proponents, including the Butte–Silver Bow chief executive (J.P. Gallagher), director of fire services (Zach Osborne) and many career firefighters, presented a unified case: a 3rd-party fire study (Emergency Services Consulting International) and decades of operational experience justify returning chain-of-command…
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