Longtime Bigfork fire chief remembered

During his 39-year tenure as chief of the Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department, Joe T. Nelson was known for his dedication to the job.

An early innovator of programs to help fund local volunteer fire departments, Nelson oversaw Bigfork's volunteers during a time when wood-burning stoves were the rule rather than the exception.

"He was very passionate about serving his community by risking all to fight fires," said current Bigfork Fire Chief Chuck Harris. " He practically lived at the fire hall. That was a big part of his life."

Nelson, who volunteered as a firefighter for more than four decades, died July 5 at age 94.

To honor Nelson's contributions to the department, firefighters will hold a memorial service at the Bigfork fire hall ? which was named after the longtime chief upon his retirement in the early 1980s ? at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

A traditional firefighter's memorial ceremony, including bagpipers and the reading of the firefighter's prayer, will be followed by an address from a local minister and then an informal celebration of Nelson's life with food and music, Harris said.

"There's going to be representatives from fire departments not only from all over the valley, but from all over the state," said Harris, noting that Nelson was a leading voice in Montana's annual firefighters conventions. "We're expecting quite a turnout."

Nelson enjoyed telling the story of his first call as a rookie volunteer firefighter, according to his son, Joe Nelson Jr. Upon responding to the fire hall, firefighters found all four tires on their only fire engine flat. It had to be towed to the scene.

"The response time wasn't too good on that one," said Joe Nelson Jr. "So he dedicated a large portion of his life to making sure that never happened again."

Besides chief of the Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department, Nelson served as president of the Montana State Fire Chiefs Association and a member of the Bigfork Lions Club. When he wasn't fighting fires, Nelson was the chief operator of the Bigfork hydroelectric plant on the Swan River.

"But his real passion was the fire department," said Joe Nelson Jr., who traveled from Alaska to attend the memorial service. "After shift work at the plant, he would often spend time at the fire hall, just constantly trying to make it better."

Vern Childers, who served as Bigfork fire chief from 1989 to 2003, began volunteering to fight fires under Nelson in 1973.

"I was just a grunt running around pulling hose and squirting water," Childers recalled. "He was a great chief who knew how to handle people. You always listen to somebody great, and whenever he did something or said something, I learned."

Nelson fostered a sense of camaraderie and loyalty among the department's firefighters, Childers said.

"There are an awful lot of things that happen between firemen that you just don't forget, especially with Joe," he said. "He literally devoted his life, as long as he was there, to the fire service."

In the early days of Nelson's time as fire chief, there was no 911. Calls for help went directly to Nelson's home, from which he could set off the fire hall's siren.

"When I first started, I remember we called it the 'red phone,'" Childers said. "Joe had it in his house." Fires in the chimneys of wood-burning stoves, and the potential for them to become full-blown structure fires, were a weekly occurrence then.

Jolene Nelson remembers her grandfather monitoring the scanner he kept in his house long after retirement.

"In fact, as a child, I didn't know he had another job. I just thought he was a firefighter," she said. "He was very dedicated to it, but he was also very dedicated to his family."

Nelson lost a leg after injuring it in a horse-riding accident early in his career, but a prosthetic limb didn't stop him from fighting fires or swimming in Flathead Lake with his granddaughter.

"It's all about giving to the community, and that's what he did his entire life," said Jolene Nelson of Kalispell, who expects all three of Joe's children and all seven of his grandchildren to attend the memorial service.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com