Montana Police and Fire Handle Thousands of 4th Calls

Montana was recently ranked the most patriotic state and celebrations around Montana over the 4th of July weekend reflected our love of country and freedom. Most of us probably had a great weekend with friends, food, and perhaps some fireworks. However, law enforcement and fire departments were busy across the state.

Montana Highway Patrol received over 3,200 calls for service.

In a Tweet on Monday (7/5), the Montana Highway Patrol shared some numbers from their 4th of July weekend. While there were thousands of calls, somewhat surprisingly, they were just a handful of DUI arrests.

• 3,245 calls for service
• 241 crashes
• 2 fatal crashes
• 9 DUI's

Billings Police calls about the same as last year.

In a press release on Tuesday (7/6), Billings Police Lieutenant Brandon Wooley shared the department's 2020 vs. 2021 4th of July weekend report and the year-to-year call numbers were nearly identical.

The Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office received 108 fireworks complaint calls from 6/28 - 7/4, according to their Facebook post.

Get our free mobile app

Fire Departments were busy across the state.

In Missoula, fire crews responded to a grass fire near Waterworks Hill. The cause is under investigation, according to KPAX. Another small grass fire popped up near Great Falls on Saturday, (KRTV) and a hay barn fire near Frenchtown destroyed 6,000 bales of hay along with multiple pieces of farm machinery, according to Montana Right Now. Fireworks are suspected as the cause. Lighting is believed to have started a small wildfire south of Bozeman in Gallatin Canyon, but authorities are still investigating according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. In Butte, a home was heavily damaged by fire on Sunday night. The cause is under investigation, MTN reports.