Last year, a structure at the Lewis and Clark County fairgrounds caught fire right where I’m standing. One year later, we have a better idea of the total damage done.
“I - I was devastated,” said fairgrounds manager Kevin Tenney. “It was a horrible time for it to happen. It was a tough loss for us.”
On February 20th, 2025, fairgrounds manager Kevin Tenney got the call no property manager ever wants to receive.
“I was sitting at home one night,” Tenney continued, “and I got a call from Leo Dutton saying one of my buildings was on fire, so I came down and, I mean, there was nothing we could do at that point.”
Fire crews from around the area responded, working to keep the flames from spreading to nearby buildings.
“It's one of the bigger ones I’ve been to in my nearly 26-year career,” said Helena Fire assistant fire chief Mike Chambers.
Tenney estimates more than $280,000 in damage, not including the building itself.
The fire destroyed most of their tools, equipment, and vehicles used to maintain the fairgrounds year-round.
Even after reviewing video footage, investigators still haven’t determined what caused the fire, but don’t believe the fire to be suspicious in nature.
“It’s not under investigation still, it's not open by any means, but if more information comes to light, we’ll reopen it and see what we can piece together with the information we gathered at the time,” Chambers stated.
One year later, the fairgrounds has replaced about 95% of what was lost.
The county provided about $200,000 in support, with insurance covering the rest.
The Montana Department of Labor and Industry inspects the grounds frequently, looking to spot potential causes for the future.
“It was a freak accident, something that was out of our control, nothing that we did caused the fire, so we just continue to be conscious of what we do down here,” Tenney explained.
Still, even from the ashes, staff are making use of what they can.
“We found that the foundation was still usable,” Tenney said, “so we’ll just put a pre-fabricated still building on that site.”
Tenney hopes the new building will be finished by summer, but says the timeline will likely change to be later.
