Volunteers Help To Rebuild Fences Burned By Remington Fire

By Jan Stevens

Scores of volunteers on September 7, 2024, woke early to come together at the historic OW Ranch on Hanging Woman Creek to aid their friends, family, neighbors, and even people that they didn't know. What started out as a small project created by several friends and family members of those affected by the Remington Fire, turned into a huge operation. Heather and John Herman of Sonnette and Rachel and Travis Adam of Otter Creek worked together to create a weekend of volunteerism, helping to stand up and rebuild around 20 miles of fences burned in the recent fire.

Prior to the formation of the Remington Fire Volunteer Weekend, Rachel had opened an account aimed at collecting donations for those affected by the fire at the Opportunity Bank in Ashland, Montana. With the help of Lori Blaede, the donations of money started to come in.

At the same time, the Hermans came up with the idea of bringing together the community to help by donating time and resources. The Adams and the Hermans got together and with a portion of the donated funds, the group was able to purchase steel fence posts.

Local businesses like Grant's Hardware donated fence posts and set up an account for people to donate supplies as well. Even as far away as Denver, Colorado, the team had donations of supplies coming in. Hutchinson Western, a supplier of fencing and livestock products, came to the rescue with several semi-loads of barbed wire, gates, stock tanks, and other items necessary to help rebuild fences.

With there being hundreds of miles of fence to be reconstructed, everyone knew that they would help to give the ranchers a leg up in their recovery efforts. Each day of the weekend saw between 80-90 people volunteering their time to aid with the fencing projects on five of the ranches who indicated that they needed boots on the ground now. Volunteers not only brought their leather gloves and fencing pliers, 12 skidsteers and other equipment were brought in to help with building braces and haul away trash.

Knowing that an army marches on its stomach, local neighbor Sarah Parmigiano, from Otter, organized the plethora of donated food.

Working from home and at the OW Ranch kitchen, Sarah carefully managed her group of volunteers who provided breakfast sandwiches and burritos, sack lunches, and hot dinners served in yard of the OW. In addition to the food that was donated, a multitude of pallets of bottled water and cases of Gatorade were provided by Coca Cola, the firefighters at the Broadus Volunteer Fire Department, the firefighters at the Custer County Volunteer Fire Department, and other local businesses.

Amid organizing the volunteer weekend and handling various donations of fencing products and food, hay was also being delivered to those affected. Heather Herman worked closely with the Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Rosebud County Cattlewomen to arrange for trucks to deliver the umpteen loads of hay donated from various ranchers who had learned about the plight of the Remington Fire ranchers.

Once everyone was supplied with breakfast and their marching orders, the volunteers dispersed from the OW to their assignments. In the days leading up to the volunteer weekend, loads of fencing supplies were delivered to the ranches that indicated that they needed immediate help. Workers soon put the supplies to good use. Later that morning, sack lunches were delivered along with additional water to the workers. After a long day of helping, the workers returned to the OW for a much-needed wash station to clean off the soot and sweat. Sarah and her volunteers provided a hot meal of beef and pork roast, baked potatoes, fresh baked rolls, and various desserts.

Sunday brought much of the same as Saturday with workers showing up early to get their breakfast, lunches, and assignments. Throughout the day, the volunteers helped to brace up and rebuild various fences. Dinner was again provided through donations. Beef and bean burritos with all the fixings were available to the volunteers, along with a place to wash up.

Once the weekend was done, cleanup started. The remainder of the donated fencing supplies and those purchased with the donated funds were assigned to those affected by the Remington Fire. With the abundant generosity of food donations, Sarah was able to not only feed the volunteers over the weekend, but also assemble food boxes that went to those affected by the fire.

In addition to the manual work that was done, those affected by the fires were immensely moved by the outpouring of emotional support. They learned that they are not alone and that there is a far-reaching community out there who is willing to help.

Volunteers plant posts after the Remington Fire swept through the area, in the photo above courtesy of Rachel Adam.