The Libby Volunteer Fire Department holds a special place in the history of the City of Libby, Montana.

It happened on the fateful day of Thursday, February 4, 1909 at 4:45am. A catastrophic blaze destroyed Dr. R. Sailey′s Drug Store, the Geiger Building owned by John H. Geiger, the Switzer Building owned by Thomas Switzer, and the home of Mr. and Mrs. Archie Sanders. Thankfully, all lives were spared, but the monetary loss was reported to have been between seven and ten thousand dollars. Over two years later, a group of concerned citizens met on May 11, 1911 and named Chief W.S Megquier and Assistant Chief John Kuklinski as a committee to constructively engage key members to form a competent fire department.

The following week, on May 18, 1911, a second meeting was held at the town jail building to complete the development of the formal organization. When all was said and done, the City of Libby and the surrounding area finally had a fire department.

In its first year, a total of 10 brave, young men manned the fire lines alone. Today, the fire department′s roster is well over 30 active volunteers, all being part of a total in excess of 325 dedicated individuals that have proudly worn the emblem of the Libby Volunteer Fire Department over the past 100 years.

Prior to 1914, in the event of an emergency, a delivery boy was paid $5.00 to get to the fire hall first to haul the department’s only hose cart to the fire scene. That all changed when the Libby Fire Department Women’s Auxiliary took up a collection to buy this chain-driven Willy’s truck. This is the chain-driven Willy′s truck, seen here with Chief W.S. Megquier and William Kemp, which was purchased with funds raised by the LVFD Women’s Auxiliary. This utility truck, which was acquired in 1914, was used for about nine years until it was replaced by a Ford Model T truck in 1923. The steel horse-drawn water wagon was used by the Libby Volunteer Fire Department in its early days of fire-fighting. At the turn of the century, this hand-powered fire pump on a horse-drawn water wagon was the department′s only means of extinguishing fires. The department′s first water wagon toted several buckets with rounded bottoms. The rounded bottoms, as theory has it, served many purposes. One was to discourage firefighters from setting them down in order to keep the water moving. Another theory states that the unconventionally shaped buckets acted as means of theft prevention.

Libby Volunteer Fire Department Chiefs - Over 100 years of unwavering dedication and dynamic leadership providing efficient, safe and professional operation of the Libby Volunteer Fire Department while continually promoting positive public relations.

• W.S. Megquier 1911 - 1916
• William H. Kemp 1917 - 1930
• A.M. Hoffman 1931 - 1938
• George Wood 1939 - 1952
• Walter Kemp 1953
• R.J. Brown 1954 - 1956
• Ernest Wood 1957 - 1964
• Bill Dorrington 1965 - 1971
• Robert Chapman - 1972
• Chauncey Sauer 1973 - 1979
• Jim Davidson 1980 - 1985
• Bill Kemp 1986 - 1992
• Ken Preston 1993 - 1994
• Tom Wood 1995 - 2021
• Steve Lauer 2022 - Present