A Volunteer Effort From Day One
In 1963, four community members bought a used fire truck to protect the homes and cabins scattered along the West Shore of Flathead Lake. There was no fire district yet, no formal funding, and no guarantee anyone would show up. Just neighbors who decided their community deserved protection, and made it happen with their own money and their own hands.
The department’s first station sat on Methodist Camp Road, on land donated by a local family so the truck would have somewhere to call home. For more than two decades, that small station was the entire operation: a used engine, a handful of volunteers, and a lot of heart.
In 1989, the Lake County Commissioners officially recognized Rollins as a fire district, giving the department the legal standing to grow. Six years later, in 1995, a large metal garage was relocated to our current property along Highway 93, and the crew finally had a real home for a growing fleet.
Growth has picked up in recent years. In 2010, the department ran on 5 active volunteers. Today, more than 20 trained volunteers answer the call, and in 2025 we broke ground on an 8,400 square foot expansion of the fire hall to give them, and the community, the coverage they need.
