Arson suspected in Majestic Valley Arena fire

The Majestic Valley Arena on U.S. 93 north of Kalispell caught fire early Saturday morning, Jan. 3, canceling a Wrangler Team Roping Championships event that would have hosted 600 to 700 teams.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said the cause of the fire was suspicious, and a county team is investigating the fire as a possible arson.

West Valley Fire Chief Russ Sappington said most of the damage to the 55,750-square-foot arena occurred in the front portion of the building, which is mostly office space.

Sappington said his fire department received the call at 5:37 a.m. and the fire was completely out by 7 a.m. They were assisted by the Kalispell, South Kalispell, Smith Valley and Evergreen fire departments as well as the sheriff’s office.

“The main fire itself was knocked down in about 20 minutes,” Sappington said. “But it got into some open gaps between the front of the building and the interior wall, so we had to get in there and get those hot spots out.”

Extensive fire damage occurred in the south office area and smoke damaged the north offices. Both are located near the front entrance to the building. Minor smoke damage occurred throughout the arena, prompting the cancellation of the Wrangler Team Roping Championships event.

Wrangler Team Roping Championships producer Jed Jacobs said the event began Friday night with about 100 teams competing and about 30 spectators. Saturday’s event would have been much larger with 600 or 700 teams competing. Instead, Jacobs and his team are headed back to their home base in Idaho with about 100 head of cattle and five horses.

“The hard part for us is that there’s so much expense to put the event on and it all comes to a screeching halt,” Jacobs said.

The Majestic Valley Arena event was the first roping event of the season for the Wrangler Team Roping Championships, which puts on events across the western United States. Jacobs said it will be difficult to reschedule this Flathead event, but his crew is scheduled to hold competitions at Majestic Valley Arena in March and June.