Community mourns loss of Joe Smith, a remarkable firefighter

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls community this week mourns the death of longtime volunteer fireman Joe Smith.

Smith died June 7. He was 72. He was remembered fondly by his colleagues and family as a dedicated volunteer. He was a true firemen’s fireman.

“He was the first one in and the last one out,” Columbia Falls Fire Chief Karl Weeks said.

Just three years ago, at the age of 69, he went on 190 calls, Weeks noted.

Smith was stricken with an aggressive form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, late last year. Even then, he still went on calls, but eventually couldn’t speak anymore, Weeks said.

Smith was born in Mission (now St. Ignatius) but grew up in West Glacier and Columbia Falls.

His family was Ojibwa from White Earth, Minnesota. His father, Richard Lewis-Smith took a job in Glacier National Park with the road crew, plowing snow from the Going-to-the-Sun Road, his son, Ryan said.

Smith worked at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Plant.

He joined the fire department in September of 1982, retired in 2006 and then rejoined in March 2010.

Since 2010, when the company began recording the number of calls each firefighter went on, Smith only had two years when he went to less than 100 and in the past five years of his career he averaged 152.

Longtime Chief Don Barnhart recalled fighting fires with Smith and his dedication. But it was the humor that struck him the most.

“We were the only ones that drank coffee at meetings,” Barnhart recalled. “He always drank out of of B&F Excavating cup (the name of Barnhart’s business).”

He drank out of that cup for decades, Barnhart noted.

Both Weeks and Barnhart recalled Smith’s work ethic.

“He outperformed the younger guys constantly,” Barnhart said. “He was methodical and safe.”

Weeks recalled a fire a few years back where the flames were right at the door. Smith loved to do interior attacks of fires, donning a self-contained breathing unit.

On this blaze, the heat was intense and a younger firefighter was hesitant at the door — Smith gave him a nudge to get him in and fighting the fire.

“He loved being interior with the SBA,” Weeks said. “He loved it.”

“He was a huge mentor and a quiet guy and got the job done,” Ryan Smith said.

Ryan Smith recalled one of the first big fires his father went on was the Park Theater blaze on Nucleus Avenue.

“(Us kids) were just little punks,” Ryan recalled. “We went up there and watched it.”

Smith got Ryan involved in volunteer firefighting later in life.

When the two were on fires together Ryan Smith said his father looked out for everyone, not just his son.

He took a measured approach to firefighting.

“He didn’t panic,” he said. “He wasn’t emotional. Just go in there and get the job done.”

A public service for Smith will be July 31 at the Fire Hall at 2 p.m.