HELENA — The historic Helena Fire Tower restoration may look a little different than people might expected, but despite a few changes and challenges the Guardian of the Gulches history will live on.
Craig Marr, the City of Helena Parks Superintendent says, “It has been through a lot of repairs and restorations over the years and there has been some significant work done on it.”
The current fire tower that is under construction is not the original as former towers faced fires and earthquakes and were rebuilt.
Restoration of the structure began in January to fix impacts from the 2016 arson and environmental wear and tear.
Dick Anderson Construction workers recognized the severity of the shape that it was in and believe it would have collapsed within the next five years.
Because of this, 75 percent of the structure has been replaced with new lumber.
Joshua Tubbs, one of the construction workers says, “I mean it has to be a lot of that wood was rotten or cut up and twisted it was just horrible it had to be replaced but we did try to save as much as we could to keep that original integrity.”
That integrity has been kept through the species and moisture level of the new wood, with most it coming from fir trees in Helena.
Currently, the center is filled with temporary bracing that makes the structure look different than the tower you are familiar with.
Max and Joshua, who are working on the tower’s construction grew up in Helena looking up to the Guardian of the Gulch and take special pride in making it look identical.
"Growing up in Helena and getting to do this one of my childhood best friends is so cool," Tubbs says. And his buddy and co-worker on the project Max Mader says, “This is a super cool project probably the coolest one I have gotten to work on.”
The project is anticipated to be complete by the end of May with adding the stairs, cab, and new holiday lights left on the to-do list.
“We are hoping after this main major project it will be standing watching over the gulch for decades to come,” Marr says.
