GREAT FALLS — Belt Rural Volunteer Fire Department responded to an armored vehicle on fire on Highway 89 near mile marker 72 just after 11 a.m. on Monday, August 16.
The armored vehicle from Malmstrom Air Force Base experienced mechanical failure and caught fire. The fire spread to the grass on the hillside next to the road, threatening structures.
Several Belt Rural units and Belt Volunteer Ambulance Service responded on the initial dispatch; mutual aid was requested from Malmstrom AFB Fire Department, Sand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department, Black Eagle Volunteer Fire Department, and Raynesford Volunteer Fire.
Some Malmstrom personnel and one firefighter were treated at the scene by Belt Ambulance for smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion, but no serious injuries were reported.
No structures were damaged and the fire was contained at approximately five acres.
BRVFD said in a Facebook post: "Thank you to our mutual aid departments that responded and assisted. Your crews did a lot of good, hard work in today’s heat. Thank you as well to the Malmstrom personnel, not with the fire department, who assisted with getting hose lines up the hill side."
