BILLINGS — During an unusually warm January, Billings firefighters responded to 17 structure fires, more than the combined 13 fires in January 2025 and 2024.
Ben Reichenbach and his family are among those recent victims of one of those house fires, when they came home from work to find his son's room engulfed in flames a few weeks ago.
"I came home from work and there was smoke everywhere," Reichenbach said last week.
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Reichenbach, who lives in Josephine Crossing, said it was hard to see the house his family built fill with smoke.
"It's just, you don't know what to do," Reichenbach said. "There's smoke coming out and there's not a thing you can do. You just wait and be patient."
Fortunately, only his son's room was damaged, though a restoration company is going through furniture and other belongings while the family has been forced to live with friends.
"It's been a lot," Reichenbach said. "Just not knowing what's next and dealing with what happens with the recovery process."
Over the weekend, two house fires happened within two hours of each other. Damon Felts' trailer on the Billings South Side was deemed a total loss, while Adrian Rosales and his girlfriend narrowly escaped their apartment through a window.
"By the time I got here, the whole front of the house was gone," Felts said Sunday afternoon. "We literally we lost everything."
"It could happen to anybody man. It's terrifying," Rosales said Sunday. "They told us at the hospital that if one of us hadn't woke up we would've died," Rosales said.
Firefighters have had an unusually busy month while they're also preparing to negotiate a new contract with the city Wednesday. The current contract expires June 30, and International Association of Firefighters local 521 President Jacob Wilkins said he's confident that things will go smoothly due to the current relationship.
"We have a little bit of a relationship before we start into negotiations," Wilkins said Tuesday morning. "It makes it a little bit easier and a little smoother that way."
The city faces a potential loss of up to $8.5 million in property-tax revenue because of changes in how those taxes are calculated at the state level, which Wilkins said could affect the contract talks.
He added that he remains dedicated to finding a solution that works for everyone.
"I think we'll always be able to negotiate a fair contract but just how much comes out of it for pay and benefits will be determined by that amount," Wilkins said.
