Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds Near Full Recovery One Year After Blaze

The Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds has replaced roughly 95% of what it lost in a February 2025 fire, and manager Kevin Tenney is pushing to finish a new pre-fabricated building on the surviving foundation before summer, though he acknowledges the timeline will likely slip.

Tenney got the news on the night of February 20, 2025, the way no property manager wants to: a phone call. "I was sitting at home one night, and I got a call from Leo Dutton saying one of my buildings was on fire, so I came down and, I mean, there was nothing we could do at that point," he said. Fire crews from around Helena and the surrounding area responded and worked to stop the flames from reaching nearby structures. Helena Fire assistant fire chief Mike Chambers called it "one of the bigger ones I've been to in my nearly 26-year career."

The blaze consumed most of the tools, equipment and vehicles the fairgrounds relies on for year-round maintenance. Tenney estimates the damage exceeded $280,000, and that figure does not include the building itself. A burned tire remained visible at the site when reporters documented the wreckage on March 12, 2026. The county provided about $200,000 in support following the fire, with insurance covering the remainder.

"I - I was devastated," Tenney said. "It was a horrible time for it to happen. It was a tough loss for us."

Investigators reviewed video footage but never pinned down a cause. Chambers said the case is effectively closed, though not permanently. "It's not under investigation still, it's not open by any means, but if more information comes to light, we'll reopen it and see what we can piece together with the information we gathered at the time," he said. Investigators do not believe the fire was suspicious.

Tenney is not dwelling on the unknown origin. "It was a freak accident, something that was out of our control, nothing that we did caused the fire, so we just continue to be conscious of what we do down here," he said. The Montana Department of Labor and Industry now inspects the grounds frequently, looking to identify potential hazards before they become problems.

What the fire left behind turned out to be an asset: the foundation held. "We found that the foundation was still usable," Tenney said, "so we'll just put a pre-fabricated still building on that site." With 95% of the lost inventory already replaced, the new structure is the last major piece of the recovery, and how quickly it goes up will determine whether the fairgrounds is fully operational before the busy summer season begins.