Dawson Chute went big for his Eagle Scout project. He built a whole communications room for the Bad Rock fire deparment to house their radio equipment.

It took over a year and a half to complete the project, with 138 hours of work, Chute said.

The materials were donated from Western Building Center in Columbia Falls, and Chute’s father and scoutmaster helped him learn the carpentry skills.

“I wanted to do something more unique that no one else had done,” Chute noted. “It’ll stand out for sure and help literally the whole valley.”

Chute, 18, is a Columbia Falls native who will graduate in June. He plans to be a guide for outfitter Cameron Lee in the Spotted Bear district this summer.

Afterwards, he’ll stay in the outdoor industry.

“I’ll stick with it and go into fighting forest fires,” he said.

He plans to take classes on wildland fighting and general education courses at Flathead Valley Community College.

Although he wants to stay in Montana, he also hopes to travel up to Alaska and experience the wilderness there.

“I am an avid outdoorsman so I like to fish, hunt, hike, all of that,” Chute explained.

He also enjoys soccer and has been on the varsity team at Columbia Falls high school since freshman year.

Chute’s project took much more time than he originally expected, but he learned a lot about “how to be able to lead a group of people and get stuff done,” he said.