Blackfoot Communications is named after the Blackfoot River and started as a cooperative almost 70 years ago in the Clinton region.

Today, it is headquartered in Missoula delivering voice, broadband and fiber-based connectivity to homes and businesses in Western Montana and Eastern Idaho.

They are working on a multi-year, multi-million-dollar upgrade project that will bring the latest in technology to homes and businesses throughout their rural communities.

Over the years, corporations have been approached to build satellite stations in Mineral County through economic development organizations with the selling features of I-90 and the railroad for transportation and closeness to the airport Missoula, not to mention the lifestyle their employees would deeply appreciate along the Clark Fork River. The first area that is discussed has been the internet and most have said it’s not large enough for their needs, but that is changing.

Chris Laslovich, public affairs manager at Blackfoot Communications, was at the Mineral County Fair on Friday, along with other Blackfoot employees to enjoy the festivities, but primarily for an extra special reason.

“As a Montana based company, we’re proud to invest in the communities that we serve, especially within our rural regions," he said. "So, when Superior Fire Chief Scott Dodd approached us with a clear need for more fire supplies for the Tarkio area, we stepped up and wanted to help. In addition to our $5,000, CoBank, which is a cooperative bank that helps finance agri-businesses and rural infrastructure companies, like Blackfoot, matched our contribution. It’s a total of $10,000 we are pleased to give to Scott today.”

Laslovich went on to say that they want to help organizations in the county and pointed to a couple of their banners on the fence and bandstand as sponsors of the fair.

“In the areas we serve, we really try to give back to those communities and support different programs. If there is ever a need or questions about opportunities for support, you can certainly contact us,” he said.

Superior Volunteer Fire Chief, Scott Dodd was appreciative.

“So, this is going to help furnishing what we need at our temporary location in Tarkio,” he said.

The building of the Tarkio Fire Station is on Dodd’s radar and is coming in the not-too-distant future.

“We are, and have been, a fully functional fire station housed on private property 24-7 for some time now. We do have a lease agreement with Chuck McClure (landowner) and will eventually move to our building once everything is completed.”

Asked what this fire season is like compared to other years and Dodd said they are a little below normal.

“Normally, we’d be on a fire right now,” he said which indicates just how busy the crew is.

Dodd also explained that they receive requests to assist in forest fires and recently were asked if they had anyone who would help with the Colt Creek fire north of Seeley Lake.

“We, as a department, try not to go out of state. But we do have several guys that are prepared for these bigger fires that are out of our district.”

Being that August is barely a week old, the fire season is young.