PLAINS — Two weeks ago, three fires ignited along with Highway 200 corridor between Dixon and Paradise. Firefighters quickly jumped in to battle the blazes. Nearby, local restaurants scrambled to scramble eggs and more to feed the fire crews.
“We saw the fire start we knew that it was a good possibility that we would be feeding them,” Emily Sexton said. “We just wait for that call and that way we’re ready to go. We can get those guys fed, because they’re protecting all of us.”
Emily Sexton, the Em behind Em’s Cafe in Plains, was one of the locals who answered a call to help feed firefighters in the early days of the Knowles Fire.
“When a fire starts and a fire camp is being set up, the community is often asked to really help out a little bit with that. They can help in the form of providing meals for firefighters. That's a big deal because firefighters expend a lot of energy when they're out suppressing fires,” said Nick Holloway, public information officer with the Western Montana All Hazards Incident Management Team. “It's critical. Without having food and the restaurant support, then we can't suppress the fire.”
A lot more goes into fighting a wildfire than just putting out the flames. There is also a lot of logistics to figure out, including setting up a fire camp and bringing in crews and equipment.
“We're setting up a small town here, but it takes a community to help that get that done,” Holloway said.
Food plays major role, especially as dozens, or even hundreds, of firefighters converge on a rural area, working up an appetite.
“Oftentimes we get a national caterer, as we have here. But, again, that takes days to get in and you have to feed firefighters before the caterer gets here,” Holloway said. “When we get to a smaller town, like Plains, not just one restaurant helps fill the gap but we go to almost all of the restaurants.”
Em’s Cafe was one of those who answered the call. Emily Sexton, who owns the cafe with her dad Murray, and her fiancee, Alex Bullington, spent hours in the kitchen.
“The people I work with to coordinate these meals are absolutely wonderful. They know that I'm kind of good at last minute, because it's like ‘I don't want those guys to go hungry,’” Sexton said. “I tell them we’ll make it work.”
The Knowles Fire broke out on a Sunday afternoon. By Monday night, they had 120 firefighters to feed for dinner.
“Then, we got 120 for breakfast the following day, 125 for dinner on Tuesday. In the middle of making dinner, I get a message saying ‘Hey, can you bump up to 180?’ and then a few minutes later ‘Hey, can you do 210? And we all kind of looked at each other like, ‘You guys could do it with me.’”
For Em’s, this is a regular part of their fire season routine. They said it all happens with the help of their staff and the community, who never whines if the extra meals means they cafe runs out of pickles or croutons.
“Putting their lives on the line, being in that heat when it's already hot, you know, the least we could do is get them fed,” Sexton said. “Our first year here was when that 30,000 acre Paradise Fire happened. It was a learning curve.”
Now, the team of three has it down to a science. Cooking for hundreds is all just prep work, teamwork and “mass production,” according to Murray Sexton.
“For dinner, we cooked 25 gallon buckets of mashed potatoes. We went through a case and four cans of green beans,” he said.
“I did, I believe, it was six cases of hamburger patties, which is 42 patties per case,” Emily Sexton added.
Holloway said the fresh food makes a big difference for firefighters, both for their calorie needs and for their spirits.
“Food really can impact morale positively or negatively, so having good, local food is just a tremendous benefit,” he said.
This year, Em’s Cafe was one of the restaurants presented with a certificate of appreciation for their work from one of the teams managing the fire. Emily Sexton said she was shocked when they showed up with it. Now, it’s hanging proudly behind the counter.
“It kind of just blew up into this beautiful thing that I never even expected to receive. We just did it because we always do it,” she said.
After a few fire seasons, some firefighters have even become regulars at the cafe. Sexton said this community aspect is what makes the restaurant and Plains special.
“It's like we're even building a bigger community now we know the guys on the fire,” she said.
In an area that sees so many wildfires, the cafe said they are grateful for the firefighters and are ready with recipes for the next call.
“I’m just very thankful to have the amount of resources we have in such a small, rural area that can be pulled in. It’s such a blessing,” Sexton said. “Without them, we would have lost so much more.”
