Local Fire Department ‘Feeling the Love’ From Bozeman Community

A Traeger was recently stolen from a fire station in Bozeman, and local residents came to the rescue with an outpouring of support. What happened following the theft of the grill is truly inspiring, and a reminder of how fortunate we are to call Bozeman home.

Stolen Traeger Leads to Heartwarming Story in Bozeman

On Monday, the Bozeman Fire Department shared a story about a Traeger grill that was stolen from firehouse 3. Firefighters were overwhelmed with the response and the number of people who offered support. According to a statement for Bozeman Fire on Facebook, nearly a dozen people and businesses offered to replace the grill.

At first, the fire department kindly rejected the offers until they received a phone call from the mother and father of fallen Bozeman Fire/Medic Jon “JP” Paulson. They said they would do whatever was needed to replace the stolen Traeger. You can read the story about the phone call below.

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It was the Mom and Dad of fallen Bozeman Fire/Medic Jon “JP” Paulson offering up whatever was needed to replace the stolen grill, we tried to say “You don’t have to” and “We will manage” but we quickly learned the only option was “yes mam” and “thank you” to the mom on the other end honoring her son.

To Mr. And Mrs Paulson, their family, and the crew at @kenyonnoblemt who were also extremely generous we share a HUGE thank you for being part of our family. We humbly accepted this gift to L613 firefighters in memory of your son, husband, dad, and friend. We all know JP would have a few one-liners for the thief(s) none of which we could repeat here. So we will think of Jon often as we grill and prepare meals for our fire family that never forgets. THANK YOU Paulsons and Keyon Noble!

We're happy to hear that the Bozeman Fire Department has a brand new Traeger to cook meals for firefighters, and that the local community has once again showed why Bozeman is such an incredible place to live.