48th Annual Creston Auction Brings in Over $30,000 for Creston Fire Department

The annual Creston Auction kicked off on Saturday in hopes to raise money that the Creston Fire Department couldn't serve without. NBC Montana reported that not only does the fire department serve 7,500 residents, but it also responded to more than 250 calls last year alone.

Creston Fire Captain Joe Brenneman said the money supports their volunteer fire department, funding essentials for the costly and critical business of keeping people safe.

"It costs about $5,000 to outfit someone to enter a structure that's on fire,” Brenneman said.  “You need to have actually six people suited up to be safe so that's $30,000 right there."

NBC Montana said the auction has been going on for nearly 50 years.

"It was mostly farmers in the area," Brenneman said. "One of them came up with the idea that ‘hey we need to raise some money’ so they gathered together some equipment, a few hay bales and some livestock and I think they sold a pig and some hay bales and a little bit of farming equipment and they got $300 the first year."

NBC Montana said this is the Creston Fire department's only fundraiser for the entire year where they auction off hundreds if not thousands of items where they expect to see over 7,000 people over the course of two days.