Jack Underhill
Daily Inter Lake, Kalispell, Mont.
(TNS)
Jul. 27—After retiring from the Kalispell Fire Department over a decade ago, KC Cox continues to serve not just the Flathead Valley’s fire departments, but fire crews across the West.
Cox owns Montana Truck Works LLC, an Evergreen-based company specializing in fire truck and emergency vehicle repair.
“I jokingly tell people I am 911 for 911. When chiefs have a bad day because their stuff’s not working, they call me,” Cox said.
Montana Truck Works serves Flathead Valley’s various firefighting agencies daily as well as apparatuses owned by state and federal agencies like Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
Montana Truck Works’ resume includes servicing fire engines, ladder trucks, brush trucks, tenders, command vehicles and special rescue trucks, and even a hovercraft at one point.
“If it says ‘fire’ on it, it usually finds its way here,” Cox said. The company also services ambulances and police cars.
Montana Truck Works holds 20 to 30 vehicles at a time, with the garage able to house up to eight vehicles. The company also buys old trucks, refurbishes them, and sells them to other fire departments.
Cox started the business in November 2015 after a back injury forced him to retire as a firefighter paramedic at the Kalispell Fire Department.
“I planned on retiring out of Kalispell, but not that soon,” he said.
Before graduating from high school, Cox got his start fighting fires in Yakima, Washington. Surrounded by mechanics growing up, Cox would also pick up technician skills here and there.
“[The fire department] would pull me off shift to go help in the shop and do work on that kind of stuff, like trucks and ambulances,” Cox said.
But after having to leave firefighting behind, Cox found a way to continue serving fire crews in a new capacity. “There’s a lot of gratification,” he said about his work.
Breaking through in such a niche business took years of attaining the specific certifications to operate on such complex and robust vehicles. Fire trucks are the most complicated vehicles on the road, he says.
“I’ve been all over the country working on fire trucks. I’m one of the six people in the world that have all certifications,” Cox said. “To my knowledge I am the only master [Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting] mechanic in the state of Montana.”
Cox isn’t wielding the wrench as much as he used to. The years of firefighting and hands-on work put a toll on his body.
Nowadays, he finds himself teaching and training employees and conversing with fire chiefs.
“Same thing as a firefighter. I run around and put out fires,” Cox laughed.
Cox’s team of 12 staff members has a combined 150 years of mechanical experience, many of them firefighters as well. He hopes to hire new staff to eventually open up a second shop elsewhere after relocating to a bigger space just last June.
“I figured I would fill this place up in five years, I’ve already outgrown this place. The growth is explosive,” he said.
When trucks can’t be brought to the shop, Montana Truck Works also offers on-the-road assistance through two service trucks that go to the fire departments.
Also skilled in fleet management, Cox works with fire chiefs on how they can get the best bang for their buck.
He recalled saving the Big Sky Fire Department millions of dollars. The department was eyeing a new ladder truck for $1.7 million that wouldn’t be available for two more years and was looking to buy a second truck for $2.5 million.
Cox found the same truck, only three years old with no miles on it for $1.2 million and available immediately. The Big Sky Fire Department bought that one while Montana Truck Works refurbished an older truck for $300,000, saving the department a combined $2.7 million.
“That’s just having the connections and putting the puzzle pieces together,” Cox said.
The amount of time it takes to service a vehicle usually comes down to waiting on parts, which get bought straight from the manufacturer. Cox said that everything changed during the pandemic when large fire truck manufacturers bought up manufacturers of small parts, decreased their inventories and production, and then drove up prices.
“We were just waiting on an axle shaft for one fire truck for two and a half years,” he said.
While Montana Truck Works has stretched across the West, Cox still aims to make the office a family-friendly environment.
Montana Truck Works is located at 2549 U.S. 2 E. in Evergreen. Learn more at mt-truckworks.com.
Reporter Jack Underhill may be reached at 758-4407 or junderhill@dailyinterlake.com.
Mechanic Jonathan Black works underneath a fire engine at Montana Truck Works in Evergreen on Thursday, July 17. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Part of a line of fire apparatus and emergency vehicles awaiting repair at Montana Truck Works in Evergreen on Thursday, July 17. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Montana Truck Works is located at 2549 U.S. Highway 2 East in Evergreen. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
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