Fire burns Big Equipment shop west of Havre

Just months after moving into a new building that replaced its facilities that burned Dec. 24, 2017, another Big Equipment building was burning this morning.

Local firefighting and emergency response personnel were at the scene of the fire on County Road 860 Northwest this morning.

No one was available by printing deadline this morning about the fire because the officials were at the scene.

Big Equipment specializes in working on large farm equipment, especially Big Bud Tractors. 

Owner Ron Harmon bought the Havre-based Big Bud company in the 1970s, and continued the manufacture of the locally designed four-wheel drive articulated tractors.

The business closed in the 1980s and Harmon opened Big Equipment to service tractors.

After the business' building on U.S. Highway 87 was declared a loss from the 2017 fire, Harmon relocated his offices downtown and started using the space on County Road 860 for work on the equipment.

He opened the new offices for the company in its previous location on U.S. 87, but kept the shop work in the County Road 860 Northwest facility.

Watch for more on today's fire in upcoming editions of the Havre Daily News.