Hamilton female firefighter’s first year ends with human rights complaint

by Victoria Howell

Tara Walker is a longtime Bitterroot resident with a history of involvement in social issues. A survivor of sexual abuse and a member of the Blackfeet Nation, she was instrumental in the passage of legislation in 2017 known as “Tara’s Law,” which establishes a curriculum for schools to teach children about body safety, encouraging them to set boundaries and educating them on what to do if something makes them uncomfortable. Walker has worked on several other laws as well, including a House Resolution that designates April 7 as Sexual Assault Survivors Day (which just happened to be the date of this interview). She is the mother of two and works as an employment specialist at Ravalli Services in Hamilton.

The Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department was established in 1897. The department is currently comprised of both the Hamilton City Fire Department and the Hamilton Rural Fire District, which contracts for firefighting services with the City of Hamilton. The Hamilton City Council employs the fire chief. A new $5-million-plus taxpayer-funded fire station opened in Hamilton in 2024. Up until then, there had never been a woman on the force.

“When I first applied,” to be a volunteer firefighter with the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department, recalls Walker, “I wasn’t trying to be the first woman. I didn’t know there hadn’t been any women.”

Walker said she was driving by the brand new fire station, and she wondered what it would be like to be a woman and serve on the volunteer fire department.

“I’ve always had an altruistic mindset… I’ve always wanted to serve my community,” she said.

This happened to be just after former long-time fire chief, Brad Mohn, had resigned from the 28-man department following an investigation regarding allegations of operational inefficiencies, a decline in morale and welfare, lapses in safety and a lack of communication and after a vote of no confidence.

“In the vote of no confidence letter, that’s when I first learned that there were problems, that I was up against something bigger than me,” said Walker. “I did not know that the fitness test they were using and that they wrote themselves was keeping women off the department. I’ve always been into fitness, so when I first applied, the physical standards test was just an afterthought, no big deal. But Chief Mohn had even said at meetings that this test was put into place to keep women off the department… When I read that, I thought my application would be a bit of an issue.”

Walker failed the first run-through of the test, so she says she went back and worked even harder so she would pass it, and she did pass it.

“When I passed it, I was elated,” she recalls. “Mohn wrote me a congratulatory message.” But he also warned her that it wouldn’t be that easy. He said the department would be having a “popularity vote.” He said they were going to get together and have a vote, and they would not vote her in.

She was told later that the members argued about Walker for over three hours at their monthly meeting. “It was controversial,” she said. “There are firefighters who have been in the military and served along with women. There were some who had my back, but by and large, the majority didn’t.”

“I was crushed,” said Walker. “I have kids, they look up to me. This was crushing, it crushed my soul.”

She was contacted by Jeff Burrows, the president of the firefighters association (of which all the firefighters are members). He said they were denying her application. She asked for the decision in writing and got no response. So she called the mayor’s office and said she needed help.

“I was really shaken up by this,” said Walker. “This is my community. If my house is on fire, these are the men who show up. So mentally, this was a lot. It was like, I don’t know these people, but they know me.”

Walker filed a complaint with Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf, writing a synopsis of everything that had happened.

“I wrote that I was the first female,” said Walker, “and if there were any issues with my background, my application or references, anything like that, it should have been brought up before the physical standards test. They should not have had me take the test and then say, ‘oh, never mind.’ They tried to go back and say there were issues.”

According to Walker, there were many problems leading up to all of this. She believes they blatantly tried to make the physical test more difficult for her. She said that at the run-through for the test, one part involves going up and down stairs a certain number of times wearing a weighted vest. The description lists 25 lbs. on the shoulders, 50 lbs. on the chest, basically mimicking the state test for paid firefighters.

“When I went to take the run-through, they put an apron vest on me and they put all the 75 lbs. on the front, around my chest area,” said Walker. ”Having 75 lbs. on my chest like that was very alarming. Putting half my body weight on my chest was problematic. I reached out to Burrows to tell him that the run-through didn’t match up to the state standards. His response was that they weren’t going to change what they were doing.”

Through all this she was communicating with Mohn, whom she said verified they had never, in all his years on the force, put all the weight on the chest. (Mohn did not respond to a request for comment for this story.)

But current Hamilton Fire Chief Tyson Woods said that Walker’s version of what happened during the physical standards test was “100% false.” He said the weight distribution was the same as it always is. “The weight was distributed correctly, and it’s the same for everyone that goes through the test.”

Walker took the final physical test on Christmas Eve 2024. She happened to be sick but she still passed, even with all 75 lbs. in what she says was the wrong spot. She had been sick enough to go to the ER and had asked for a reschedule from the Christmas Eve date. She was told that would be the last day for new recruits.

“If you can’t make it, please withdraw and reapply in 90 days,” read the response to her rescheduling request.

Regarding scheduling the test on Christmas Eve, Woods said that two previous dates were offered to Walker, but she said she couldn’t make them.

Even sick and with a fever of 99.7 degrees, Walker became the first female to ever pass Hamilton’s physical standards test.

After the vote to deny her, Walker said the mayor tried to explain away the vote. He said the final decision rests with him and the city council. He asked to interview her, even though, she says, men who have applied in the past have not been interviewed by the mayor as part of the process. It became clear to her that they tried to go back and say there were other issues.

One thing was, “They didn’t like that I used Facebook. I’m a millennial, Facebook is part of my life,” said Walker. “They thought this was just one of my causes. I got Tara’s Law passed for childhood sexual abuse prevention. I’ve worked on other legislation. I’ve been an activist.”

Another issue, apparently, was Walker’s past. “In my early 20’s, over 15 years ago, I had a misdemeanor DUI and a couple of other issues,” she said. “They do not show up on my background check. But I’ve been through trauma, I’m someone who has lived a life.”

Walker wondered how they were getting access to information that was not public and does not show up on a background check. The only thing she can think of is that someone did an unauthorized background check to dig this up. Walker says she wasn’t required to tell them about this and that using this old information amounted to “character assassination.”

“They’re saying I have this horrible background, which is non-existent,” said Walker.

The regular background check goes through the city attorney’s office. Walker said she told Karen Mahar, Hamilton’s city attorney, about the misdemeanors and Mahar told her they were not a problem.

“In the interview [with the mayor] I should have asked more questions,” said Walker, “but I was very anxious, just trying to get through this next step.”

Subsequently, the mayor told Walker he would be recommending her to the city council and they unanimously voted Walker onto the fire department on March 18, 2025, overriding the firefighters’ vote.

Feeling elated, the next day Walker picked up her equipment and pager at the station.

“I was so naive,” she recalls. “What I didn’t really truly understand was that these men owed vengeance to me. I had embarrassed them. I had put myself on the department despite their best efforts. There was punishment to be had, and I didn’t know that.”

Jeff Burrows, president of the firefighters association, was contacted for this story but said he would not comment and referred the Star to Tyson Woods, the current fire chief. When asked for comment, Woods said, “There was a personnel matter involved with that and I can’t talk about personnel matters.” However, Woods said, “We are aware of the accusations that are being spread on social media and throughout the community. Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department does not discriminate” and only considers “a person’s abilities to perform as a firefighter.”

Walker says that, looking back at everything now, there are so many things she would have done differently. “But I just wanted to be a good firefighter. I just wanted to do the job, I was there to work hard, I wasn’t there for accolades, I wasn’t there for anything else. The reason why is, I have always given back to my community. I wanted to serve my community, not the whole state of Montana, my community. I had big aspirations with this.”

Walker’s elation was short-lived. She said that at the very first training she attended, everyone was sitting as far away from her as possible.

“I could tell that I was not going to be welcomed into the department like other firefighters were,” said Walker.

But she started training, working really hard. “They saw that I could do the job,” she said.

Then, last summer at an appreciation dinner, Walker said one of the firefighters’ wives verbally harassed her. She reported it to the fire chief, and she says the incident was turned around on her.

“That’s when I learned they did not have my back… They were more concerned about their image.”

She was called into a meeting and chastised for talking to the previous chief, who had posted a comment on social media in Walker’s defense. That’s when she realized she needed to file a complaint against the organization.

“I realized, I’m not going to last on this department,” said Walker, “and the next woman is going to be put through the same thing, so I need to stand up for myself.”

She filed a complaint with the Montana Human Rights Bureau in June 2025. A copy of the complaint was sent to the fire department and she said  it was like a bomb went off. It was not kept confidential but was intentionally shared with everyone, said Walker. At the next meeting, the assistant chief stormed out and later quit over the incident. The next day he changed his mind, but from then on, according to Walker, it was constant retaliation.

Information about fire calls was intentionally kept from her, she says, as well as a number of community events that the fire department participated in. Walker has kept all of the details in a journal.

“Last winter, I was barely hanging on,” said Walker. “This wears on you. Finally, I rescinded the complaint because I couldn’t take it anymore. I thought they might treat me better, but nothing changed. I requested a medical leave due to mental health.”

Woods maintains that Walker was never excluded from fire calls, and information was never purposely withheld from her.

“That is absolutely false,” said Woods. “She was given the same information as every other firefighter.”

Ultimately, Walker submitted her resignation.

“That hostility was just too much,” said Walker. “I kind of just decided I was going to fade away… I was going to start healing from this, I was moving on and putting all this behind me.”

However, a couple of weeks ago, Walker was inadvertently sent a copy of some recent meeting minutes. In the minutes, it said that the mayor had thanked the firefighters for their patience while dealing with Walker’s human rights complaint process and mentioned a “favorable” result.

“For me, to find out that the mayor of my little town is thanking these men that just put me through a year of what they put me through, I knew right then and there that there were no lessons learned, that if another woman applies she is going to be put through the exact same thing, and that they are all in cahoots together,” said Walker. “Even though I withdrew that complaint, they should have read it and taken it as a lesson to do things differently next time. But no, they saw my human rights complaint as the issue, and not their discrimination. That’s when I decided I needed to share with everyone what I went through, and I filed a new complaint.”

Among other things, the new complaint, which was submitted on April 2, 2026, mentions an incident regarding a department photo. This time, all the firefighter photos were taken individually and then put together into a collage format. The finished photo product is dark, and it’s hard to make everyone out. Walker alleges that this was done because the other men did not want to stand with her for a group photo or even be seen with her.

Woods disputes Walker’s claim that the annual photo was planned in a way to minimize her membership on the force.

“We usually try to do a group photo,” said Woods. “But there was no planning made. The night of the photo was windy and rainy, so we had to move inside. It had nothing to do with her. There was not enough room to do a group photo inside. There was an option to do something different, and that’s what I did for the department. I did it for free.”

Woods sent the Star a copy of the photo collage he created, and in that, the individual firefighters, including Walker, are clearly visible. He said whatever happened when the photo was reprinted for distribution was not in his control and had nothing to do with him.

Another issue was conferences that Walker said she went to where no other firefighters attended. Walker says the department has always attended, but no one else went because they knew she was going to be there.

According to Woods, one of these events was a training in Dillon, and he says that several other firefighters did attend. Regarding the state convention, Woods said sometimes there is no one available to go.

“It’s not mandatory, and it all depends on a volunteer’s time,” said Woods. “In the past, we’ve never sent a probationary firefighter.”

Walker said that prior to this latest complaint, she has not been sharing her story, not on social media, or with the press.

“I have not shared anything about this for a year… I’ve been so conservative with information over the last year, I’ve just kept my mouth shut about everything, just because I wanted to gain their trust and be part of the department, but now I just want everyone to see what I’ve gone through, what I’ve endured,” said Walker. “I think one of the main reasons they didn’t want me on the department is because they saw I’m someone people listen to when I speak, and that’s probably one of the reasons why I was a danger to their scheme. This is a conscious effort. They’ve been keeping women off the department this whole time. If we don’t change things, they’re going to continue to do so.”

“That fire station, that department, is funded by female taxpayers just like male taxpayers,” added Walker. “Women should be able to be on the department.”

Woods said that the department has nothing against women firefighters. “We’ve had women apply before,” he said. “A couple of them only wanted to do medical, and we don’t do medical. A couple of them failed the test, and they chose not to re-test. Some men have also failed. We asked them to come back as well.”

A comment from a Hamilton firefighter on social media suggests there was some suspicion about Walker’s motives for wanting to become a firefighter. When asked if that was a general feeling on the force, Woods said, “I’m not going to speculate on anybody else’s thoughts, but everybody has their own opinion.”

When asked how he felt personally about having women on the force, Woods said, “We are recruiting two females right now as we speak. It’s not about gender, it’s about the ability to perform the duties.”

Walker’s understanding is that if the bureau finds that discrimination did occur, there would be an attempt at a settlement of some kind. The case could eventually end up in court. However, the ultimate goal would be to change the department policies and culture regarding female firefighters.

In the meantime, she has requested to be put on the agenda for an upcoming city council meeting. Her written request reads, in part, “From March 2025 to March 2026, I served as the first and only female firefighter on our department. During that time, I gained firsthand experience working alongside a team of 28 men, which provided me with a unique perspective on both the challenges and opportunities that come with a lack of gender diversity. My intention is not to criticize or assign blame, but rather to offer insight grounded in real experience, along with data that highlights the measurable benefits of a more inclusive workplace.”