Editor’s note: This story was written for a Montrose County annual magazine, but that publication will not go to press this year for various reasons. Because of that, it’s running in the Forum for this edition in the spirit of Thanksgiving.
Penni Philbrick — who co-owns and operates Saucy Mama’s, a tiny pizza take-out place on Main Street in Nucla — is in business with her daughter, Brittany Berry. The duo, who started Saucy Mama’s in April of 2022, are used to a little heat in the kitchen. Though, after the BuckTail Fire started in August, their work in the food service industry reached a surprising new level of intensity, but one that included the greater Nucla community — and for a good cause.
The fire started Aug. 1, and by Aug. 5 BLM representatives contacted the owners of Saucy Mama’s to see if they could start officially preparing meals for the crews working the Bucktail Fire. Some community members had already been doing so in those first few days, taking homemade sandwiches, burritos and other things to the fire site.
Before Philbrick and Berry knew the details of how many they’d feed, or when and how much they’d be paid, they said “yes” — though they contacted those who’d already been volunteering at the Nucla Fire Hall to see if they’d stay on, assist and move over to the Nucla Community Center.
“We couldn’t do without them,” Philbrick said.
Of course, everyone in the West End knew the fire crews did have and were prepared to eat their government-issued rations, but Phibrick said nobody wanted to see firefighters living off MREs.
When Saucy Mama’s took kitchen command, so appeared menu items like marinated chicken breast, mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables. The cooks also baked homemade rolls, fixed salad and gathered fresh fruit. Then came made-from-scratch macaroni and cheese with sausage or chicken, enchiladas (which took a huge, collaborative effort, she said), tacos and fresh granola with yogurt.
Philbrick said a few of the firefighters told her it was some of the best food they’d ever had.
“And it wasn’t just me,” Philbrick said. “There were so many cooks in that kitchen.”
Actually, Philbrick admitted she was mostly on the phone, managing the outfit, something different for her, since she’s used to chopping vegetables and running the oven.
She said even though nobody knew how long the large-scale feeding operation would last, nobody ever complained. Volunteers spent 11 full days in Nucla giving the firefighters all they had, until the mission ended on Aug. 15.
They served an average of 600 home-cooked meals daily during the Bucktail Fire, and for as many as 160 people at the height of the crisis.
Philbrick, born and raised in the West End, wasn’t the least surprised at the community’s spirit of giving.
“This town is a family,” she said. “There’s a lot of love.”
She said for illnesses, emergencies or deaths, the West End always comes together and offers support through food, resources and more.
Looking back on the Bucktail Fire, Philbrick said it truly took a team.
“Brittany and I couldn’t have done it … it took the community to pull it off.”
She’ll always remember certain moments of the Bucktail Fire experience, like husbands helping to load and transport food, and then driving up to the fire site to visit with the crews. Grandkids too, including Doylene Garvey’s, wanted to go out and be of service.
Philbrick recalls before the fire was out, a big rainstorm rolled in, with the wind blowing sideways. The food tent canopies had become unstable, and one firefighter stood for a solid hour, holding the structure in place, so that volunteers could continue to feed everyone.
There were the also the BLM higher-ups, two men who refused to take a plate, until all of their firefighters had been fed. Philbrick said regardless, though, even if the volunteers seemed to be short on food, there was always enough. Nobody left hungry.
Tonya Stephens, local EMT, was one of the first cooks for the Bucktail Fire. She worked the first five days of volunteer food service, before Saucy Mama’s took over. Stephens said from the start, people baked hundreds of cookies, donated their fresh eggs, or gave fruit from their trees.
Stephens said instrumental in the greater effort — though the list could go on and on — were Laura Denney, Emily Mock, Doylene Garvey, Tina Carver, Keila Carver, Sue Case, Vicki Allen, Danielle Reyes-Acosta, John Reed, Danielle Pond, Miranda Fengel, Joanne Evans, Vicki Garber — and, of course, Philbrick and Berry.
Even businesses, like Family Market of Naturita, Clark’s Market of Norwood, Timberline Ace Hardware, Backcountry Catering, Dark Sky Pie and Wild Gal’s Market all helped out.
Stephens agrees with Philbrick. When tragedy befalls those in the West End, the helpers rush in to see what they can do.
“This community just bonds together and gets things done when the need arises, and it’s amazing,” Stephens said. “I am proud of this community … for the resilience and the tenacity, for coming together, whatever differences that might be. When something needs to happen, it happens.”
