Great Falls is normally a peaceful place – but there’s a disturbance in the city that is causing a lot of tension between two local groups.

There is some serious trash talking going on in this city, and you might be surprised to learn where it’s coming from.

And News Channel Five is learning that this may be leading to violence.

Take a look at this picture – the disturbing image shows one of Great Falls finest sporting a black eye.

Now listen to what this firefighter says caused the brutal injury.

“The black eye is a result of police brutality. We had our last practice on Sunday night and the cops were trying to take me out before the game and keep me from skating,” explains Mike McIntosh of Great Falls Fire Rescue.

It’s a rivalry that goes back many years – and with the 11th annual Guns n Hoses event just two days away – local cops and firefighters are trading some heated words.

“They need to be scared because we’re just a lot better than they are – and a lot cooler,” warns Eric Fowell, also of the Fire Department.

Adds McIntosh, “They’re going to be out of breath right away, so you know, they’re lucky that we’re EMT’s and paramedics cause we’ll put the heart rate monitor on them and take care of them once they start having a heart attack out there.”

But the police have some things to say as well.

“They have one more skater than we do, that figures, but honestly we could do it with a bunch of boy scouts and a couple rubber band guns and get about six guys playing hockey and we should be just fine,” says Rob Beall of the Great Falls Police Department.

Explains Lieutenant Bryan Lockerby, “They’ve been going up to Canada and Minnesota to recruit players, so because of that, we hold ourselves to a higher standard and we try to hire local people. They’re going up to Canada and Minnesota and if your name ends in “ski” or something like that, some Canadian name, they’re probably going to be pretty likely to hire you.”

As it stands, the police are ahead in the history books in terms of winning more games – but the firefighters are coming back as the defending champions – and they’re feeling pretty confident.

“The cops, they think they’re going to win but they got to get up and get out of the Dunkin Donut shop and roll out of their cop car with the Krispy Kremes to get out on the ice so we’ll give them a fair shot – but they don’t stand a chance,” boasts Fowell.

But Lieutenant Lockerby has some advice for the Firemen, “I say get more batteries for your remote and start watching more soaps because that’s what they’re good at. You look at how shiny those firetrucks are, look at how they can wax on and wax off, they don’t spend any time on the ice – it’s mostly in the recliner or trying to rescue a cat out of a tree.”

News Channel Five has received some breaking news that the injury sustained by that firefighter was actually the result of a wayward hockey puck – set off by the child of one of their own.

This rivalry may be far from over (and all in good fun, of course) but if you’d like to see the two teams in action – you’ll have your chance this Friday starting at 7 P-M at the skating rink.

All you need to do is bring a can of food and a 7 dollar donation for the food bank.