Montana Wildfire Season

It’s no secret that this 2017 fire season has been an overwhelming disaster. As of September 6th, according to KRTV, more than 1 million acres have been burned in Montana. This fire season has easily been the worst Montanans have had since 2012 when the wildfires barely topped this year's. Fortunately after three months of fires, we have finally gotten some moisture.

This 2017 fire season has arguably been the worst Montana has had in years. Many firefighters and volunteers have put their lives at risk , many people have lost their grazing pastures and farmland, and lots of wildlife that Montana once had is now gone. According to KRTV Great Falls, this Montana wildfire season had a total of 1,687 fires. Out of those fires, 748 were sparked by lightning and 939 were cause by people and vehicles. The fires caused by lightning burned 922,506 acres and the human caused fires burned 110,295 acres.

Although all the fires are almost fully contained, Montana is still dealing with the aftermath of this disastrous wildfire season. According to The Great Falls Tribune, as of October 7th the wildfires have put the state's budget under pressure, and Governor Steve Bullock has said, “We are also facing the most expensive fire season in state history, requiring spending of over $60 million to date”. Four thousand firefighters have been involved in fighting the fires this season, with two of them losing their lives.

Dylan Sipe, who graduated from Fergus High in 2016, helped at the Lolo Peak Fire through the National Guard. According to NBC Montana, as of September 21st, the Lolo Peak wildfire was the second largest fire this season, burning 53,902 acres. While there, Dylan's job was road security. He had the night shift from 7p.m. to 7a.m. He sat at the road where homes had been evacuated and made sure no one was going into the area. He was there from August 18-29. While there, he said the best part of his experience was getting to see how caring the community was towards the National Guard and the firefighters. He then went on to say that the worst part of his experience was having to sleep during the day in the awful heat. Dylan said that when he was assigned to the fire he assumed that he would actually get to help fight the fires and not just be security, but regardless, the experience was still a good one.

This Montana wildfire season has been one for the books. Montana has been through alot these past couple months but hopefully all communities can come together as one to make it through the aftermath of this years fire season.