Two consecutive years without major forest fires have left the state’s fire suppression fund fairly healthy, but authorities with state and federal agencies warn: Wildfire season isn’t over yet.
Though there have been few fires this summer, several have broken out in the last few weeks, according to InciWeb, a national incident information system.
“It certainly isn’t over yet,” Mary Sexton, director of Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said Tuesday.
Thus far this year, the state has used only $1.8 million of a $17 million fire suppression fund. But because that money was used to send Montana firefighters to other states, it will be reimbursed, Sexton said.
So the DNRC has not needed to dip into the fund at all this year — not yet anyway.
Sexton said this year and last have been so light for wildfires that, in order to balance the budget, the last legislature returned $3 million from the fire suppression fund to the general fund.
Sexton said she expects less than $1 million to be spent on wildfire suppression this year.
Currently the largest active fire in the state is the Hoss fire– about 800 acres in the Bighorn Mountains on the Crow Indian Reservation, InciWeb reported at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The primary firefighting service for the Hoss fire is the Bureau of Indian Affairs, though it is likely state firefighters will also help out, Sexton said.
The state is currently involved in battling the 300-acre South Fork Lost Creek fire, about seven miles southeast of Swan Lake.
Like many wildfires that ignite at this time of year, the cause of the Hoss fire was lightning. However the South Fork Lost Creek fire was human-caused and is currently under investigation, according to InciWeb.
The Snowy Road fire outside West Yellowstone started Sunday, when an abandoned campfire escaped, burning less than an acre, Marianne Baumberger, fire information technician with the U.S. Forest Service said.
Sexton said though the risk of wildfires decreases as days get shorter and nights cooler, grasses have grown and dried out, so people still need to take precautions with chainsaws in the forests and farm machinery in fields.
Baumberger recommended campers douse campfires by making a campfire “soup.” Just add water to ashes and stir until the mixture is cool, she said.
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