This is turning out to be one of the most expensive fire seasons in years for Western Montana, with the tab for just the major fires passing the $100 million-mark this week.
Fighting even a single large fire can cost millions of dollars, so you can imagine how much money is being spent to deal with the more than a half dozen major fires that have been burning in Western Montana over the past month.
And while firefighters have been able to get some containment, this summer’s fires are burning in rugged, difficult terrain which makes suppression even more expensive. That’s largely because all the fires were sparked by lightning in July.