It’s easy to add up what we lost this summer: Trees, rangeland, homes and clean air. Fire took all that away and then some.
But let us not forget what was really lost, two firefighters who paid the ultimate price to keep us safe, one working on just the second wildfire of his career, the other an elite, experienced Hotshot with a family legacy of firefighting.
Both would die in Montana, killed by falling trees while fighting fire.
19-year-old Trenton Johnson recently graduated from Hellgate High School in Missoula where he was a member of the state champion Lacross team. He enrolled as MSU where he was going to be an engineer. Trenton was quirky and smart.
"He had an awesome sense of humor. Witty," said Trenton's sister DJ Johnson. "He'd be three steps ahead of the conversation and he's come up with just snappy, witty statements."