Following last year’s wildfire season in Montana, at a wildfire briefing this week, Governor Greg Gianforte asked land managers to commit to more aggressive attacks to extinguish all wildfires. He emphasized the need to extinguish them as quickly as possible rather than previous approaches to fire containment.
Gov. Gianforte Urges Public To Help Prevent Wildfires
May is Wildfire Awareness Month and Governor Greg Gianforte is spreading the word ahead of this year’s wildfire season. During his annual fire season briefing Monday he stressed the importance of public responsibility in preventing potential fires with last year serving as a grim reminder.
Gov. Gianforte Invites Sec. Vilsack Ahead Of Wildfire Season
Governor Greg Gianforte has invited U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to Montana to develop a plan to address the state’s wildland fire risk and forest health issues. According to the governor this could build off the adjustments to forest management already made.
Environmental Quality Council Meets Ahead Of Wildfire Season
The Environmental Quality Council held a wildfire panel last week to hear about trends mitigation and potential policy implications as much of Montana faces widespread drought. More than three-quarters of wildfire starts today are human caused and at the same time more and more houses are going up in forested areas and grasslands. State and fe...
Missoula Electric Co-Op Working With Forest Service On Wildfire Mitigation Projects
This year’s National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association’s annual meeting ended Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee. On Voices of Montana, Mark Hayden was a guest. The General Manager at Missoula Electric Co-Op said the wildfire risk isn’t going away anytime soon.
Additional Funding Announced To Fight Wildfires In 2022
The Biden administration plans to significantly expand efforts to stave off catastrophic wildfires and has crafted a $50 billion plan to more than double the use of controlled fires and logging to reduce trees and other vegetation that serve as tinder in the most at-risk areas. There have been rare winter blazes in recent weeks including infer...
Nearly 1 Million Acres Burned In Montana In 2021
There are 35 active wildfires burning in Montana according to the state’s fire tracking database with more than 2,500 wildfires reported so far this year and 930,788 acres burned. The state is in the second year of drought conditions that have continued into the fall season but firefighters have managed to contain the total land burned to belo...
Wildfire Update For 9/27/21
As of Monday afternoon there were 11 active large fire incidence in Montana and there have been 36 new fire starts since Governor Greg Gianforte was last briefed last week. Approximately 54 residences have been lost this year to date with one structure lost in the last week in the Horsethief Fire. That is the top priority fire currently burnin...
Less Than Half Of Motnana’s Fire Suppression Fund For The Year Utilized Thus Far
Since January 1st there have been over 2,160 fire starts in Montana burning around 827,000 acres. Montana entered the fiscal year with the Fire Suppression Fund at its statutory maximum of roughly $105 million. Officials estimate $48.5 million from the fund have been spent fighting fires since the start of the state’s current fiscal year. http...