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Going into the fire season last spring, all indications pointed to West Central Montana
as the "hot spots" for wildfires, while Eastern Montana's wetter year dampened the fire risk.
And that's exactly how it played out. When the West Mullan Fire started in July outside
Superior, fire crews ran into dry conditions that were at least a month ahead of schedule.
That started the most intense fire season in the west half of the state since 2007.
Just as West Mullan calmed down, the Mill Creek Fire exploded near Frenchtown.
Then the Firestone Flats Fire did the same thing near Arlee, followed by the worst fire
of all, the Lolo Creek Complex, which destroyed the first Western Montana homes in several
fire seasons.
And although the rains have started, the work of tallying the cost of those major fires
and figuring out expenses among agencies is still underway...
While it wasn't the largest fire of the season, the 10-thousand acre Lolo Creek Complex was
the most expensive, with a massive mobilization by the Forest Service and DNRC. The final
bill is estimated at 12-point-5 million dollars, not including lost property.
Similar circumstances put the West Mullan Fire second on the list at over 62-hundred
acres burned with firefighting costs hitting 10-point-7 million.
Third on the list was the 42-thousand acre Gold Pan Fire, started by lightning in the
Bitterroot backcountry. This one caused the longest mobilization of the year as crews
were able to confine the blaze mostly to wilderness, an effort that cost 10-million dollars.
However, DNRC officials say Montana escapes this fire year in much better shape than 2012.
192-miles burned this season, far below the nearly 19-hundred square miles last year.
And even when the final bills are paid, Montana should still have a 40-million dollar reserve
to use next year.
In Missoula, Dennis Bragg, MTN News.