At the national level, Sen. Sheehy saw wildfire legislation pass through both chambers.
By Jordan Hansen DAILY MONTANAN
With one fire blowing up over the weekend and an expected worse-than-average wildfire season across Montana, Gov. Greg Gianforte touted the efforts of the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, saying they’ve been able to keep 95% of wildfire starts to 10 acres or less since 2021.
During an annual state fire briefing on Monday, he also recognized the “proactive preparation, coordination and teamwork” he said was needed to keep people safe. The state has seen an early start to its fire season.
Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Director Amanda Kaster said her agency is “more prepared than ever” and thanked the legislature for the passage of wildfire bills during the session.
“The state of Montana and DNRC is prepared for the 2025 fire season, not only through our fire protection program, but through the work we do to reduce wildfire risk across Montana’s landscapes,” Kaster said.
The briefing also included a long-term weather forecast from Northern Rockies Coordination Center meteorologist Dan Borsum who said computer projections are calling for a dry and hot summer. He also said some weather patterns are similar to high fire danger years in the past – like 2000, 2002, 2006, 2017 and 2021.
There’s worry about drought impacting large portions of Montana and melted-out snowpack that places higher elevations at increased risk for fire, all of which could stretch resources.
“The multi-year deficits of moisture are starting to hurt us, the overall warm and dry summer forecast, and the fact that we may have fire on the landscape when the wind season approaches in September, because we didn’t get that monsoon infusion,” Borsum said during the briefing. “That has me very concerned that this fire season could be significant.”
According to WildfireRisk.org, Montana has a higher risk of wildfires than 74% of states in the U.S. Additionally, Wildfire Risk reports more than half of all homes in Montana are at high risk of “direct exposure,” which the organization defines as homes that “may be ignited by adjacent vegetation, flying embers, or nearby structures.”
A report in Government Technology this week also put Ravalli County among the highest risk for wildfire of any county in America. It said 99% of homes in the county are at “high risk of wildfire exposure.”
Fire experts say building homes out of nonflammable materials and designing them in ways that downgrade fire risk are critical to saving property. Additionally, land management practices like controlled burns, logging thinning operations and homeowners clearing brush from structures can prevent damage and make firefighters’ jobs a little easier.
Officials with the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among other land management agencies, spoke at the briefing. Several agencies shared difficulties in hiring firefighting staff for the season, but highlighted their fuels and forest management programs aimed at limiting fuels for wildfires.
The Forest Service said they conducted hazardous fuels reduction work on 200,000 acres of Montana forest in 2024, the BLM conducted approximately 38,000 acres of prescribed burns last year, the Forest Service while Fish and Wildlife Service said they burned around 11,000 — an outsized number given the agency’s small land presence in the state.
Some fire scientists have said prescribed burns are ineffective because of their relatively small scale.
While fire prevention was part of the discussion, so was fighting fire — something being talked about at the national level, too. In Washington, D.C. this week, U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Montana, helped push a bipartisan wildfire bill through Congress.
The Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act passed through both chambers and is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk. The bill reauthorizes the sale of both airplanes and parts from the Department of Defense for aerial firefighting efforts.
Sheehy founded a company that provides aerial firefighting services.
“Eliminating bureaucratic obstacles to fight wildfires more quickly and aggressively is America First common sense, and I appreciate my colleagues in the House and Senate for their support,” Sheehy said in a press release. “I look forward to seeing this bipartisan bill cross the finish line so we can better support the brave first responders on the front lines fighting wildfires across the country.”
Banana Lake update
As of Wednesday, the Banana Lake fire near Plains was listed at 929 acres and 15% containment.
Nick Holloway with the Western Montana All Hazards Incident Management Team and spokesperson for efforts on the fire said that four structures had been protected. He also added crews were in the process of mop-up operations, though the situation has been complex.
Crews had to deal with seven spot fires on Tuesday, which Holloway said had been a “huge concern,” though firefighters had contained those blazes.
Additionally, the edge of the fire is a mix of burned and unburned materials, a situation they call a “dirty burn.” It means there’s more potential for spotting, which is the process in which sparks and embers get carried by the wind into unburned fuel.
“There could be a spark in one of those unburned pockets, and it’s close to the edge,” Holloway said. “And so during the mop-up efforts, they’re going through that, gridding the area to look for residual sources of heat and extinguish them. But it takes a lot longer when you have that dirty burn than when you have a nice, clean edge.”
Holloway said the Banana Fire represents a relatively early start to Montana’s fire season, and cautioned that the state could be in for a long year.
“Predictive Services has told us it’s going to be dry and warm, more so than normal,” Holloway said. “So that’s going to be problematic for this fire season.”
