fbpx

Expert: 2017 Montana Fire Season Worst in at Least 100 Years

A total of 2,190 square miles (5,670 square kilometers) burned in Montana last summer

By Tristan Scott

GREAT FALLS — An expert says Montana’s fire season last year was the largest in at least 100 years.

The Great Falls Tribune reported Thursday that meteorologist Mike Richmond says a total of 2,190 square miles (5,670 square kilometers) burned in Montana in 2017.

Richmond, who works for the Northern Rockies Coordination Center’s Predictive Services, says the state’s previous top fire season was 2012, when 1,875 square miles (4,860 square kilometers) burned.

Richmond says the Great Fire of 1910 burned an estimated 4,690 square miles (12,150 square kilometers) in northeast Washington state, northern Idaho, and western Montana, killing 86 people. He says that year might have had more fire damage than 2017, but accurate records aren’t available.