End is in sight for epic fire season

Could it be that an end is near to our long summer of smoke and heat?

Cooler days, longer nights, a little moisture here and there - plus a lot of firefighting efforts on the ground and in the air - are steadily putting a line around this year's epic fire season.

The fires are not out - Thursday's unwelcome return of acrid smoke to the valley was a vivid reminder of that - but for the most part the major threats have passed (for now). The true finale for fires, of course, will depend on the weather.

The numbers so far in this summer of fire are stunning. A host of major fires has burned an area of roughly 375,000 acres (586 square miles) in and around our corner of Northwest Montana.

That means fires have covered an area three times the size of Flathead Lake.

Despite all that fire acreage, the toll on people's homes has been minimal: Three houses and 22 outbuildings were lost in the fires. While forests, livestock, wildlife and recreational areas may have been severely impacted, the direct damage to people was incredibly small when you consider the size and ferocity of the fires.

The fact that damage was limited may indicate that, despite all the criticism leveled at it, our wildland firefighting system really works when it's most needed.

Credit is due, of course, to the professional firefighting crews from all around the country and their arsenal of tactics ranging from aerial assaults to the forest ground-pounders scratching out lines or mopping up.

And don't forget the yeoman efforts of area rural fire departments whose members spent countless hours on fire duty, sometimes performing around-the-clock structure protection. Many of these volunteer firefighters, often working without pay, had to manage fire duties in addition to regular jobs.

The fire effort was bolstered, too, by local law enforcement officers, particularly Sheriff's Office deputies who worked thousands of hours operating roadblocks, helping with evacuations and patrolling evacuated areas.

And then there's the vast network of people in other supporting roles - from food suppliers to equipment operators to information-line operators - who contributed to the fire campaign.

One might paraphrase an old saying by concluding that it takes a community to stop a fire.

FIGHTING FIRES is a costly business, too. The estimated cost just to the state for fighting fires in Montana this year has been $32 million, with fires still burning.

That's why Gov. Schweitzer has called the Legislature into special session this month to discuss paying the fire bill, and alloting money for next year's fires as well.

It's a reasonable thing to say the state needs to pay its bills, and if this is the best way to get it done, then let's do it and get it over with.

But it is worth noting that this is not the first year when fires burned extensively in Montana, and usually a special session is not needed. Sen. Aubyn Curtiss of Fortine says that in other bad fire years, "deficits were recouped by passage of supplemental requests presented when the Legislature reconvened."

The governor tried to convince the Legislature in the last session that it ought to budget more for firefighting, and he was right about that. But we hope he did not call this special session simply to make a political point.