COLUMN: Reflecting on fire season

This weekend for the first time in a long time, we in Northwest Montana can breathe a sigh of relief, and then breathe in fresh clean air that doesn’t smell of smoke.

Fire restrictions have at last been lifted, partly thanks to the hundreds of firefighters who have been diligently working in our parks, forests and wilderness areas, but mostly thanks to Mother Nature agreeing that it was time for cooler, wetter weather.

All told, fires in Northwest Montana have burned more than 225,000 acres this summer at an expense for firefighting costs alone of $45 million. Add on top of that the costs for lost revenue to businesses associated with Glacier Park, plus health costs, and you no doubt will be in the $50 million range, if not well past it.

Quite a toll. And yet we have also been remarkably lucky in Northwest Montana. Remind yourself that no human lives have been lost locally in this disaster of a fire season. Only a few structures, including a historic primitive cabin in Glacier Park, were destroyed, but it could have been much worse, especially in St. Mary and Essex.

So we give thanks for that, and it reminds me that there is so much more to be thankful for as we wait for the first snow to fall in the valley. First of all, of course, one can never say too often how much we owe to the fire crews who put themselves on the front lines of the battle in order to protect our forests, our homes and our lives.

I am also personally thankful for my staff of dedicated reporters, editors and  photographers who worked long hours for many weeks to track the fires and keep all of our readers informed and up-to-date. The many letters and phone calls from readers thanking us for our efforts were much appreciated. Getting a note like this from a reader named Barbara reminds all of us at the Inter Lake just how important our job is to our readers:

“THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the remarkable coverage of the fire situation in the past weeks. It was just amazing. Every morning during those terrible days, I could count on knowing exactly what was happening and where... I just count on the paper every single day to keep me up to date about so many things, but during this historic drought/fire/disaster time in recent weeks, it was truly more important than ever.”

Thanks, Barbara. We will strive to live up to your expectations.

One other note of thanks is definitely needed. Our readers have been remarkably generous during this fire season, just as at other times of the year, with their photographs of news events. Our coverage would not have been as thorough without the contribution of readers such as Dan Hafferman and Philip Granrud. Both captured excellent images from the fires, and Granrud in particular became noted for his ability to capture the Northern Lights lurking in the sky above both the Reynolds Fire and the Marston Fire.

Other photographers supplied photos as well, and many readers helped us, especially during the first days of the Reynolds Fire, with their first-person accounts and news tips.

We are a community newspaper, and we are grateful to be part of a community that values up-to-date news and information and plays a role in keeping us informed as we try to keep all of you informed every day.

 Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake. If you don’t like his opinion, stop by the office and he will gladly refund your two cents. Email responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com