Wildfires cost Montana $21M so far with no end in sight

Wildfires cost Montana $21M so far with no end in sight

01 August 2017

USA – HELENA, Mont. (AP) Montana has nearly depleted its $63 million firefighting reserve fund after budget cuts swept away nearly half the money and the state spending as much on wildfire suppression efforts last month as it did in the 12 months before that, state officials said Tuesday

Its costing the state $1.5 million a day to fight fires, meaning the approximately $12 million left in the reserve fund may be quickly extinguished with more fires burning in Montana than any other state in the nation.

We will use up the remaining balance in fairly short order, said Department of Natural Resources and Conservation director John Tubbs.

The threat of major fires burning in drought-stricken eastern Montana was expected to last through October and possibly November, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

If the fund runs dry, state officials will still be able to respond to fires, Tubbs said. His department can pull up to $22 million from the states general fund, and Gov. Steve Bullocks earlier fire disaster declaration authorized an additional $16 million.

But with a state revenue shortfall that triggered the budget cuts that began this month, its not clear how much cash is available. Tubbs said that will be a challenge for Bullocks budget director, Dan Villa.

The cash balances of the general fund are declining rapidly, Tubbs said. I do know that Director Villa is paying very close attention to the expenditures on our side and understands that we do have to have cash in the bank.

Some relief came when the U.S. government last week approved a grant that will allow the state to recover three-quarters of its costs to fight its largest fire burning in eastern Montana. The amount of the savings is not yet clear.

The state is also entering into cost-sharing agreements to fight fires with the U.S. Forest Service, which will also help, Tubbs said.

So far this year, fires have burned 578 square miles (1,476 square kilometers) in Montana an area larger than Wyomings Grand Teton National Park. What had been predicted to be a moderate fire season earlier this year has turned into one of the states most active ones as severe drought spreads across the state.

There are now 20 large fires burning across Montana, according to the Northern Rockies Coordination Center. They are burning through mountain timber in the west and grasslands in the east.

The state spent $21 million responding to fires in the month of July, which is equal to the amount it cost for the 12 months before that, Tubbs said.

This spring, when forecasters were predicting a moderate fire season, state lawmakers looking to hedge against a potential drop in state revenues targeted the states $60 million fire fund.

They passed a bill that was signed Bullock mandating $30 million be transferred out of the fire fund and spending cuts be implemented across state government if revenues came in $36 million lower than the estimates used by budget writers.

When the revenue numbers came in late last month, the actual revenue shortfall was $75 million, triggering the cuts and transfer from the fire fund. The fire fund money has not yet been moved, but it will be soon and there is no way to delay it.

Republican Sen. Pat Connell of Hamilton, said he is concerned that another major fire could erupt at any time.

Weve got a long way to go through this fire season and Im very scared about our future, Connell said.

An international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.

Over the past 15 years, California and neighboring regions have experienced heighteneddrought conditions and an increase inwildfire numbers with considerable impacts on human livelihoods, agriculture, and terrestrial ecosystems. This new research shows that in addition to a discernible contribution from natural forcings and human-induced global warming, the large-scale difference between Atlantic and Pacific ocean temperatures plays a fundamental role in causing droughts, and enhancing wildfire risks.

“Our results document that a combination of processes is at work. Through an ensemble modeling approach, we were able to show that without anthropogenic effects, the droughts in the southwestern United States would have been less severe,” says co-author Axel Timmermann, Director of the newly founded IBS Center for Climate Physics, within the Institute for Basics Science (IBS), and Distinguished Professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. “By prescribing the effects of man-made climate change and observed global ocean temperatures, our model can reproduce the observed shifts in weather patterns and wildfire occurrences.”

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-atlanticpacific-ocean-temperature-difference-fuels.html#jCpAn international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.

1. August 2017/by GFMCadmin