This year ranks amongst the worst on record for fires, with 4.3 million acres already burnt by August 9 and several more months of dangerous hot weather due. As well as fire teams from as far away as Hawaii, two military battalions have been brought in from Fort Hood, Texas and Camp Pendleton, California to fight fires in Idaho and Montana, the worst hit states.
Federal authorities plan to commit another battalion.
Trained emergency fire teams from Canada and Mexico are already in the field, and another 80 expert personnel are arriving from Australia and New Zealand this weekend. Air crews are dumping thousands of gallons of fire retardant from air tankers and helicopters. The pilots fly through smoke in 100 degree heat to circle fires and dump the chemicals to stop the fires from spreading. Over the last few days, in Montana the 19 largest fires burnt through 300,000 acres, mostly in the Bitterroot Valley, where over 50 homes were destroyed and 900 people were evacuated when winds whipped flames 80 feet high. A power transmission tower was destroyed and another burnt, and the Montana Power Company had to close its power plant and declare a system emergency.