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Wildfire, fire management and air quality news for western Montana and the Northern Rockies.

FEMA Sending Aid To Help Pay For Montana Firefighting

Sand Springs on Highway 200 July 21, looking west-northwest through smoke from the Lodgepole Complex.
Chris Barth, BLM
Sand Springs on Highway 200 July 21, looking west-northwest through smoke from the Lodgepole Complex.

The U.S. government has reversed its earlier decision to deny a request for aid to help pay for fighting Montana’s largest wildfire.

FEMA approved the state's grant application today to Montana Disaster and Emergency Services.

Montana Senator Jon Tester:

“I wish they would have approved it at the beginning, but the truth is, we got it approved. And I’m pleased that FEMA’s going to be able to deliver to our first responders and the folks who have been impacted so negatively by this fire."

The grant will allow Montana to recover 75 percent of its costs to fight the Lodgepole Complex of fires that has burned more than 400 square miles and destroyed 16 homes in eastern Montana.

Sen. Daines hailed it as good news, saying "help is on the way for eastern Montana farmers and ranchers."

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