The Moccasin mountains a small pile of mountains to the north west of here. Among other things there is a big boy scout camp complex on the north west side, Anyway the Monday I saw a big black plume coming out of the south east side that slowly turned to billows of white. Been really dry this summer, so this is a bad year for fire. You can see the orange at night from town. It had exploded to about 5000 (7.8 sq miles)acres by the next morning. It is now about 20 sq miles in size and they say it is 45% contained using men and equipment to put in fire lines, borite bombers and helicopters They think they may have it under control by Sunday or Monday. Several ranch structures have burned.
While Montana may not have the amount of homes in an area other states do, the land is often rugged and hard to access, home to lots of wildlife, plus ranchers depend on the grass for their livelihood. Many of them are land and cattle rich, but on tight money. Many of them will build a new equipment shed or barn instead of a new house and be living in a 50-70 year old house. As one 78 year old small Rancher said when my brother suggested he sell his 60 odd cows, start selling his hay instead of feeding it, forget about the vet bills, equipment cost etc etc. "But, what would I do then" It is their life. They could sell their ranch for millions and live easy. Instead they get up everyday and go out and try to feed the rest of us.
While Montana may not have the amount of homes in an area other states do, the land is often rugged and hard to access, home to lots of wildlife, plus ranchers depend on the grass for their livelihood. Many of them are land and cattle rich, but on tight money. Many of them will build a new equipment shed or barn instead of a new house and be living in a 50-70 year old house. As one 78 year old small Rancher said when my brother suggested he sell his 60 odd cows, start selling his hay instead of feeding it, forget about the vet bills, equipment cost etc etc. "But, what would I do then" It is their life. They could sell their ranch for millions and live easy. Instead they get up everyday and go out and try to feed the rest of us.
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