wildfires

On Thursday morning, the Associated Press called the race for Montana’s 1st District in favor of Sam Forstag, a Democrat, union leader and federal smokejumper. He edged out conservative talk radio host Aaron Flint, who congratulated his opponent Tuesday night before the AP called the race.

As wildfires threaten more communities across the West, new research suggests some basic changes to how homes are built could make them safer without significantly increasing the price tag.

Farmland across the West may be doing more than growing crops. It could also help stop wildfires in their tracks.

Coal seams in Campbell, Sheridan and Johnson counties continue to spark wildfires. Officials say they are still waiting to hear back from FEMA about funding to address them.

Twenty firefighters have died so far this season, and hundreds of homes have been destroyed across the West.

Satellites like NOAA and NASA’s GOES constellation have been an important fire science tool for years. Over the summer, the nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance launched the first three satellites of its FireSat program, and the first images taken by them were recently released.

Fall and winter bring opportunities for prescribed burns across Wyoming as a busy wildfire season wraps up.

Vicki Christiansen, who retired as Forest Service chief in 2021, pointed to aggressive agency mandates to quickly extinguish fires as a possible factor at play during this dangerous season.

A recently unveiled home for aerial firefighting resources in Casper is one of several moves to strengthen fire response, as nationwide changes to a more aggressive approach to fires may mean less land burned but bigger future fires.

A bill — known as the Wildland Firefighter Health and Safety Act — was recently introduced in both chambers of Congress, and enjoys bipartisan support.