Is Montana Near The Top When It Comes To Natural Disasters?
Natural disasters are no joke, in a matter of just a few moments, lives can be lost along with homes, valued possessions, and a whole lot of memories.
Here in Montana, we've had our share of natural disasters over the years, mainly by the way of wildfires. Each summer there are several fires, however, some fire seasons are far worse than others. For lifelong residents of the state, a few fires will certainly come to mind.
When compared to other states, where does Montana rank for natural disasters? Do we rank near the top?
Taking a look at data from our friends over at WalletHub, along with USA Today, we see that Montana can be a dangerous place when it comes to natural disasters with the state ranking 13th out of 50.
The factors used to determine the rankings include the following:
- Number of Climate Disasters Causing One Billion or More in Damage
- Loss Amount From Climate Disasters Causing One Billion or More in Damage
When it comes to the number of disasters, Montana ranks 35th. As far as loss amount, we're ranked 8th.
Also interesting is the number of times we appear on The 10 Biggest Wildfires in US History. Montana comes in twice, the first time at #10 for the wildfires that took place in 2017. According to the data, between 1.3 and 1.4 million acres were destroyed by the fire.
The second fire that made the list comes in at #4.
The Great Fire of 1910 took place in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and parts of British Columbia. That fire destroyed over 3 million acres and it's estimated that the fire took 85 lives, with most of those being firefighters who were battling the fire.
The United States Department of Interior reminds us of tips that will help prevent forest fires, such as checking weather and drought conditions, building your campfire in an open space and poor water on it until it's cold, plus keeping vehicles off of dry grass.