We're burning

The northwest has been on fire this year, burning over 800,000 acres in Montana alone. At least two firefighters have died.

Homes and historical sites have been destroyed, and cities have been evacuated because the smoke has made the air toxic

As a Montanan, I know what's going on in my state - but I haven't seen many people talking about it. We declared a state of emergency on July 23rd, but have received no federal aid.
-CORRECTION- Aid was originally denied, but the decision was reversed after an appeal.

Those aren't clouds bruh

There's mountains behind all that, and a sunrise somewhere.

Even though the fires are still burning, Montana at least has run out of funding.

If there's anything you can do to help, please do. Even if it's just helping us get attention on a national scale. As it is, these fires will keep burning through December.

I'll drop a comment for downvotes as is the custom for awareness posts.

FP EDIT
Okay, phew, figured out how to do this. Okay.

A bunch of people have been asking what they can do to help. It's hard to say, because what we need to happen is to get these fires contained - eg, keep them from spreading any more. To do that, we need more feet on the ground, which takes more funding. If you're in a state that's not at risk for using up your disaster funds, try to see if you can get your local government to send help somehow. I'm neither a firefighter nor a government official, so I'm afraid that I don't know any more details than that.

For individuals, there's a number of charities out there that help those who've lost something to the fire - here's a list from a local newspaper that should have reputable ones. Don't just google one, there are scams out there.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/here-s-how-you-can-help-people-affected-by-montana/article_a12407c0-fe6e-5b70-8409-68ad33e84435.html
Or, if you're an argricultural sort, a lot of livestock and crops are going to suffer from this - donate feed if you can, or try to grow more in anticipation of a hard winter - I've seen bets that the price of beef is going to take a hike because of the loss of food stores.

Additionally, I've seen some comments about the ecological side. Again, I'm not an expert on any of this - just someone who's living in it. But the original policies on wildfire suppression led to an overabundance of detritus, sickly old growth, and other factors that make the fires worse. In recent years policy has changed, but the consequences of old actions still linger. I guess I could make a post on the stuff I picked up in school over the years to explain, then link that here?

Anyway, thanks for your support. I just wanted people to know what's happening up here.