(logo swooshing) - [Sam] Cooler fall temperatures don't necessarily mean Montana's wildfire season is over.

Residents in one small town still remember the December blaze that destroyed homes there four years ago.

- This isn't just a fire.

This is a nightmare.

- [Sam] What can be done to prevent tragedies like this from happening in other Montana communities?

And Bozeman sets a final deadline for people camping on the streets to clear out.

The city has helped some into affordable housing.

- This great big building and I'm in it.

- [Sam] For others, the future remains uncertain.

- [Camper] Nothing can help, nobody can help us.

- From the campuses of Montana State University and the University of Montana, you're watching "Impact" and those stories are straight ahead.

Stay with us.

- [Announcer] Major funding for "Impact" comes from the Greater Montana Foundation, encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.

Funding also comes from viewers like you who are friends of Montana PBS.

Thank you.

"Impact" is an editorially independent production of "Montana PBS Reports."

Coverage decisions are made by our team of Montana-based journalists.

For feedback, questions or ideas, email us, Impact@MontanaPBS.org.

- Welcome to Montana PBS's monthly news and public affairs series.

I'm Sam Wilson.

Recent catastrophic fires like the ones in Hawaii and California may be hard to imagine here in Montana, but there are cities and towns across the state at risk for similar fires.

As Montana PBS's Hannah Kearse reports, those risks can be reduced, but it will take careful planning and thoughtful policy decisions.

- [Hannah] This is where Denton's rural firefighter and town commissioner Beau Carter says he lost his battle against the West Wind Fire that tore through town just a few days after Thanksgiving in 2021.

(flames crackling) (wind gusting) - Getting pickups.

- And then the wind picked up.

- Trying to save this house.

- And then the wind picked up.

And then the wind picked up.

All of a sudden, this same area that we've been fighting for quite a while, you can just see large coals launching straight across the road at basically a horizontal line, and once that happened, once the two-foot tall crested wheat grass had that first ember hit it, it was over, and it started running down the railroad track.

- [Hannah] A downed power line sparked the prairie fire a few miles outside the central Montana town, west of Lewistown.

More than 10,000 acres were consumed by the flames, along with 25 homes.

When Denton's iconic grain elevators along the railroad caught fire, flames started falling from the sky.

- You can't see, you can't hear, and then all of a sudden there's fireballs raining from the sky, starting pockets of fire here and there, areas that were near no other fire, areas that shouldn't have burned.

- [Hannah] The conditions were ripe for wildfire that day, a buildup of dry grasses and strong winds.

When conditions like these ignite, a fire can quickly get out of control.

And when a wildfire starts moving through a community, burning structure to structure, it turns into something else, an urban conflagration.

- These like fires that are making headlines like the Lahaina fire, the fires in California, those urban conflagrations are happening so fast, that unless you have all those resources deployed like right there, they're not gonna be available for the event.

They're gonna come filtering into this catastrophe in the making, but it's gonna be over before all those resources are deployed.

I don't think fire does a terrible job of allocating resource.

I mean it's fairly sophisticated, but I don't know that it's possible to align the resources perfectly with the events that you don't know are gonna happen.

- [Hannah] That's why emerging wildfire research is emphasizing changes to how homes are built.

Studies show the most effective ways to reduce community risk involved managing the built environment with building codes, zoning, and land use planning.

At Headwaters Economics, researcher Kimi Barrett helps show communities how to live with wildfire, because in Montana, it's always going to be a part of the landscape.

- And so when you look at how we address this issue at both a state and federal scale, it's predominantly focused on wildlands and on forests and how can we treat forests to make them more healthy and more adaptive to increasing wildfires, but that's not addressing the problem because you're still not looking at the homes that are built in those forests and built in those places that are burning down, and so the work we do is really trying to elevate the role of homes, communities, infrastructure and neighborhoods, and what it means for community wildfire risk reduction.

- [Hannah] In Big Sky, local leaders are heeding this warning.

Here, the local fire department is working to create a community more resilient to fire.

- You think of a traditional fire department with community risk reduction.

You think about fire prevention, sprinklers, smoke alarms and all that stuff, and that's very much the case still, but in a community like this, when you're talking about fire prevention, well, fire prevention, and when you're living in a wild interment interface, that wildfire piece has to be a part of that fire prevention as well.

- [Hannah] That's why the big Sky Fire Department is helping the community with development decisions.

- A lot of fire departments don't necessarily get involved in land use planning.

They don't necessarily get involved in homeowners association when they do covenant updates that are architectural guideline updates and things like that, and I think with living in a state like this, where yes, we have building codes, but they're extremely laxed, and so we have worked in the past with trying to figure out where we could actually leverage, not in an authoritative way, but just in an educational way.

Not only like county zoning, but also working with subdivisions to say, "Okay, moving forward, we would like to get some of these things into your subdivision regulations or into your architectural guidelines for non-combustible construction."

- [Hannah] Another effective tool is what these Big Sky firefighters are doing here, thinning a forested area near homes.

At the state government level, Montana's Department of Natural Resources has also been doing more of this kind of mitigation work in recent years.

- We have been able to, thanks to our legislature, in the 2023 legislative session, they passed House Bill 883, which helped to bolster our fire suppression response, and also really emphasize doing additional mitigation work.

We actually need to actively manage our forest.

- [Hannah] House Bill 883 increased the overall suppression fund to about $200 million and allows DNRC to use leftover suppression funds for mitigation.

DNRC has also increased its role in active forest management through other funding means, including its involvement in the Good Neighbor Authority program, which allows the state to do forest treatment projects on federally managed lands.

- The state of Montana has really taken this program and run with it.

The reality is if we're going to really get at our forest health crisis, we have to take an all-hands, all-lands type of approach and I think that's where the state of Montana is so uniquely poised to be able to do that in a really meaningful, historic way.

- [Hannah] Barrett's research says these kind of fuel mitigation projects are helpful, but they're not the most effective way to keep homes from burning in a catastrophic fire.

She says one of the best things policymakers can do is put more resources into building codes, zoning, and land use planning.

- If you spend more money proactively preparing communities in homes before a wildfire, than a disaster does not necessarily have to be part of that sequence and that's what we're really encouraging is a paradigm shift in how we start thinking about what it means to live with increasing wildfires.

- Fuels mitigation, right, is always gonna be something that we need to be doing, doing defensible space projects around existing houses.

But in a community like this where we're seeing this substantial amount of growth and I think we're only about 50% built out right now, our biggest impact is on the next 50% of the structures that are gonna be built up here.

If we can get those built smartly, non-combustible, already with defensible space, with adequate structure spacing, ingress, egress, evacuation routes and all that stuff, that's gonna be a much bigger impact than us just going and doing mitigation work here and there.

- [Hannah] There's another tactic that experts say is among the best, prescribed fire, but that tool becomes less available as communities spread into the wildlands.

This is one of the many ways that the decisions people make about where to live complicates the work of fire managers.

- The public is starting to come to terms with that, that they need to be more responsible for taking care of themselves in the face of these fires, but in the end, it's just very difficult for fire managers to facilitate the interaction between wildfire and community, so once community goes in, it changes everything.

That's why when I hear like with the, we need to put roads in so we can respond to fires more quickly and stuff, it just makes me cringe because in my observation, the only place that fire is easy to manage is where you don't have that stuff.

As soon as you put access in, you have created a problem for yourself.

- [Hannah] And even places we don't think of as wildland communities are still at risk, such as population centers like Billings.

- We do know that there are nine different communities or population areas here in the state that have the exact same characteristics as what was evidenced in the Lahaina fire and the LA fire and these urban conflagrations in terms of looking at structure density and housing footprint where fuel loading is occurring and vegetation cover, where wind might be a propagating factor there, and so just because it hasn't happened at scale here in Montana, doesn't mean it can't happen.

- [Hannah] And the risks are present in both the forests and the grasslands.

- Most wildfires actually occur on grass and rangelands, about 60% of wildfires do, and so when you think through wildfire likelihood, where could it occur?

It's across the board.

There is no certain area in Montana that is necessarily safe or less wildfire prone than other areas.

- [Hannah] DNRC provides wildfire protection for 60 million acres of private and state land across the state, but that looks very different depending on where you are.

- Western Montana, we do a lot of direct protection.

For Eastern Montana, we work really closely with local and volunteer firefighters to be able to provide firefighting support.

So what that looks like is we actually work quite a bit to provide them with resources.

- [Hannah] But when the West Wind Fire ripped through Denton, the main resource of the initial attack were personal ranch trucks with big water jugs on the back.

- And we did not have what we needed here.

Our roads were in terrible condition.

Not having those road graders and the roads up to code was a disaster.

Not having one out here to doze in fire lines, because that is the best way to prevent a prairie fire from escaping, from expanding.

Fire mitigation is a very, very real thing and it isn't just on the landowner, it's on the local government to follow through with what we're paying for.

And in these rural areas, that means roads and having the equipment and infrastructure in place to fight these.

- [Hannah] Montana's rural communities face additional hurdles to mitigate wildfire risk on a community scale.

Dwindling populations mean less people are managing large swaths of land, and the laundry list of community upgrades can be a major undertaking for smaller communities.

You can still see evidence of the West Wind Fire in the blackened corners of homes, the lots that remain empty, the grain elevators missing in the skyline.

They're stark reminders of how uncontrollable fires can be and the damage they can do.

- I was the one that relayed to the town that was time to evacuate.

Being in that room and seeing all those faces and the sudden realization that this isn't just a fire, this is a nightmare.

- [Hannah] For "Impact," I'm Hannah Pierce.

- Even though experts say the most effective wildfire protections come through policy decisions, there are things homeowners can do to help protect their property.

For one thing, the Department of Natural Resources offers free wildfire risk assessments through their website, DNRC.MT.gov.

And as winter approaches, the city of Bozeman says it's so-called urban campers will need to be off the streets, one way or another.

Starting November 1st, the city will begin enforcing a ban on camping in the public right of way and Montana PBS's Matt Standal has been covering the transition.

Matt, it sounds like the number of people living in trailers or in their cars has already decreased dramatically.

- Yeah, Sam, at its highest, the city says maybe 240 people were camping on the streets, but that number is now down over 90%.

Maybe there's less than 20 now, they say.

Now, at the same time, the city has also been trying to build a lot of affordable housing, and in my reporting I talk to folks who, despite these best efforts, will almost certainly remain homeless, but I also met those who are getting off the streets and into homes.

(logo swooshing) (metal crunching) (machine whirring) It's cleanup day here on Wheat Drive in Bozeman, Montana, at the city's only remaining urban camp.

Those left on this lonely street are coming to terms with the future, where the places they live are now against the law.

(engine whirring) (worker vocalizing) City staff have organized cleanups like this for the past five years and camper Mike Schmidt is doing his part cleaning up because he's moving out.

- What do they say?

I say mountains and valleys.

- [Matt] Mountains and valleys.

- Yeah, you gotta overcome one of them.

- [Matt] Schmidt says he's a Gulf War veteran who fell on hard times and ended up living in a camper trailer.

That all changed when homeless advocates and the Veterans Administration helped him find low income housing over the summer.

- It's based on what I make, or based on pay.

Yeah, it's brand new, washer and dryer, dishwasher, air conditioning.

- [Matt] Mike will now live at The Beaumont, one of Bozeman's newly built affordable housing developments.

- Hi, this is my place.

- [Matt] His transition from the streets is a success story in what has been a grueling chapter in Montana's housing crisis.

(traffic whooshing) The state saw rapid growth after the pandemic with housing prices almost doubling in places like Bozeman, averaging more than $800,000 for a single family home at its peak.

With a statewide housing shortage and soaring rents, some folks began living on the streets.

- It went from two or three, I think to the height was about 240 or 250 campers out on the right of way, and then we knew that something had to be done.

- [Matt] The city of Bozeman counted more than 240 people living in seven urban camps in 2023, most of them sleeping in their cars, RVs, or camp trailers.

There was uproar from neighbors and several local businesses sued the city.

City leaders held commission meeting after commission meeting and struggled to find a solution.

- I request that the city commission put an end to urban camping.

- I call on the commission to end this public nuisance once and for all.

- I'm coming in here 'cause this is in my neighborhood, and what do you expect me to do?

Thank you.

- There's been a focus on the campers themselves and the impacts of their circumstances, but there's also an impact from urban camping on the rest of the community, and I think that during the height of this, the conflict it caused in our community was one of the biggest conflicts I've ever seen in my years here.

- [Matt] The final crackdown started in October of 2024 after a landmark Supreme Court case allowed cities across the United States to regulate urban camping.

Bozeman then created a permit system for campers and a ban on camping this November.

- So what we're driving into is the last area of the city of Bozeman that's permitted camping.

The permitted campers will have a sticker on the back of their camp facility with a number.

- [Matt] Ben Bailey is Bozeman's Neighborhood Services Manager.

He's been checking on Bozeman's urban campers every month for the past two years, helping them navigate life in these crowded and conflicted camps.

- Every one of them has my phone number.

I know every one of them personally, so if there's an issue that arises as small as, you know, something not going well at work, or a conflict between neighbors, they'll generally reach out to me on my cell phone or we'll set up a time to meet.

- [Matt] Bailey's job has been rolling out Ordinance 2172, the city rule that created the permit system for Bozeman's urban campers.

That rule outlawed camping on Bozeman streets on October 1st.

However, those with permits still have a few weeks to figure out where to go next.

- How's it going?

- [Camper] Terrible.

You know it.

- Well, I got your permit for the month.

- [Matt] Bailey offers to connect campers to financial help and social services, but says that help doesn't work for everyone.

- [Camper] You people just don't (beeps) get it.

- Well, I'm just, you're asking for help, I'm trying to let you know what it is, but what do you need from me?

- [Camper] Nothing.

Nothing can help.

Nobody can help us.

Nobody can help me.

- Well, have you gone to HRDC?

- [Camper] I have.

- What'd they tell you?

- Nothing!

- There's always gonna be that support network for folks that are just down on their luck.

There's no one real definition of what a urban camper is.

It's somebody that is experiencing houseless insecurities or homelessness.

- I mean, I could have been, you know, jobs at someplace, you know, that has zero services at all, so they at least did me a favor by putting me here.

- [Matt] Matt Radeski said he was stranded in Bozeman last year after friends literally left him on the side of the road in his wheelchair.

Radeski is packing up a U-Haul and plans to move out before the city begins threatening fines of up to $500, or even jail time for rule breakers.

- There's a lot of stuff out here that's not supposed to be, and then I have to pick it up.

- [Radeski] Oh, we're gonna clean this up.

- Okay.

What's the plan?

What are you gonna do?

- Get back to North Carolina.

Home.

- Remember the first time we met?

- It was after a year, wasn't it?

About a year.

- [Matt] John Wallace does not have a city camping permit.

Wallace says he worked at a lumber mill in Townsend, Montana, but was laid off during the pandemic and eventually moved to the streets.

- [Ben] How did everything go with recovery from when you got assaulted?

- I don't know the statute.

I wanted to press charges, but I think it's too late now.

- [Matt] He's tired of what he called "dangerous living conditions," but doesn't know where else to go.

- Honestly, I just wanna get a place, that's all I wanna do.

- Yeah.

- It's my camper, but I don't wanna live like this forever.

- [Matt] Bozeman's leaders say the number of people camping on its streets is always a changing number.

After the city tightened its rules in 2024, many of them moved out.

Bailey says maybe more than 100 have left for other parts of the state.

(dog barking) Some, the city says, have moved their camps onto private land, while others have found space with family.

Around 30 former campers are now at Bozeman's homeless shelter, and about a dozen have transitioned into city-sponsored affordable housing.

- Currently, we have over 400 units that are either being leased or are in the process of being constructed, and we have a pipeline where we're seeing hundreds more, in some cases, thousands more.

- This looks like hundreds of units, or maybe more than 100 units.

- 216 units, yeah.

- [Matt] Bozeman Mayor, Terry Cunningham, said building costs are so high in Bozeman that city leaders have lobbied for millions of dollars in tax incentives and community loans to convince developers to build housing that people can afford.

Without that partnership, he said rents would keep going up, and Bozeman's working class would have very few affordable options.

- We have been the one of the fastest-growing small towns in America for many years.

In 2008, when the housing bubble burst, everybody nationwide stopped building, including in Bozeman, and we've never made up that inventory so we've been in a deficit situation for years and we're playing catch up.

- [Matt] These affordable units at Westlake Heights run about $1,600 for a two-bedroom.

Yes, that's a bargain in Bozeman for this kind of apartment.

To qualify, renters have to prove that they have income below 70% of the area's median income.

It's a sliding scale that moves with family size.

While these new apartments have only been a small part of the solution to the urban camping problem, Cunningham says they've been a lifeline for a larger cross section of Bozeman residents struggling with housing issues.

- We're seeing people moving from domestic violence shelters.

We're seeing Family Promise clients come here.

We're seeing from HRDC, we're seeing from veterans programs.

They are moving in and they are finding permanent housing opportunities here in Bozeman.

- [Matt] That includes Bozeman's Mike Schmidt, who works as a line cook in a restaurant in town.

He said the VA is helping foot the bill for nine months of rent so he can get back on his feet.

- So yeah, I was camping not more than probably 500 feet from here.

And now it's this great big building and I'm in it.

- [Matt] Schmidt said moving into an apartment and out of the city's urban camps will help him move on with life.

- To be permanently in a place instead of having to worry whether or not somebody's gonna come and say, "Hey, you gotta get outta here," and, hey, it's a big relief.

- [Matt] For "Impact," I'm Matt Standal in Bozeman.

- Bozeman is not alone in it's crackdown on people experiencing homelessness.

Missoula has also restricted camping in city parks, and the legislature passed two laws last session that empower cities and towns to enforce these ordinances, including authorizing steep daily fines for violations.

That's all the time we have for this episode.

If you have a story idea, a news tip, or feedback for us, we would love to hear from you at Impact@MontanaPBS.org.

From all of us here at Montana PBS, thanks for watching.

I'm Sam Wilson.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - [Announcer] Major funding for "Impact" comes from the Greater Montana Foundation, encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.

Funding also comes from viewers like you, who are friends of Montana PBS.

Thank you.

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