It's been a pretty smoky summer in Missoula, as smoke from wildfires all around the state and in other parts of the country has been carrying over. It's sometimes tough to keep track of where all the wildfires have been taking place - though this website does a good job of it and lets you know when and where wildfires are happening, and how contained they are.

A quick glance at that site will show you dozens of active wildfires in Montana alone, and this year has been tougher than most in trying to fight them. Just a few weeks ago, we wrote about how a jet fuel shortage is making it more difficult for smokejumpers and firefighting planes to do their jobs efficiently.

So Montana firefighters need all the help they can get, and help has been coming in from all over the country. This week, the New York Fire Department arrived with a special team of 51 members to help lend a hand. This is a critical time for their arrival, as the weather conditions are potentially shifting, which could result in more fires over the next few weeks.

They'll be here for the next two weeks to join the team of over 4500 firefighters already on the scene. We've been experiencing some cooler weather recently, so hopefully that's a signal that the tide may be turning and that these fires will finally start to die out.

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

LOOK: Here are the best lake towns to live in

Many of the included towns jump out at the casual observer as popular summer-rental spots--the Ozarks' Branson, Missouri, or Arizona's Lake Havasu--it might surprise you to dive deeper into some quality-of-life offerings beyond the beach and vacation homes. You'll likely pick up some knowledge from a wide range of Americana: one of the last remaining 1950s-style drive-ins in the Midwest; a Florida town that started as a Civil War veteran retirement area; an island boasting some of the country's top public schools and wealth-earners right in the middle of a lake between Seattle and Bellevue; and even a California town containing much more than Johnny Cash's prison blues.

 

More From 103.7 The Hawk