NBC Montana dug into how much this fire season's cost the forest service. Turns out so far the price tag is $20 million more than last year.

Fire bosses figure people started 715 fires that have chewed through 74,000 acres. Lightning sparked 692 fires that have claimed over 680,000 acres. Officials say fires have charred more acres in Montana than any other state, except Idaho and Oregon. But experts don't just total acreage when figuring out total damage.

"We look at the number of acres that have been burned across the state, we look at the total costs of putting firefighters out on to the fires and putting them out as well as the number of structures that are burned by the fires," said Brandan Schulze of the USDA Forest Service.

760,000 acres have burned so far this year in Montana and experts say the season could last well into October.