Cost of Funny River wildfire: $6.1 million so far

KENAI, Alaska (AP) – The cost of battling the 300-square mile Funny River wildfire has climbed to $6.1 million.

Fire operations cost $1.13 million and $1.05 million a day at its peak last Saturday and Sunday, according to financial data from the Alaska Interagency Incident Management team. That figure has since fallen to about $750,000 a day by Tuesday. Nearly one-quarter of operational costs have been spent on air support for the ground crews, including the costs of fire retardant, helicopter support, water-scooping planes and fixed-wing aircraft.

Another large chunk of the money spent thus f...