The Newspapers began covering the story in early July almost as soon as the fires ignited, while national broadcast television coverage came weeks later. Human-caused fires were extinguished. However, between 1972 and 1987, the average fire had gone out naturally after burning only one acre. In this and many other ways, fires dramatically altered the habitat and food production of Yellowstone for the short term.The fires of 1988 created a landscape of burns, partial burns, and unburned areas—called a mosaic.
Women of Broadus, Mont., sent them homemade cookies. Many lodgepole seeds require fire to open.”A survey French conducted of large animal deaths found more than 390 documented deaths from fire, nearly all from smoke inhalation. Park managers and fire behavior specialists expected that July would be wet, as it had been historically.Rains did not come in July as expected.
With rare exceptions, animals saw the flames coming and simply stepped aside.University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point professor Mark Boyce said in a talk at the conference that if he were superintendent of Yellowstone, "I would maintain fire every chance I had. On July 27, during a visit to Yellowstone, the Secretary of the Interior reaffirmed that all fires would be fought, regardless of their origin.An extensive interagency fire suppression effort was initiated in mid-July in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in an attempt to control or contain this unprecedented series of wildfires. At the height of the fires, 10,000 people were involved simultaneously. A mosaic provides natural firebreaks and sustains a greater variety of plant and animal species. In fact, many plant species within the park are fire-adapted. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control due to droughtconditions and increasing winds, combining into one large conflagration which burned for several months. There were no antelope, mountain lion, grizzly bear or bighorn sheep carcasses. By late July, after almost two months of little rain, the moisture content of grasses and small branches reached levels as low as 2 or 3%, and downed trees were as low as 7% (recall that when fuel moisture falls below 13%, fires can grow quickly). Some lodgepole pines, which make up about 80 percent of the park’s forests, have cones that are sealed by resin until the intense heat of fire cracks them open and releases the seeds. Yellowstone National Park’s photographer established “photo points,” or specific locations to be photographed in 1988 and in subsequent years. The fast movement, coupled with spotting, made direct attacks on the fires impossibly dangerous, as fire crews could easily be overrun or trapped between a main fire and its outlying spot fires. A sophisticated, context-sensitive understanding of fire is critical for both safety and ecological reasons. After July 15, all fires were fought aggressively from the moment they were detected. These included replacing, rehabilitating, or repairing damaged buildings, power lines, fire lines, trails, campsites, and other facilities. Montana Democratic Sen. John Melcher told On Sept. 11, 1988, a quarter-inch of snow fell across the greater Yellowstone area, and the fires quickly died out. Where water was available, new plant growth began within a few days. The park also cooperated with other agencies and state and local governments in promoting the economic recovery of communities near the park that were affected by the fires.Scientists wanted to monitor the ecological processes following these major fires. Park officials decided to try to suppress all new and existing fires as resources allowed. The reports tended to lump all fires in the Yellowstone area together as the “Yellowstone Park Fire;” they referred to these fires as part of the park’s natural fire program, which was not true; and they often oversimplified events and exaggerated how many acres had burned. It was accepted wisdom that Yellowstone wouldn’t recover for a hundred years.Even so, Yellowstone’s big fires were not a surprise to everyone. The fire suppression efforts involved many different federal and state agencies, including the armed forces. In fact, many plant species within the park are fire-adapted. Confusion was probably heightened by misunderstandings about how fires are fought: if crews were observed not taking action on a fire, casual observers might think the fire was merely being monitored. In 1975, an environmental assessment was prepared which allowed natural burning on 1.7 million of the park’s 2.2 million acres.In the years between this assessment and the 1988 fires, the policy was a quiet, uncontroversial success. The park also had an active prescribed burn program to try to reduce fuel loads—fallen trees and dried vegetation—that could contribute to catastrophic burns. The recovery in Yellowstone was a slam dunk for science and the let-burn forest policy.As little as five years after the fires, the park was recovering well. These were the most significant fires to ever occur in a national park, and an event that would in many ways transform fire management throughout the country. It also recommended improvements that were incorporated into the National Park Service’s fire policy of June 1990 and into Yellowstone National Park’s fire management plan of 1992. Typically, wildfires “lie down” at night as humidity increases and temperature decreases. Media reporting was often poorly informed and contradictory. In the Rocky Mountain West, there has already been an increase in the frequency and severity of wild-land fires over the last 25 years, according to a 2008 U.S. Department of the Interior report.
The average burn size was 250 acres.
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