The Year Yellowstone Burned by Jeff Henry

Heat from the fire warms the air, which expands and rises. Like any fire, a forest fire needs a source of ignition, fuel, and oxygen. If conditions are right, as they were in the Greater Yellowstone Area in 1988, forest fires are able to leap both natural and artificial firebreaks.

The strategies used in fighting forest fires include the construction of artificial firebreaks, either through the removal of fuel with bulldozers and hand labor or through the use of controlled backfires.

Natural firebreaks, such as lakes, rivers, and barren rock outcrops, will usually limit the extent of a fire. Once a fire is in the crowns, particularly in dense stands of trees, there is often vigorous burning, which spreads until it reaches areas with little fuel to burn.

Sometimes conditions favor more extensive fires, and burning will move up the trees to their crowns. Many forest fires are surface fires, burning near the ground only. The majority of lightning-caused fires burn a single tree, or a few trees, before going out. Shively, Carol A.įorest fires vary widely in size and intensity. fire management policy North America Summer, 1988: Fires Burn Much of Yellowstone National Park United States Summer, 1988: Fires Burn Much of Yellowstone National Park Disasters Summer, 1988: Fires Burn Much of Yellowstone National Park Environmental issues Summer, 1988: Fires Burn Much of Yellowstone National Park Sholly, Dan R. fire management policy Fires Burn Much of Yellowstone National Park (Summer, 1988) Yellowstone National Park, Fires Burn Much of (Summer, 1988) National Park, Fires Burn Much of Yellowstone (Summer, 1988) Park, Fires Burn Much of Yellowstone National (Summer, 1988) Yellowstone National Park wildfires Disasters fires Fires Yellowstone National Park National Park Service, U.S. Yellowstone National Park wildfires Disasters fires Fires Yellowstone National Park National Park Service, U.S. Only when rains fell in October did the fires in the forests go out, but even then, fiery rhetoric continued to rage throughout the country. When the fires became uncontrollable, thousands of firefighters were called upon and millions of dollars were spent trying to extinguish the fires. Because some of these fires began with lightning strikes, the National Park Service, following the fire management policies in effect at the time, did not initially try to put out all the fires. national park system.ĭuring the summer of 1988, wildfires swept through Yellowstone National Park. When wildfires burned 36 percent of Yellowstone National Park, controversy arose over fire management throughout the U.S.

The Year Yellowstone Burned by Jeff Henry