Fires, 1988

Crown fire (flame & smoke) approaching Old Faithful Photo shop & Snow Lodge; Photographer unknown; 1988

About

The Yellowstone fires of 1988 have been described as being instrumental in the public’s understanding of the role of fire in ecosystems. In June of 1988, park managers and fire behavior specialists allowed 18 lightning-caused fires to burn after evaluating them, according to the fire management plan. Eleven of these fires burned themselves out, behaving as many fires had in previous years. The spring of 1988 was wet until June, after which hardly any rain fell. 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. Because of the extremely dry conditions, no new natural fires were allowed to burn after July 15 except those started adjacent to existing fires that were clearly going to burn into existing fires. Even so, within a week the fire acreage in the park doubled to about 17,000 acres. After July 21, all fires—including those started naturally—were fully suppressed as staffing would allow. (Human-caused fires had been suppressed from the beginning.) (National Park Service)