Yellowstone Fire

In the summer of 1988, Yellowstone National Park was experiencing a large fire that had grabbed national headlines. Three years later (1991) I had the opportunity to spend the summer working at Old Faithful Complex in the park. I envisioned a black wasteland that would have little interest to wildlife, tourists, or recreational users. What I found was my first experience with the variability of fire behavior, extent, and severity.  

Figure 1. "Patchwork" of  fire in Yellowstone National Park. Photograph from the National Park Service Archives. 

 Figure 1 is an aerial photograph of a section of Yellowstone Park that experienced wildfire in the summer of 1988. The fire had not burn continuously, but rather in a mosaic pattern across the landscape. This pattern reinforces the fire behavior triangle concept. For example, the slender finger of burned area in the center left of the photograph appears to have been much more affected by wind than the more radially spreading fire that is directly to the left. Even though this fire burned in the same area, its behavior was different depending on the immediate conditions that were present at the time. Some areas burned in strips, while others burned more radially. It became clear to me that fire was a result of the variables that it was subjected to. Weather, aspect, slope, vegetation, local winds, and human manipulation of the land all played a part in dictating what effect wildfire had on the land. 

Thanks for taking a look!

Vince