Yellowstone Fires of 1988

The Yellowstone Fires of 1988

Jeff Henry/National Park Service; Shows
the destructive impact of the 1988 fires

Yellowstone National Park is widely regarded as one of America’s most beautiful and unique national parks, as it is home to more hot springs and geysers than any other place on Earth. It is also America's oldest national park, being established in 1872 (4). In June of 1988, this important national landmark faced the most aggressive and destructive wildfires in the park’s history when lightning strikes ignited 18 separate fires across the park's estimated 2,221,766 acres (4) . At first, park officials and fire experts were unconcerned, as fires in the park were quite common in the summer months. They expected most of the fires to burn themselves out, and the worst of the fires to be put out by seasonal rain come July. But, rain did not come in July, and while many of the smallest fires did burn themselves out, the largest fires continued to rage on. It became evident that past fire management methods would be useless against such an unprecedented and aggressive wildfire, to let these fires burn themselves out would cause unimaginable devastation to Yellowstone. In late July, the superintendent of the park, Bob Barbee, gave orders to fight every fire. In the following months, an estimated 25,000 firefighters fought to save Yellowstone (3). At times, as many as 9,000 firefighters worked in the park at once. These firefighters fought for months, but the fires showed no signs of stopping. The fire raged on until snow came and snuffed the fires in mid September. By this time 1,200,000 acres of the park were affected by these fires, and more than $120,000,000 were spent fighting the fire (1). 

Jeff Henry/NPS; Shows a group of firefighters
putting out a brush fire in smoky conditions

The 1988 Yellowstone fires completely changed America’s approach to fire mitigation and suppression as a whole, and it brought these issues to the forefront of the national policy discussion. The fire’s also created a large amount of controversy with the public, as Yellowstone is beloved by many people in America and all over the world. Some in the media attacked the National Park Service, as many people believed they did not do nearly enough to prevent and maintain the fires. The media sources began falsely reporting that the fires were so destructive as a result of the National Park Services’, ”let it burn” policy. The term was refuted by many of the park officials, including Yellowstone National Park superintendent Bob Barbee, who led the fight against the fires in 1988 as a total misrepresentation of the complex fire mitigation techniques that were being implemented by the NPS (2). However, while it may be unfair to claim that this fire and its destruction is the direct result of poor management by the NPS, it is fair to say that the NPS and its officials at Yellowstone lacked the necessary resources to successfully mitigate the 1988 fires. 

Jeff Henry/National Park Service; Shows the impact of 
the 1988 Yellowstone fires on the parks wildlife

                                                  

                     The New York Times, 'The Story Behind the Yellowstone Fires of 1988'  

This video, created by the New York Times, summarizes the Yellowstone wildfire of 1988. The video also includes an interview with Bob Barbee, who was the superintendent of Yellowstone National Park during the 1988 wildfire.

Sources Cited

1. (2019). National Interagency Fire Center. NIFC.

          https://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/fireInfo_stats_totalFires.html Accessed 11 Dec. 2020

2. Kwak-Hefferan, Elisabeth. (Jun. 23, 2020). "The Summer Yellowstone Burned" Wyoming,                             Yellowstone National Park. https://www.yellowstonepark.com/park/1988-fires-yellowstone 

          Accessed 12 Dec. 2020

3. Krantz, Laura. Hansen, Liane. (Aug. 29, 2008) "Remembering the 1988 Yellowstone Wildfires"                  npr.org. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94126845                                               Accessed 11 Dec. 2020.

4. (Aug. 27, 2020) Park Facts. nps.gov 

          https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkfacts.htm Accessed 11 Dec. 2020.

5. Christensen, Norman L., et al. “Interpreting the Yellowstone Fires of 1988.” BioScience, vol. 39, no.           10, 1989, pp. 678–685. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1310998. Accessed 12 Dec. 2020.