1988 Fires
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 like many fires had in previous years. The spring of 1988 was wet until the month of June, when 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. After almost two months of little rain, the moisture content of grasses and small branches reached levels as low as 2 or 3%. In addition, a series of unusually high winds fanned flames that, even in dry conditions, would not have moved with great speed.
No new natural fires were allowed to burn after July 15 except those started adjacent to existing fires and 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. Accepted fire fighting techniques were often ineffective because fires spread long distances by spotting, a phenomenon in which wind carries embers across unburned forest to start spot fires ahead of the main fire. Fires were spotting up to a mile and a half ahead—jumping roads, rivers, even the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.
Fires often moved two miles per hour, with common daily advances of five to ten miles. 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. Even during the night, fires could not be fought. The fire experts on site generally agreed that only rain or snow could stop the fires. One-quarter inch of snow on September 11 stopped the advance of the fires. By the last week in September, 42 lightning-caused fires had occurred in or burned into the park, but only eight were still burning.
