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Yellowstone National Park officials report the East Entrance Road remains closed today. Feller crews on the East Fire continue to clear the hazardous trees and snags along road where the fire burned through. It is likely the road will remain closed all day again today. Options are being
considered for a full or partial road opening as soon as possible. Visitors approaching the park through Cody, Wyoming are reminded that an alternate route into the park from Cody is the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway (WY Route 296) through the Northeast Entrance. No other roads are currently impacted by fire, and all facilities in the park are open. There was one new fire in the park yesterday. Smoke from several fires in and around the park can at times affect visibility. Smoke conditions are dependent on location, weather, and fire behavior. Warm, windy conditions are forecast for today, so firefighters expect aggressive fire behavior.
East Fire: The fire is up to 15,642 acres in size. Crews are constructing fireline in the Crow Creek drainage and conducting burnouts to try to prevent the fire from spreading east into Crow Creek or beyond Sylvan Pass.
Grizzly Fire: This fire showed a lot of activity yesterday and is now 1,463 acres. Crews are busy building a fireline along the Signal Hills south of the fire.
A Type 2 incident management team has responsibility for the East and Grizzly Fires.
For information on these two fires, contact fire information for the East Fire Incident Management Team, at: 307-242-9115.
Tyson Fire: This fire remains at 150 acres, and is now 80% contained. Yellowstone Park crews have been suppressing the fire using minimum impact management tactics. Line construction supported with portable pumps with hose lays and helicopter bucket drops have kept this fire from growing significantly. The fire is located on fairly steep slopes in the Beaverdam Creek drainage east of the Southeast Arm of Yellowstone Lake. 29 Yellowstone firefighters with helicopter support will continue to work toward full containment today.
Union Fire: Located between the Bechler area and Pitchstone Plateau in a very remote location, this fire stayed about the same size yesterday, and is within its designated confinement area. It will continue to be monitored from the air. It is about 84 acres in size.
Green Pond Fire: This new fire which reached about one acre in size was likely a hold-over from a previous lightning storm. It is located on a butte close to the north boundary of the park near the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone River. An initial attack crew hiked to the fire late yesterday
afternoon and contained the fire with help from helicopter bucket drops. It will be patrolled today by a small squad of firefighters.
Backcountry trails currently closed due to fire activity include the Turbid Lake, Jones Pass, Ninemile, Avalanche Peak, Pelican Valley to Mist Pass, and Union Falls Trails. Visitors using the backcountry are encouraged to call the backcountry office at: 307-344-2160 for specific trail closure information and other possible restrictions.
Today's weather forecast is calls for partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers or thunderstorms. High temperatures will be from 76 - 80 degrees, with relative humidity lower at 17 - 20 percent. Gusty, southwest winds in the morning will switch to northwest in the afternoon at 15 - 20, with gusts to 25 mph. Ridge top winds will be west, then northwest late in the afternoon at 20 - 25, with gusts to 30 mph. The long term forecast calls for little to no precipitation with highs in the mid 70s to lower 80s, and lows in the 40s.
Yellowstone Fire Management policy requires that all human-caused fires be suppressed but that natural fires be allowed to burn as long as they do not threaten people, property or resource values. Before any wildland fire is allowed to burn, however, it must be carefully evaluated and meet an inventory of pre-established criteria (including current and forecasted weather and wind conditions, fuel moisture levels, site location data, and sufficient resources).
If all criteria are not met on a daily basis, the fire must be reassessed to determine whether it will still be allowed to burn or if it must be immediately suppressed. With the current dry conditions in the park and the lack of significant moisture, each new fire start is being carefully evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the appropriate management action will be to suppress or allow new fire starts to burn. With few exceptions, the park is in full suppression mode because of observed extreme fire behavior, very dry fuels, and limited fire fighting resources.
Additional Fire restrictions went into effect on August 16. No wood or charcoal fires will be allowed at any of the frontcountry areas. This includes the use of fire grates, charcoal grills, fire pans, and any other ember-producing equipment in all campgrounds, picnic areas, parking areas, and employee housing. Additionally, no smoking is allowed in the frontcountry except within buildings where smoking is normally permitted, in vehicles, or designated smoking areas?provided an ashtray is used. Other
restrictions implemented July 17 prohibit any backcountry wood or charcoal fires, and smoking is restricted to the immediate vicinity of the cooking area in designated backcountry sites only.
For a recorded message of updated fire information, call: 307-344-2580. For fire maps and other fire information, visit the park's web site at: http://www.nps.gov/yell/technical/fire/index.htm.
Following is information on active Yellowstone fires:
There have been a total of 66 fires during the 2003 fire season - 7 human caused and 59 lightning caused. No new fires started yesterday.
Information provided by the NPS
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