Historic Wildfires: 1988 Yellowstone Wildfires

On June 14, 1988 lightning strikes started the first of the wildfires that were eventually to burn approximately 800,000  acres in Yellowstone National Park. I don't quite recall when I first became aware of these wildfires, but I do remember hearing about these wildfires that summer. An article from the National Park Service on the 1988 Yellowstone Fires may be found here. To see a National Park Service map of the areas and some more detail about the 1988 wildfires in Yellowstone burned go here.

In 2013 The New York Times did a Retro Report on the 1988 Yellowstone Wildfires (article and video). I am embedding this 11 minute video included in the Retro Report about the 1998 Yellowstone Wildfires below. They report on the history of the wildfire, the controversy in holding off on fighting the wildfire until late July, a debate about issues raised about the policies in place at the time about fighting wildfires, the role of the media, and the aftermath of the wildfire. Not only did the video remind me of some of the history of the fire, but it got me thinking. among other things, about the question of policies about when to fight wildfires


Direct link to video from the New York Times on Youtube