We have news about a new Yellowstone fire, the Folsom Fire, while the Bacon Rind Fire on the western National Park boundary continues to grow, albeit at a very slow pace.
The Folsom Fire is located within the 1988 North Fork Fire scar, in the headwaters of Blacktail Deer Creek on the Blacktail Deer Plateau. Ignited by lightning, the Folsom Fire may be visible from the Grand Loop Road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower-Roosevelt. It was first spotted during a reconnaissance flight on the way to the Shoshone National Forest on Saturday, August 4.
This is a small fire: just a tenth of an acre. As of now it poses no threat to Park visitors.
This is the third Yellowstone fire this summer season. The first, the Hayden Fire, was observed and was declared out during the same reconnaissance flight. The second, the Bacon Rind Fire, is now at 488 acres.
The majority of the burn is in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness of the Custer Gallatin National Forest, with a small portion in Yellowstone. Visitors are able to see smoke from the Bacon Rind Fire from Highway 191, near mile marker 42 (twenty miles south of Big Sky), between Bacon Rind and Snowslide Creeks. The fire is two miles west of Highway 191.
Due to hazardous, heavy, dead and down timber, as well as many standing dead trees, fire managers are not putting firefighters on the ground at this time. They will be, looking for opportunities to engage the fire if it makes its way toward Highway 191 and private inholdings to the north.
A Type 3 Incident Management Team is managing the fire in cooperation with the Custer Gallatin National Forest and Yellowstone National Park. Fire management decisions are based on many factors. Public and firefighter safety is the primary driver for fire management actions. Other factors include decisions regarding values potentially threatened by the fire, vegetation conditions, weather and topography.
Remember: the fire danger in Yellowstone National Park is currently pegged as high. There are no fire restrictions in the park, but officials are recommended plenty of care with campfires. Campfires are only permitted in fire rings at campgrounds and some backcountry campsites. Campfires must be extinguished and cold to touch after use.
All roads leading into and through the park are open.
Top mage courtesy National Park Service; bottom image courtesy InciWeb.