Remembering The 1988 Yellowstone Fires

August 29, 20085:17 PM ET

In the summer of 1988, Yellowstone caught fire. The fires, which began in June,
continued to burn until November, when winter snows extinguished the last blazes. Over
the course of that summer and fall, more than 25,000 firefighters were brought in from
around the country.
In the end, the flames scorched about 1.2 million acres across the greater Yellowstone
area, leaving the impression that the world's first national park had been destroyed.
Scott McMillion reported for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, in Bozeman, Mont., for 20
years. One of his earliest assignments was covering the 1988 fires.
"Yellowstone is a beloved icon," McMillion said. "It was a celebrity fire in a celebrity
place. Everyone knows about Yellowstone and there was an impression that it was being
allowed to burn to the ground."
The heightened media presence and the televised coverage of the fires horrified many
people who believed that Yellowstone would be forever ruined. But the doom and gloom
prophecies about the destruction of Yellowstone proved to be wrong.

The Fires Of 1988

Fire is nothing new in Yellowstone. The park has survived many of them and usually
averages at least one a year. Often these are smaller fires, which go out on their own.
Starting in 1972, the National Park Service implemented a "let it burn" policy, allowing
natural fires — those caused by lightning — to run their course. It proved to be a
successful strategy and the park service continued to follow that policy for the next 16
years.
But the summer of 1988 proved to be different from previous fire seasons. By June,
Yellowstone was already in a severe drought, despite higher than average rainfall in the
spring. By mid-July, fires — caused both by lightning and human carelessness — had
consumed close to 17,000 acres in the park. No rain, low humidity, and increasing winds
made the Park Service nervous and the "let it burn" policy was put on hold.
By the end of July, the larger fires had become nearly uncontrollable. Public sentiment
was that the Park Service had failed to do its job. But according to Park Superintendent
Bob Barbee, the situation was unavoidable.
"No matter what we would have done, the conditions were such that there were going to
be great fires in Yellowstone under any circumstances," he said. "They were started by
lightning, by outfitters, by woodcutters — we were a perfect setup to burn."
The worst day of the 1988 fires came on Aug. 20, a day known as "Black Saturday."
High winds propelled the extremely hot and fast-burning fires across more than 150,000
acres, practically doubling the amount of land that had already burned.
By this point, the national media had turned its full attention to the events in
Yellowstone. The locals, too, were worried. The fires were only a few miles away and
they seemed dangerously out of control.

The Benefit Of Blazes

What many in the media, and in the general public, failed to understand at the time was
that fire — even fire of this magnitude — was necessary to maintain the overall health of

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Yellowstone's ecosystem. Lodgepole pines — tall, skinny trees with branches near the
top, or crown — dominate most of Yellowstone's landscape. Some of their pine cones are
sealed with a waxy resin and only open once temperatures reach above 113 degrees
Fahrenheit. In other words, the trees need the heat of those fires in order to reproduce.
"Fire is as important to the great lodgepole ecosystems of the Northern Rockies as
sunshine and rain," Barbee said. "So the forest recycled itself quickly. Now if you go to
Yellowstone, you'll see a carpet of green, the forest is fully recovering. And so we don't
characterize the fire as causing damage to the park."
A visit to the park proves his point. The 1988 fires undeniably changed Yellowstone's
landscape, but they didn't destroy the park. Seedlings began to appear as early as 1989
and now there are healthy and green 20-year-old trees covering the park.
The fires also provided a sort of "living laboratory" for scientists to learn about how
ecosystems recover. More than 250 fire-related research projects have been conducted in
the past two decades, examining the fire's impact on wildlife, water and vegetation.

Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?

storyId=94126845

Mt. St. Helen’s Eruption, 1980

Mount St. Helens in Washington erupts, causing a massive avalanche and killing 57
people on this day in 1980. Ash from the volcanic eruption fell as far away as Minnesota.
Seismic activity at Mount St. Helens, which is 96 miles south of Seattle, began on March
16. A 4.2-magnitude tremor was recorded four days later and then, on March 23-24, there
were 174 different recorded tremors. The first eruption occurred on March 27, when a
250-foot wide vent opened up on top of the mountain. Ash was blasted 10,000 feet in the
air, some of which came down nearly 300 miles away in Spokane. The ash caused static
electricity and lightning bolts.
uthorities issued a hazard watch for a 50-mile radius around the mountain. The National
Guard set up road blocks to prevent access to the area, but these were easily avoided by
using the region’s unguarded logging roads. Many residents of the area evacuated, but a
substantial number refused. Harry Truman, 84—no relation to the former president—was
one resident who refused to move and, after receiving a great deal of positive media
coverage for his decision, became a national icon as well as, later, the subject of a local
memorial.
Throughout April, scientists watched a bulge on the north side of Mount St. Helens grow
larger and larger. Finally, on May 18 at 8:32 a.m., a sudden 5.1-magnitude earthquake
and eruption rocked the mountain. The north side of the peak rippled and blasted out ash
at 650 miles per hour. A cloud of ash, rocks, gas and glacial ice roared down the side of
the mountain at 100 mph. Fourteen miles of the Toutle River were buried up to 150 feet
deep in the debris. Magma, at 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit, flowed for miles.
The 24-megaton blast demolished a 230-square-mile area around the mountain. Geologist
Dave Johnson was the closest to the eruption when it blew. He was on his radio that
morning and was only able to say, Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it! before his truck was
pushed over a ridge and he was killed.

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Millions of trees were scorched and burned by the hot air alone. When the glacier atop
the mountain melted, a massive mudslide wiped out homes and dammed up rivers
throughout the area. The plume of ash belched out for nine hours; easterly winds carried
it across the state and as far away as Minneapolis, Minnesota. The falling ash clogged
carburetors and thousands of motorists were stranded. Fifty-seven people died overall
from suffocation, burns and other assorted injuries. Twenty-seven bodies, including that
of the stubborn Harry Truman, were never found. Mount St. Helens went from 9,600 feet
high to only 8,300 feet high in a matter of seconds.

Retrieved from:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mount-st-helens-erupts

Hurricane Andrew

The Atlantic ocean basin experienced a lull in tropical activity between 1991 and 1994.
The 1992 season was no exception. In mid-August the first named storm of the year
formed – Andrew. Andrew would go on to become one of the most vividly remembered
hurricanes of the 20th century.
Andrew developed from a well-organized tropical wave that moved off the African coast
on 14 August. On 16 August the National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded the system
to a tropical depression. On 17 August, the depression became Tropical Storm Andrew
and traveled west-northwest towards the Lesser Antilles. Steering currents caused the
storm to track in a northwesterly direction over the next several days. It was at this time
that the system encountered wind sheer that prevented the intensification of the storm. On
20 August, wind sheer was so significant that the storm drastically weakened and
Andrew’s pressure rose to 1015 mb. However, the next day, wind sheer decreased,
allowing Tropical Storm Andrew to intensify. On the morning of 22 August, the storm
became a hurricane and continued to strengthen. Just 36 hours later, Hurricane Andrew
had developed to its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 282 km/h
(175 mph) and a central pressure of 922 mb (hPa). As Hurricane Andrew passed over the
Bahaman island of Eleuthera, 407 km (203 mi) east-southeast of Miami, FL, the island
experienced 257 km/h (160 mph) winds and a 7 m (23 ft) storm surge. Andrew’s pressure
rose to 941 mb as the hurricane weakened a bit over the Great Bahama Bank, however
before making land fall the eye wall became better organized as the strom re-intensifed
over the Straights of Florida.
Hurricane Andrew made landfall along the southeastern tip of Florida (at the city of
Homestead) on 24 August with sustained winds of 241 km/h (150 mph). It crossed
southern Florida in just four hours at a rate of 29 km/h (18 mph), weakening to
Category 3 status with winds of 201 km/h (125 mph) as it traversed the state.
Hurricane Andrew then entered the Gulf of Mexico and continued to move quickly at
a rate of about 26 km/h (16 mph) in a west-northwest direction while re-
strengthening to Category 4 status with winds of 233 km/h (145 mph). As the
steering currents over the Gulf of Mexico changed, the speed of the hurricane
decreased drastically, and it began moving in a northwest direction towards
Louisiana. On 26 August, Hurricane Andrew made a second landfall in a sparsely

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populated area in southeastern Louisiana about 37 km (23 mi) west-southwest of
Morgan City, with sustained winds of 185 km/h (115 mph). The highest wind gust
measured in Louisiana during the hurricane was 282 km/h (175 mph) in St. Mary
Parish, an area off shore a few miles south of Morgan City. Gale force winds
impacted some portions of the state for over 12 hours.
Andrew quickly lost power and was downgraded to a tropical depression 12 hours
after landfall in Louisiana. The system then merged with a frontal system over the
Mid-Atlantic States by mid-day on 28 August, no longer exhibiting the qualities of a
tropical cyclone.
Damage resulting from Hurricane Andrew was very severe across south Florida, a
majority of which was due to the hurricane’s exceptionally powerful winds at
landfall. No conclusive maximum wind speeds could be determined in Florida, wind
measurement tools were largely destroyed during the storm, but a few
measurements obtained suggest that sustained winds were at least 225 km/h (140
mph) in some areas. Hurricane Andrew crossed Biscayne Bay, just south of Miami,
as it made landfall and the area experienced a central storm surge of 5.2 m (16.9 ft).
The fierce winds produced extensive environmental damage. In the Florida
Everglades and 25% of the trees were toppled. Moderate damage was found on the
coastal coral reefs of Florida, down to a level 23 m (75 ft) below the surface. Wind
damage caused agricultural loss of $1.04 billion in Florida, predominantly affecting
lime, avocado and specialty nursery crops.
The community of Homestead, FL, where the storm made landfall in FL, was almost
completely demolished by the hurricane, taking over 5 years to be rebuilt. The
destruction of the town included the loss of the Homestead Air Force Base, which
had originally been built to withstand 200 mph winds. About 63,000 homes in Dade
County, FL were also destroyed, with another estimated 110,000 additional homes
suffering significant damage. The large amount of devastation caused to homes can
be correlated to poor construction, as other areas exposed to similar storm
conditions with significantly less damage. 15 deaths were directly related to the
hurricane in Florida.
In Louisiana’s Atchafalaya River Basin, the largest swamp in the United States, 182
million fish were killed due to the storm’s disruption of their natural habitat, and 9.4
million other fish were killed off of the coast. The state saw significantly more
rainfall than Florida as a result of the slower forward speed of the weakened storm,
with a high measurement of 302.7 mm (11.9 in) at Hammond, LA. A 2.4-meter (8-
foot) storm surge was recorded on the coast as the hurricane came ashore. The
storm damaged corn, soy bean, and sugar crops, with an estimated $200 million in
damage done to the sugar crop. Eight deaths were recorded, with two of the deaths
caused by a hurricane-spawned F3 tornado

In total, Hurricane Andrew killed 65 people and caused $26.5 billion (1992 USD) in
damage, making it the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history only after Hurricane
Katrina (2005). $25 billion (1992 USD) of the damage occurred in Dade Countly, FL
alone, as this was the location that absorbed the initial impact of this powerful
storm.

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Fast Facts:

Hurricane Andrew was the fourth most intense hurricane to affect the United
States at time of landfall, with a central pressure of 926 mb.
Twelve years after the event, the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA reanalyzed
data obtained during Hurricane Andrew in a large effort to extend and improve the
quality of the NHC’s original best-track and intensity database. As a result, Andrew
became classified as Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind
scale. Originally, it was estimated to only have attained Category 4 status at peak
intensity.
Hurricane Andrew was the first major hurricane to affect the Florida peninsula in
well over 25 years when it made landfall, with the previous being Hurricane Donna
in 1960 which made landfall as a slow moving, Category 4 storm.
The hurricane destroyed nearly all of the thriving Australian pine trees, an
invasive species, in Florida’s Bill Baggs State Park, which had taken up 95% of the
park. Following the destruction of these trees, millions of dollars and tens thousands
of man-hours were donated to remove remnants of the Australian pines and plant
native trees in a large scale ecological restoration to replace the species that had
been causing ecological stress to the area.
After the hurricane, 12.7 million cubic yards of debris were removed from
impacted areas in Florida, enough to fill 3,884 Olympic swimming pools.
Because of the damage cause across southern Florida, the name Andrew was
retired from the Atlantic hurricane list of names, never to be used again. The name
was replaced by Alex for following hurricane seasons.

Retrieved from:
http://www.hurricanescience.org/history/storms/1990s/andrew/