Small fires cropping up at end of season
By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
September 4, 2009
Lightning storms in late August have resulted in several small fires around the region, including a second small blaze near Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, officials said Thursday.
The recent spurt of fire activity comes after a wet summer that choked out most wildfires in the region before they grew to more than an acre. Bridger-Teton National Forest officials are monitoring five fires in the forest, including a blaze near Ditch Creek and a new 20-acre fire north of Pinedale.
And Yellowstone National Park officials say lightning strikes started four small fires, including one in Lamar Valley that has grown to 40 acres.
In Grand Teton National Park, the Bearpaw Bay Fire is burning on 2.5 acres half a mile southeast of Bearpaw Bay. Earlier this week, officials released information on the Third Creek Fire, which has grown to nine-tenths of an acre east of Hermitage Point. Both fires likely started from lightning strikes Sunday, and both fires are being managed to benefit the environment.
Jackie Skaggs, spokeswoman for Grand Teton National Park, said the Bearpaw Bay Fire is in an area that burned in the Mystic Isle Fire in 1981.
“It was pretty visible across the valley yesterday,” Skaggs said Thursday. “Prevailing winds will bring it to the western shore of Jackson Lake. These are the perfect conditions to have a resource-benefit fire because there are natural fire breaks around it that will contain its growth.”
In Yellowstone, the Butte Fire is burning on 40 acres near the summit of Druid Peak, east of Buffalo Ranch and north of the North Entrance Road, park spokesman Al Nash said. It is being managed to benefit the environment.
“The fire, by our standards in this area, is not very large,” he said. “It poses no threat; it’s not going to close any roads or trails, but it is in a very visible location.”
“It has the potential early in the morning for smoke to lay fairly low, and it can put up a fairly significant smoke plume in the afternoon,” Nash said. “It is atypical for us to have our first significant fire start in September.”
Nash said there are three more fires in Yellowstone, all burning single trees that ignited from lightning strikes. Two of the small fires are on Mount Washburn and another is north of the Northeast Entrance.
On Bridger-Teton, the Little Brown Fire started Aug. 30 from a lightning storm. The blaze has grown to 20 acres and is burning between Fremont Lake and Boulder Lake five miles north of Pinedale.
