Firefighters hoped cooler weather would help slow the flames over the next couple of days, and fire spokesman Bill Swartley reiterated that “Yellowstone National Park is open for business”.
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Firefighters in the region mostly faced windy, dry conditions that have fanned flames that destroyed buildings and forced evacuations in California, Washington, Idaho and elsewhere.
The south entrance to Yellowstone National Park remained closed due to fire activity Thursday morning but all other entrances and roads inside the park are open to visitor traffic.
The 12,000-acre Berry Fire in Grand Teton National Park started a month ago during a lightning storm. The prospects for reopening the route are “not good in the near future” because the fire was close to the highway, fire spokeswoman Karen Miranda said.
The closure order, which was made earlier this week and remained in effect on Wednesday, means throngs of peak summer season vacationers will have to make a detour of at least 150 miles (241 km) to move between the neighboring parks. The road runs from Red Lodge to the park’s northeast entrance near Cooke City-Silver Gate.
The largest blaze spans about 42 square miles between the community of West Yellowstone, Montana, and Madison Junction, an area in the park with a campground, visitor facilities and staff housing.
As of Monday, all of the park’s main tourist facilities remained open, even though the Maple fire (the biggest blaze among the four fires) is reported to have grown by almost 10 square miles in a span of a few hours, prompting authorities to order more firefighters to the area.
Almost 1,900 structures were threatened by a blaze in coastal San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties, where more than 2,400 people were under evacuation orders.
Also other fires in the Cody area continue to burn. Hundreds of homes remain threatened by the fire in rugged wilderness coast along Highway 1.
Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency for 20 Washington state counties in response to wildfires that threaten homes and natural resources.
Authorities ordered people in a rural area of northwestern Montana to evacuate before dawn Monday after a wildfire doubled in size in one day.
A fast-moving rangeland wildfire in eastern Idaho expanded to almost 70 square miles Wednesday, forcing evacuations, threatening a windfarm and burning habitat needed by sage grouse, a federally protected bird.
No evacuations are in place but the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office has contacted some homeowners east of Idaho Falls and asked that they be prepared to go if the fire heads their way.
A fire burning on the Spokane Indian Reservation was 30 percent contained.
A almost 50-square-mile fire in eastern OR near the Idaho state line was 60 percent contained and threatening Succor Creek State Park.
Firefighters in northern Utah are working to contain a growing wildfire near a ski resort that’s now crossed the border into southern Idaho.
Yellowstone national park officials tell us fire crews are on alert looking out for fire dangers, to keep tourists safe while visiting the park.
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Continuing hot weather and high winds were expected to cause the fire to grow. The fire’s cause is unknown.
