Yellowstone Blaze Nears Old Faithful

A 2,700-acre forest fire in Yellowstone National Park burned to within 8 miles of Old Faithful geyser Monday, and two other fires were less than a mile from a closed hotel in the country’s first national park.

Altogether, fires burning Monday in Yellowstone had charred about 40,000 acres of the 2.2- million-acre park.

“These are conditions that we haven’t seen in the recorded history of Yellowstone,” park spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo said. The park is 7 1/2 inches below normal precipitation for the year and the Old Faithful area got just three-fourths of an inch of rain in June, the National Weather Service said.

California Mops Up

Meanwhile, firefighters in Central and Northern California mopped up dozens of little fires and more lightning strikes were reported in the Sierra Nevada range. Crews had nearly extinguished a pair of fires in Calaveras County that burned about 11,000 acres and eight homes, state forestry officials said.

Fire strategists met Monday at Old Faithful to map battle plans against fires in and around Yellowstone.

“They have so many fires going on right now in Yellowstone, they have to make some decisions on where to put their resources,” said Lisa Lew, spokeswoman for the adjacent Targhee National Forest in Idaho.

No closures of services or accommodations at Old Faithful had been ordered, but Anzelmo said park visitors were being told that such closures may eventually be necessary.

Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel planned to fly to Yellowstone on Wednesday to inspect the firefighting effort and be briefed on the fires, the Interior Department said Monday.

The south entrance to Yellowstone, along with the Grant Village hotel and two campgrounds inside the park, were closed last week because of other fires.

Two fires totaling 7,500 acres along the shores of Lewis and Shoshone lakes were less than a mile from Grant Village on Monday.