Thousands of Acres Blackened in Montana and Wyoming : Army Troops Join Forest Fires Assault

Temperatures fell, the wind died down and the Army arrived Monday, improving conditions for weary firefighters battling forest fires that have charred thousands of acres of Montana and Wyoming, especially in Yellowstone National Park.

A first wave of 612 infantrymen from Ft. Lewis, Wash., landed at Bozeman, Mont., and headed for the 157,000-acre Clover Mist fire in Yellowstone’s northeastern corner.

10 Fires in Park

Soldiers were to help prevent the fire, one of 10 burning in the park and involving about 350,000 acres, from crossing into Montana’s Custer National Forest or commercial areas of Wyoming’s Shoshone National Forest.

Park spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo said it was possible that some of the soldiers might remain in the southern Montana towns of Cooke City and Silvergate to help protect them from the Clover Mist fire burning about 3 miles to the south.

About 3,000 firefighters were at work in Yellowstone, the nation’s first national park.

Idaho Reinforcements

Elsewhere, reinforcements were called out in Idaho to back up firefighters working to keep the 700-acre Eagle Bar fire away from a timber sale tract in the Payette National Forest. Spokeswoman Carla Tipton said two 20-member crews were on the scene and three more were expected; an order was put in for 280 more people.

Winds blew at only 5 to 15 m.p.h. Monday in Yellowstone, down from Saturday’s 60-m.p.h. gusts.

However, the park’s south entrance remained closed, forcing visitors coming from the south to detour about 150 miles to the park’s west entrance at West Yellowstone, Mont. The northern gate and two eastern entries remained open.

In addition, the Grant Village area, which contains a hotel, campground, visitor center and park staff dormitories, was closed, as were the Norris, Pebble Creek, Madison and Lewis Lake campgrounds. The park contains 12 campgrounds. Some roads also were closed but most of the park remained accessible.

South of Yellowstone, in Grand Teton National Park and the Bridger-Teton National Forest, the Hunter fire that had grown to more than 2,900 acres in one day had calmed Monday, said Don Bright, fire information officer.

Smoke Jumpers

Elsewhere in Montana, 20 smoke jumpers parachuted into the Storm Creek fire that has burned 22,000 acres of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, and 80 more were to be taken in by four-wheel drive vehicles, a ranger said.

The Hellroaring Creek fire, in a different section of the same giant wilderness area northeast of Yellowstone, had covered an estimated 30,000 acres by Monday, a spokesman said.

In southeastern Montana, officials called for reinforcements to help battle a blaze out of control south of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. Don Kendall of the Department of State Lands said the Kirby fire--fanned by winds blowing at 35 to 40 m.p.h.--had grown to 10,000 to 12,000 acres.