Yellowstone Tourists Flee Flames in Auto Convoys

As forest fires swept over 400,000 acres of Yellowstone National Park today, rangers shepherded convoys of tourists down roads otherwise closed by the blazes.

Residents of two towns on the edge of the park were warned today that they might have to evacuate.

Forest fires also threatened two communities in Oregon.

Two convoys of up to 350 cars today allowed tourists to get from one side of Yellowstone Park to the other in safety, after a ranger drove the route between the park communities of Canyon and Norris to check its condition.

‘Some Are Upset’

Ranger Mona Devine said notices were posted Thursday night notifying visitors of the convoys. “They think it’s a big adventure. Of course, some of the people are upset,” she said.

The convoys filed past the 114,000-acre North Fork fire, one of 10 involving about 400,000 acres of the park.

Just outside the park’s northeast entrance, a 30,000-acre blaze in the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness area in south-central Montana threatened two towns today and a fire official said evacuation plans were ready.

“We have about a 30% to 40% chance that we would have to evacuate” Cooke City and Silver Gate, said David Liebersbach, incident commander on the Storm Creek fire.

West Entrance Reopened

He estimated that perhaps 500 to 1,000 people might be affected if an evacuation is ordered.

Yellowstone Park facilities at Grant Village, Lewis Lake, Norris, Canyon, Pebble Creek and Madison remained closed today.

The park’s west entrance was reopened this morning, although intermittent closures were expected. The park’s south entrance near Grant Village remained closed.

From the south entrance, the Rockefeller Memorial Parkway leading into Grand Teton National Park also was closed, because of a 21,500-acre fire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Soldiers Join Battle

About 1,525 firefighters, including about 600 soldiers from Ft. Lewis, Wash., battled the 162,700-acre Clover-Mist fire burning in the park and in steep, rugged terrain in Shoshone National Forest.

Elsewhere, residents of Maxville, Mont., a town of about two dozen households 90 miles southwest of Helena, were told to stand by today for possible evacuation as a fire spread to about 7,500 acres of heavy timber overnight, said Palmer Bowen, a fire information officer.

In southwestern Oregon, the lightning-sparked Walker Mountain fire crept within a half mile of a subdivision of about 1,000 people north of Grants Pass. In the northeastern corner of the state, the Ward Canyon fire spread to within a mile of the tiny community of Troy, authorities said.

Both communities were placed on evacuation alert. The Ward Canyon blaze had burned 15 unoccupied structures.