http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0731/p03s01-usgn.html

Headline:

from the July 31, 2003 edition

A fiery test in land of glaciers and grizzlies

Despite one of the worst fire seasons in the park in 50 years, it's been a
benign summer in the West.

By Todd Wilkinson | Special to the Christian Science Monitor

BOZEMAN, MONT. – Mark VanArtsdale has arguably one of the most inspiring
commutes in America. The view from his windshield delivers panoramas of
chiseled mountains, flowered meadows, and emerald green tarns.
But in recent days, Mr. VanArtsdale has seen another natural wonder on the way
to his boat company in Glacier National Park: a shroud of smoke in the distance
and the front end of a massive wildfire crawling into the McDonald Valley.



For Glacier, this summer is turning out to be one of the worst fire seasons in
the past half century. Three major fires are currently burning in the park and
surrounding area. They've already blackened nearly 50,000 acres.

To be sure, the park is not burning down. There are places in its 1 million
acres where even the drifting smoke is absent, and visitors to many parts of
the park have little to worry about.

But northwest Montana is still one of the tensest spots in the nation right
now. More than 2,000 firefighters have been sent in to fight the various
blazes, 5,000 people have been temporarily evacuated from the park, and 500
residences are at risk.

Earlier this week, fire officials decided on the dramatic - and daring - move
of fighting fire with fire, burning 2,000 acres near the town of West Glacier
in an effort to stop the advancing blaze. Officials said they would know within
the next few days whether the tactic would be successful.

"I'm not going to pull any punches," fire behavior specialist John See told a
gathering of 300 people late Tuesday. "It's going to be challenging."

Despite fire's footprint here in Montana, it's been a relatively mild summer in
the West. A few months ago, fire forecasters were issuing dire predictions,
worrying over the lingering drought and the proliferation of undergrowth caused
by a wet spring.

But those fears have mostly proved unfounded. As of this week, there have been
67 percent fewer fires this year than the 10-year average for the period. The
1.8 million acres that have burned so far is about 80 percent of the 10-year
average.

The summer has been nothing compared with last year's epic season, when the
federal costs of fighting wildfires set a record and nearly 4 million acres had
burned by the beginning of August. ... (cont)

excerpt:

What's remarkable in Montana, notes Amy Vanderbilt, Glacier Park spokeswoman,
is how fast the forest, dampened by a relatively moist spring, has turned
tinder dry, parched by high temperatures and and breezy, rainless thunderstorms
that bring lightning strikes.

"The kind of fire behavior we're witnessing is different from what we've seen
in the past," says Ms. Vanderbilt, who also worked in Yellowstone during the
1988 fires....