Maple Fire Grows 400 Acres, Burnout Operations Continue Along Madison River

Fire activity continues to ramp up as breezy, warm conditions continue in the Greater Yellowstone Area.

In more immediate news, Yellowstone’s South Entrance has been closed once again due to activity from the Berry Fire.

In spite of this, fire growth continues to be minimal, with most fires posting no gains in acreage whatsoever from yesterday. In addition, despite smoke becoming more prominent around the Park, air quality forecasts for today and tomorrow continue to be good. See the full forecast below.

In addition, according to NBC Montana, parts of Yellowstone might get a light dusting of snow. At the same time, the National Weather Service has issued an Red Flag Warning, advising that storm winds could stoke fire growth overnight.

According to a Yellowstone press release, Maple Fire gained 400 acres, growing to 42,400 acres. Crews made “good progress” on burnout operations along Maple’s edge along the Madison River, which will create a buffer protecting West Yellowstone in this and future fire seasons. The Bakers Hole area is still closed at this time. Crews continue to monitor the fire’s edge.

Finally, every other fire in the Park (Buffalo, Fawn, Central, and Jasper) showed no increases in size since our report yesterday.

Crews have finished removing dead/downed trees from trails in the area of Buffalo Fire and are actively patrolling the fire’s perimeter. You can still see Buffalo Fire from time to time from the Mount Washburn Fire Lookout – Northeast Webcam.

Fawn, Central, and Jasper Fires are still unstaffed and continue to be monitored from the air. You can see Central Fire from the Mount Washburn Fire Lookout – South Webcam.

All park roads, besides the Grand Loop Road between Grant Village and the South Entrance, and visitor facilities, both NPS- and concessionaire-operated, are open at this time.