Fire At El Capitan

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If the underbrush is left to accumulate too long, a small fire can turn into a catastrophe. "We used to have a Smokey Bear philosophy that all fire is bad," says Park Service spokesman Dwayne Collier. "Now we accept that it has a natural and useful role." Environmentalists agree. "There's really no controversy here," says Steve Whitney, director of the national parks program at the Wilderness Society.

Accordingly, the Park Service reversed its long-standing policy in the late 1970s. Natural blazes that did not threaten people or property were allowed to take their course, and park officials would sometimes start fires intentionally. But the term let-it-burn is a misnomer, says Elmer Hurd, head of the service's fire-management branch. "We don't ignore fires," he says. "We continually monitor them." In Yellowstone, rangers finally stepped in when the flames got out of hand, but it was too late. By the time autumn rains finally quenched the fires, some 1 million acres had gone up in smoke. It was a public relations fiasco, and the Park Service moved quickly to review its procedures. In the end, though, while some details were changed, the overall policy remained the same. The reason the Yosemite fires were attacked quickly and effectively is that they started in areas near towns and thus had to be put out immediately. Says Hurd: "There was no question about what we would do."

The Yosemite episode seems to vindicate the Park Service's strategy -- and at the same time makes it clear that the old suppress-all-fires system caused more problems than it solved. Last week's blazes spread quickly not only because of drought but also because decades' worth of excess brush had accumulated during the years before controlled burning began.

The manpower and equipment for fighting the Yosemite wildfires came largely from the Boise Interagency Fire Center, in Idaho, which dispatches fire fighters across the country and coordinates their efforts. More than 23,000 have been mobilized this summer, including 2,000 U.S. Army troops. "Right now we've nearly reached our ceiling," says information officer Reed Jarvis. "If we had any greater demands, we would be sorely stressed." More troops could be called up within days, but that might not be fast enough in case of a major blaze.

Thanks to higher humidity, cooler temperatures and diminishing winds, the flames have begun to die down in every state except Alaska. But while weather will always be the dominant factor in starting and sustaining fires, the amount of damage they cause depends on the choices individuals make. Fire fighters are becoming increasingly concerned about places like Santa Barbara, Calif., where residential areas are encroaching on wilderness. Fires are as much a part of the Western environment as hurricanes are on the barrier islands of the East and Gulf coasts. And people who choose to live in such places are automatically putting their lives and possessions at risk.