Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Bad Air & the Yellowstone Fires of 1988

Though it is very atmospheric if you are a photographer or other type of artist who can use the beautiful coloring in our Valley this week for inspiration, it is the kind of air that is horrible for any with asthma or other breathing restrictions, and the best place is indoors.

This article from today's Bee provides the necessary information.

Many experts feel the Yellowstone Fires of 1988 and the ensuing year of fires in the West began a series of discussions—still ongoing—about how to manage wild lands for protection from fires; and the aftermath of the fires of 1988 sure leads to a need to find that how, as this excerpt from an article in PERC Reports about the Yellowstone fires and the resulting search for sound policy, notes:

The Aftermath

“By the end of the 1988 fire season, up to 2 million tons of particulates, 4.4 million tons of carbon monoxide, 129 tons of nitrogen oxide, and 106 tons of hydrocarbons were released into the air and dropped in the form of air pollution as far away as Boston, Mass., and Amarillo, Texas. Enough commercial timber to build 11,000 homes burned in surrounding national forests. Overall, the fires cost nearly $140 million--14 times Yellowstone's annual budget.

“Of the 25,000 firefighters who passed through the fires, two died--one in a plane crash and the other when a tree fell on him. Across the West, 6 million acres burned, the most since 1960, when agencies began keeping good records.”