Portal:Wyoming

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The Yellowstone fires of 1988 together formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park, USA. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames spread quickly out of control with increasing winds and drought and combined into one large conflagration, which burned for several months. It was finally extinguished by moist weather in the late fall. A total of 793,880 acres (3,213 km2), or roughly 36 percent of the park was affected by the wildfires. Thousands of firefighters fought the fires, assisted by dozens of helicopters and airplanes which were used for water and fire retardant drops. At the peak of the effort, over 9,000 firefighters were assigned to the park. With fires raging throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and other areas in the western United States, the staffing levels of the National Park Service and other land management agencies were inadequate to the situation. Over 4,000 U.S. Military personnel were soon assisting in fire suppression efforts. The fire fighting effort cost $120 million. No firefighters died while fighting the fires in Yellowstone, though there were two fire-related deaths outside the park. The Yellowstone fires of 1988 were unprecedented in the history of the National Park Service, and many questioned existing fire management policies. Media accounts of mismanagement were often sensational and inaccurate, sometimes wrongly reporting that most of the park was being destroyed. While there were temporary declines in air quality during the fires, no adverse long-term health effects have been recorded in the ecosystem. Contrary to initial reports, few large mammals were killed by the fires, though there has been a reduction in the number of moose which has yet to rebound. Losses to structures were minimized by concentrating fire fighting efforts near major visitor areas, keeping property damage down to $3 million. Barbara Lynn Cubin (born November 30, 1946) is a departing Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, having served since January since 1995 as the sole member of that body from Wyoming. In the 109th Congress, she was a member of the House Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In the wake of the Democratic takeover of Congress in the 2006 elections, Cubin was relegated to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as a Member of both the Health and Telecommunications Subcommittees. She is the first woman elected to Congress from Wyoming. The John Moulton Barn on Mormon Row at the base of the Tetons Photo credit: PD Photo List of counties in Wyoming List of U.S. states by date of statehood List of U.S. states by elevation List of areas in the National Park System of the United States Template:/box-header {{Wikipedia:WikiProject Wyoming/to do}} Template:/box-footer What are portals? List of portals Featured portals