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Yellowstone National Park
West Yellowstone Interagency Fire Center
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Yellowstone National Park maintains one Park Service smokejumper at the West Yellowstone Interagency Fire Center. Smokejumpers parachute to fires in remote areas and take the necessary action to manage the fires. Since Yellowstone is almost 2.2 million acres of de facto wilderness, smokejumpers have a key role in accessing fires that are very far from roads. In addition to the Park Service smokejumper, the U.S. Forest Service employs about 24 smokejumpers and one smokejumper aircraft. The current "jumpship" is a Dornier 228 from Bighorn Aviation which carries eight jumpers and cargo.
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| "Jumper 13" the Dornier 228 "jumpship." |
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| Cargo being dropped to the jumpers. |
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The West Yellowstone Interagency Fire Center is also home to one contract retardant airplane. Currently, this is Tanker 25, a P3 Orion from the Aerounion company. This plane supplies retardant to fires throughout the nation at a moments notice. The retardant is a mix of dry compound, similar to fertilizer, and water. Retardant is mixed and loaded at the West Yellowstone tanker base under the direction of the mixmaster.
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| A tanker dropping retardant on a fire. |
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Did You Know?
Some groups of Shoshone Indians, who adapted to a mountain existence, chose not to acquire the horse. These included the Sheep Eaters, or Tukudika, who used dogs to transport food, hides, and other provisions. The Sheep Eaters lived in many locations in Yellowstone.
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Last Updated: June 11, 2007 at 16:49 EST |
