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An Osborn Fire Finder sits facing Mount Rainier from inside the Shriner Fire Lookout Station.
NPS Photo
Mount Rainier isn’t just a mountain with a helmet of ice — it’s a landscape shaped partially by fire. From trees that reveal evidence of fires in their rings to the proliferation of huckleberry plants across the park, evidence has shown that fire has been a tool that plays a complex and crucial role in renewing forests, maintaining meadows, and keeping ecosystems healthy.
Since the park's establishement in 1899, both natural and human-caused fires have been treated aggressively and suppressed as soon as they've been spotted. Since then, however, the park's relationship to fire has become more nuanced and fires have been acknowledged as a necessary part of healthy forest management to benefit the park's ecosystem.
Every fire that has occurred at Mount Rainier has a lesson to teach if we only pay attention. Read below to see how relationships and responses towards fires have changed over time.
A Sampling of Fire History
The vision of the national park system has evolved with our changing country. Wildland fire has been no different and has always been a concern of the National Park Service. Ideas and perspectives on wildland fire have shifted and re-shifted, but the concern for preserving and protecting priceless pieces of nature and culture have always been the top priority.
Here is a timeline of the key events of wildland fire at Mount Rainier.
While fires are infrequent in this wet, high-elevation environment, they are most significant natural disturbance affecting the forest over time.
The largest recorded ancient fire (around year 1230) burned an estimated 61,750 acres — nearly one-fourth of today’s park.
Scientists studying tree rings and soil layers have revealed that major fires swept through the park in years like 1230, 1403, 1503, and 1628.
Indigenous peoples were the first to influence fire regimes in the subalpine zones, using fire to enhance food and basketry materials. Long before Mount Rainier became a national park, local tribes—including the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Yakama Nation, Cowlitz Tribe, Puyallup Tribe, Nisqually Tribe, and Squaxin Island Tribe—shaped the landscape using fire as a crucial tool for food production.
Fire Management Practices
Vegetation Control:
The ancestral Nisqually Tribe managed vegetation by controlling brush, making landscapes more accessible for travel and increasing visibility for tracking deer, goats, and elk. This also promoted the spread of huckleberry bushes and beargrass.
Basket Weaving Materials:
Low-intensity fires improved the quality of basketry materials by affecting leaf pigment, thickness, and strength, particularly in beargrass.
Traditional Stewardship:
Fires were intentionally set during dry seasons and controlled, reflecting a form of land stewardshp
Impact of Fire Suppression
Despite millennia of practice, Indigenous fire management techniques diminished due to U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service fire suppression efforts. In the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve (pre-1899) and later Mount Rainier National Park, aggressive fire suppression hindered Indigenous practices aimed at enhancing plant and animal productivity.
From 1903 to 1905, half of the documented fires near Mount Rainier were set by Indigenous peoples, often timed to extinguish naturally with fall rains. Historical imagery and ecological studies indicate that fir tree encroachment has increased in subalpine zones, such as Paradise Valley.
Summary
Impacts of humans on the disturbance regime may have increased the frequency of fire in the 1850–1900 period, followed by a decrease in frequency after 1900. Fuel build-up as a result of fire suppression should have no significant impact on fire frequency since fires are relatively infrequent and fuels accumulate naturally.
Following the park’s establishment in 1899, nearly all fires were suppressed as a matter of policy, regardless of their cause or ecological benefits. While this approach protected historic buildings and roads, it disrupted natural fire cycles.
Consequences of Fire Exclusion
Without regular fires, dense understories of brush and dead wood accumulate, especially in lowland forests. This buildup increases the risk of catastrophic, high-intensity wildfires that threaten both natural and human-made resources.
Mission 66 Era
During the Mission 66 era, the National Park Service implemented aggressive fire suppression policies, focusing on rapid detection and containment of unplanned fires. This approach resulted in no catastrophic fires during this period, with the largest recorded fire remaining the Sunset Park Fire of 1930.
Ranger Districts
In the 1940s, Mount Rainier National Park was organized into six ranger districts: White River, Ohanapecosh, Paradise, Nisqually, Carbon River, and Longmire. In 1950, this was reduced to five districts by combining Longmire and Paradise.
Fire Control Management & Fire Lookouts
The fire control program was managed by the chief park ranger, with district rangers overseeing suppression efforts. Seasonal rangers helped during fire season, and lookout stations equipped with Osborne fire finders were vital for fire detection, particularly at Gobblers Knob, Sunset Park, Tolmie Peak, Mount Fremont, and Shiner Peak during the 1950s and 1960s.
Cooperative Agreements
In 1949, the National Park Service established cooperative fire control agreements with the U.S. Forest Service and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. This collaboration allowed agencies to pool resources and share responsibilities for fire suppression across jurisdictional boundaries, improving regional fire management efforts.
Fire Size Trends
Most fires in the park during this period were small (less than 5 acres), primarily due to effective suppression and wet weather conditions.
A Change of Attitude
In 1962, the Secretary of the Interior asked a committee to look into wildlife management problems in the national parks. This committee did not confine its report to wildlife, but took the broader ecological view that parks should be managed as ecosystems. As a result, the National Park Service changed its policy in 1968 to recognize fire as an ecological process. Fires were to be allowed to run their course as long as they could be contained within fire management units and accomplished approved management objectives.
Fire Lookout Stations
By 1969, the number was reduced to three fire lookout stations, with Nisqually, Carbon River, and Longmire being combined to form the West District. Lookout stations remained key to the system of forest fire detection through the end of the Mission 66 era. All were equipped with Osborne fire finders (pictured above).
To enhance fire control efficiency, the park improved its communication system, transitioning from telephone lines to a radio network after World War II, which allowed for better coordination during fire incidents. Public education initiatives, such as fire prevention posters and permit requirements for campfires, were established to raise awareness among visitors.
Prescribed Fires
Prescribed burning remained uncommon in the national park system and was not applied historically nor currently in Mount Rainier National Park.
Past Wildland Fires
Here is a timeline of more recent wildland fires at Mount Rainier.
Details
The Twin Firs Fire was started by a lightning strike on Friday morning, August 25, 2023, and burned approximately half an acre in old growth forest about 1200 feet north of the park’s Nisqually Road between Kautz Creek and the Twin Firs Trail. News Release, 8/27/2023
Called in by hikers on the Wonderland Trail at mid-day on August 9, 2018, as a small 1/2 acre fire on the north aspect of Cowlitz Peak. Unknown start date, may have been from storm on July 28.
Aerial reconnaissance August 15 found the fire still under 1 acre. Better coordinates for fire determined it to be at about 3700 feet on the north-facing aspect of Cowlitz Peak above the Ohanapecosh River.
On August 24 a Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) helicopter was able to reconnaissance, and reported fire behavior as creeping, while an infrared (IR) flight on September 1 discovered 0.1 acres of detectable heat. Believed the fire was backing slowly down the slope, with the only heat/smoke production coming from the head of the fire. Firefighters walked the perimeter of this fire on September 10. There was only heat on the edges, particularly the lower lobe. Flame heights of 3-6 inches.
As of September 28, the Cowlitz Peak Fire was still putting up a small amount of smoke (smoke was visible from Hwy 123 at about milepost 9.5.) and was expected to do so until there was a solid stretch of rain or snow in the winter.
Cause
Lightning storm, likely
Total Area Burned
5 Acres
Details
Discovered July 30, 2018, probably same ignition date as Spooky Tree. Near a ridge top at 5200 feet, west of the Muddy Fork of the Cowlitz, with smoke column visible from Box Canyon Overlook. This fire first showed up on satellite infra-red (IR) after increase in fire behavior on August 21.
On the 24th, Washington Department of Natural Resources helicopter was able to reconnaissance, and reported fire behavior as backing and creeping, total size approximately 20-30 acres.
An IR flight on August 25 put the fire size at 15 acres total, not including the scree slopes and unburned fuels surrounding the fire.
Cool off in early September speculated to be due in part to discontinuous fuels, relatively high live-fuel moistures, and a lack of both continuously low relative humidities and sustained east winds.
Declared out on September 16, 2018.
Cause
Lightning
Total Area Burned
20 - 30 Acres
Details
On the Cowlitz Divide, just off the Wonderland Trail, about 1/4 mile north of the Wonderland Trail / Cowlitz Divide trail junction.
Lightning start on July 28, 2018, approx. 40' X 20'.
Suppression actions taken July 29 and 30, fire in patrol status for several weeks before being declared out on August 20, 2018.
Cause
Lightning
Total Area Burned
Less than 0.2 acres
Details
Thirteen fires were ignited by lightning on August 10 and 11, 2017, in the vicinity of the William O. Douglas and Norse Peak Wilderness Areas on the Naches Ranger District of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
The fires burned in steep rocky terrain, with difficult access.
Two of the fires reached significant size: the Norse Peak Fire (north of State Route 410 (SR410) near Union Creek) and the American Fire (between SR410 and Bumping Lake).
Cause
Lightning struck outside of the park, but enroached on park boundaries and caused temporary trail closures inside the park.
Total Area Burned
55,920 acres
Details
The complex consisted of three fires: the Panther Fire (contained at 56 acres) smoldered in 500 year old old-growth, with 2-3 foot duff layers; Chenuis Fire was contained at 1 acre, and the Redstone Fire burned in mature timber with heavy down woody material interspersed with rock openings.
The Redstone Fire doubled in size to 110 acres over 24 hours and was spotted near the Northern Loop Trail.
Cause
Human-caused
Total Area Burned
Panther: 56 acres
Chenuis: 1 acre
Redstone: 110 acres
Fire Today
Though still quite rare, fire is recognized as an essential part of Mount Rainier’s ecosystem. Under the park’s Fire Management Plan, fires are managed in different ways depending on weather, location, fuel conditions, and park ranger and visitor safety.
Fire Facts
465 Years
Average “natural fire rotation” in Mount Rainier National Park’s forest before modern fire suppression. That means fire historically burned the same area every ~465 years.
61,750 Acres
Estimated size of the largest ancient fire based on tree ring data. That’s about 26% of the entire park!
22 Lightning Strikes
The record for most lightning–ignited fires in one year (1990) all during a single storm.
11,000 Acres
Burned in the largest modern fire 1930s, caused by escaped flames during road construction (Sunset Park Fire).
83 Fires in 10 Years
Between 1987 and 1997, Mount Rainier recorded 83 fires; 37 were caused by lightning and naturally extinguished.
85% Human Caused
Most fires from 1930 – 1985 were caused by people — often near roads and developed areas.
400 Acres
Area burned in the Redstone Fire of 2003, one of the most notable recent fires managed under modern fire policy.
<5 Acres
Most fires are historically small due to wet conditions and quick response.
700 Years
Time it can take for old-growth Douglas-fir forests to return after a stand-replace fire.
