GLACIER OUTDOOR CENTER
2003 Fire

FIRE! 2003 will go down as a very historic fire year for Glacier Country. Fire season doesn't usually start until late August or early September, so it was surprising to see fire underway in mid-July. By mid-September there were 16 large fires in the region covering more than 310,000 acres. Of that total acreage, 145,000 were within Glacier National Park. Yet, Glacier National Park estimates that only 10 percent of the entire Park burned.

In comparison, Glacier National Park averages 14 fires each summer and has averaged 5000 acres burned each year since 1988. Some fires are small, remote fires that most visitors will never see flames or smoke from. Other fires have grown quite large and can be very visible.

The fires of 2003 were clearly visible, both locally and throughout western Montana. Lightening started the first fire in the Flathead's North Fork Valley on July 18. That fire eventually ran across the North Fork River into Glacier National Park. On July 23, the Robert Fire started in the lower North Fork Valley and within hours jumped the North Fork Road and the North Fork River into Glacier National Park, eventually threatening the populated areas of West Glacier, Apgar and Park headquarters. The Trapper Fire, burning just west of the Continental Divide within Glacier National Park, threatened the historic Granite Park Chalet and advanced across the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Smoke and fires forced the evacuations of West Glacier, Apgar Village, and much of the Lake McDonald Valley. The fire season ended with a wet cold front in early September.

The fires played an obvious role in the 43 percent decline in park visitation for the month of August compared with August of 2002.