Photo Gallery: Wildfires

Fighting the High Park Fire From Above

Photograph by Jess Geffre, Associated Press

A helicopter drops water on the High Park Fire, about 15 miles west of Fort Collins, Colorado. Officials have invested more than $30 million in fighting the blaze. Farther south near Colorado Springs, and in neighboring Utah, firefighters have relied on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to slow the Waldo Canyon and Wood Hollow fires.

The West largely relies on ice melt into the Colorado River Basin from the Rocky Mountains for its water supply. But the region is experiencing a dry, hot summer because those areas this year received less than 70 percent of the average snowfall, according to the USDA National Water and Climate Center. (Read more of the National Geographic News article: "Warm Spring May Mean Drought and Wildfires in West.")

And for more helicopter action, watch this video of a chopper pilot carrying 250-gallon baskets of water to fight a fire encroaching on his home town—from the National Geographic Channel's Alaska Wing Men: Fire Fight.

Risky Development

Photograph by Adolphe Pierre-Louis, Associated Press

The charred remains of an SUV near Ruidoso, New Mexico, sit outside a home after a June 11, 2012, blaze. With human development lurching farther into the mountains, more and more people are exposing themselves and their homes to the devastation that natural fire cycles can cause.

The fires also threaten the multi-million dollar Rocky Mountain tourist industry, which may be a bust this year.

Read more about other resources at risk in Sandra Postel’s blog post on "Fire, Drought, and Water Stress."

Island of Safety in Colorado

Photograph by Jim Richardson, National Geographic

All that remains of a home leveled by a forest fire that swept through Colorado's Front Range years ago is the foundation, chimney, and swimming pool.

A Blessing and a Curse

Photograph by Jeremie Schatz, My Shot

A wildfire burns out of control in May near the Poudre River northwest of Fort Collins, Colorado. The fire was part of the first wave of blazes in 2012.

(This photo and caption were submitted to My Shot.)

Hotshots

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

Hotshot crews, similar to ones fighting the ongoing Colorado fires, face the 2007 Jocko Lakes fire near Seeley, Montana. These elite on-the-ground firefighting teams are highly trained in wildfire suppression.

Learn what it’s like to be on the line photographing wildfires in this video about National Geographic photographer Mark Thiessen.

Drive-By Fire

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

National Geographic photographer Mark Thiessen rides shotgun as a fire crew supervisor drives through the 2007 Jocko Lakes fire in Montana.

See more of Thiessen’s photos from the 2008 National Geographic magazine article on Western forest fires.

Calling for Help in Montana

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

During the 2007 Jocko Lakes Fire in Montana, division supervisor Ed Sanford radios orders to fire crews working to put out spot fires.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were 85,705 individual fires that burned a total of 9,328,045 acres across the U.S. in 2007.

Montana Backfire

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

A hotshot firefighter tries a technique that creates “backfire” to combat the 2007 Jocko Lakes Fires in Montana. He uses a Veri-pistol (which is like a flare gun) to create a fire up slope. The new fire is meant to suck in lower fires and prevent them from jumping firefighting lines.

See from a wildfire fighter’s perspective in "America’s Best Adventures: Fighting Wildfires."

Montana Remains

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

The scarred remains of a Montana wildfire remind us of the dangers of living in a dry landscape.

As mountain snows melt earlier, and winter storms arrive later, fire season is expanding in many regions. Vast tracts of forest have turned to tinder, with drought-weakened trees succumbing to disease and insects such as the pine beetle.

Read more in National Geographic magazine’s article "Fire Season."

Glacier National Park

Photograph by Michael Melford, National Geographic

Large wildfires, like the 2006 Red Eagle Fire that devastated this tract of Montana's Glacier National Park, can cause deeper problems. When forests are stripped bare, rain and meltwater run through unimpeded, causing potentially dangerous and destructive flood conditions.

Learn how forest managers protect and stabilize the charred forest floor in this video: Wildfire Research.

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Russian Firefighter

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

A Russian firefighter rappels into the Siberian forest from an Mi-8 helicopter. Russia's aerial firefighting organization, the Avialesookhrana, is the largest of its kind in the world. Some 4,000 firefighters patrol 11 time zones in Soviet-era helicopters and biplanes, dousing the country's 20,000 to 35,000 wildfires every year.

See more photos of Russian fire seasons in this National Geographic News photo gallery: "Wildfire Pictures: Russia Burns, Moscow Chokes."

Russian Smokejumper

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

A member of the Avialesookhrana, Russia's aerial firefighting organization, leaps toward Siberia's boreal forest from an An-2 biplane. "The idea of actually parachuting into fires was a Soviet invention," says American wildfire historian Stephen Pyne. "In the 1930s these guys would climb out onto the wing of a plane, jump off, land in the nearest village, and rally the villagers to go fight the fire."

Watch rookie smokejumpers on the job.

Desolation Peak

Photograph by David Pluth, National Geographic

Writer and poet Jack Kerouac once spent a summer as a National Park Service fire scout in this one-room cabin atop Desolation Peak in Washington's North Cascades National Park. For decades, a policy of suppressing all forest fires allowed too much fuel—dead wood, underbrush, and small trees—to build up on public lands. The Park Service now promotes "using fire as a land management tool," so long as human life isn't threatened.

Watch a video about Fighting Fire With Fire in Wisconsin’s Superior National Forest.

Idaho Fires

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

Fire can have different effects in different kinds of forests. Some species, like the lodgepole pine, use the extreme heat of large fires to release their seeds. Other species, like the ponderosa pines seen burning in this aerial shot of an Idaho fire, need frequent but more mild, low-level fires to thrive. They may not grow back after an intense blaze like this.

Learn more about the benefits of fire in this National Geographic video about Yosemite: Giant Sequoias Need Fire.

To the Rescue

Photograph by Brian Culbertson, My Shot

A helicopter helps fight a brush fire in Canyon Country, California.

(This photo and caption were submitted to My Shot.)

California Fire Damage

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

The 2007 Grass Valley Fire in southern California destroyed nearly 200 homes, including this one.

A U.S. Forest Service report found that the wildfire, which had started in the San Bernardino Mountains, took on a life of its own after spreading to residential areas where housing provided plenty of kindling.

Running Scared

Photograph by Josh O Connor, My Shot

Firefighters flee an incendiary fate during an August 2009 wildfire in Oregon.

(This photo and caption were submitted to My Shot.)

In Harm’s Way

Photograph by Kari Luhtasaari, My Shot

Firefighters work feverishly to fend off a forest fire, which looks like it’s ready to come down the railroad tracks.

(This photo and caption were submitted to My Shot.)

Making an Escape in Australia

Photograph by Alex Coppel, My Shot

A fire truck quickly leaves the scene of the mammoth Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia. The fires claimed nearly 200 lives and 2,000 homes in 2009.

(This photo and caption were submitted to My Shot.)

Norwegian Blazes

Photograph by Paal Bentdal, My Shot

A 2012 fire ravaged the island of Sotra in Norway.

(This photo and caption were submitted to My Shot.)

Texas Wildfire Pictures: Crews Fight Statewide Blaze

Photograph by Tom Pennington, Getty Images