Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone Fires 20 Years Later: National Attention Brought Sensational Coverage

Twenty years ago, Bob Ekey couldn't believe what he was seeing on television.

Just outside his room at the Three Bears Lodge in West Yellowstone, a CNN reporter was broadcasting live that ash from fires burning in Yellowstone National Park was falling as he spoke.

It was snow.

“I wanted to go out and tackle the guy,” said Ekey, a Billings Gazette reporter covering the 1988 fires. “He sensationalized an already sensational story.”