07/29/2022
Chalk Mountain Fire Perimeter Resembles
Dinosaur tracks in Nearby State Park
7/28/2022
In what some would call an uncanny coincidence, the shape of the Chalk Mountain Fire closely resembles the dinosaur tracks in the nearby Dinosaur Valley State Park. Several residents of Glen Rose and surrounding communities have pointed out to fire personnel the similarity between the fire perimeter and the three-toed (theropod) tracks that Acrocanthosauras dinosaurs left in the mud 113 million years ago.
The state park, which was established in 1972 to preserve and showcase the tracks in the limestone river bottom, is less than half a mile to the east of the Chalk Mountain Fire. The fire, which started on July 18, was pushed by high winds toward the north and northeast. During that first evening, the fire threatened the state park itself.
A wildfire’s shape usually is determined by wind direction, terrain, and the types of vegetative fuels available to the fire. The Chalk Mountain Fire spread from its origin in roughly a northerly direction, with three wind-driven runs in separate directions.
Firefighters generally refer to the starting point of a fire as its heel, and the front of the fire as its head. If the head runs in multiple directions, each run is referred to as a finger. Because of the dinosaur footprints for which the area is known, fire managers have referred to the three fingers on this fire as the right, middle and left toes.
Besides the disastrous impact of the fire to homeowners and ranchers, residents are likely to remember the Chalk Mountain Fire for several years to come as the fire that looked like a dinosaur track.
Photo of an Acrocanthosauras Dinosaur footprint preserved in the ground at Dinosaur Valley State Park. Photo Credit: Andy Gray
