Coyotes are very mobile and can probably escape most fires. Fire may improve the foraging habitat and prey base of coyotes. Fires that reduce vegetation height and create open areas probably increase hunting efficiency by coyotes. Increased consumption was presumably the result of increased vulnerability of prey with reduced cover, but no change was noted in small mammal consumption.
Periodic fire helps to maintain habitat for many prey species of coyote.
Fires that create a mosaic of burned and unburned areas are probably the most beneficial to many coyote prey species. Several studies indicate that many small mammal populations increase rapidly subsequent to burning in response to increased food availability. The 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park have probably benefited coyotes. Fire in combination with drought likely increased available carrion the fall and winter following the fire.