Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1911-07-14
BIG AREA FIRESWEPT
1000 Acres on Black Mountain
Burned Over
Property Loss VIII Mount Into Thous-
ands-Ehective Work Of Fire Fighters
Houses and Lives Endangered.

ands-EHectve Work of Fire Fighters
Houses and Lives Endangered.
forest fire which has done more
damage and spread over more territory
than any other forest fire in recent years
in this locality was discovered Saturday
morning on Black mountain West Dunn
merston, which is the granite mountain.
Started probably by lightning Thursday
| evening of last week the flames spread
| unchecked until Saturday, when efforts
were begun to put them out Beginning
| in what Is known as the horseshoe" 1t
| has burned upward on the south side of
| the mountain to the summit, around the
| west side to point near the West river
railroad trestle, from the west side
| toward the summit, besides covering
| patches of other territory covered with
valuable timber. 1t is estimated that
| more than 1000 acres have been burned
| over and during the weeks battle against
the flames 200 men have been employed,
| working in day and night shifts.
! d. Frank Shea of this town was press
| ed into service as commissary, as he was
| last week at the fire on the Hunt farm,
and has carried up several hundred gal
| Ions of lemonade, at least a dozen boxes
| of crackers and at one time distributed
| 300 sandwiches, walking from man to-
man and supplying them as they worked
on Monday he made the trip to the top
| of the mountain several times giving out
| rations on the way up.
| When the first force of went to
| the mountain Saturday afternoon the
| fire had a good start and help called
| for. L. E. Holden, of the firm of Holden
| d Martin of this town, who own large
amount of timberland on the mountain,
! began looking for men to help in battling
with the flames and carried up several
in his automobile. 1t was seen quickly
that the dry leaves and underground
| was good material on which the flames
| might feed and Mr.. Holden returned to
town for more help. The force at the
! scene was inadequate to combat the fire
and all day Sunday it gained rapidly To
| the east of the horseshoe" are 49, 900
| German pine trees which were set out by
Holden & Martin last year. and efforts
to save them were successful The
growth on the mountainside is chiefly
pine and hemlock and consists of trees
of all sizes up to IL inches through, the
heavier growth having been cut off six
and seven years ago.
During the week the force of men have
built several backfires but the flames
have reached unguarded sections or
sparks from the blazing trees have car
| ried the fire to distant parts of the woods
and other blazes have started up. On
Monday and Tuesday the flames jumped
in several places and Wednesday morn
ing a backfire was started at the road
that goes up the side of the hill not far
|
backtire worked admirably until a brisk
wind came up, carrying the flames up
the mountain dangerously near the Blood
: and Fisher houses. A force of men
, plowed furrow through moving near
the Fisher house to prevent the fire from
reaching the tall grass and moved land.
l Aided by the breeze the fire spread
rapidly and during the day it was
impossible for the hrefighters to get
within 300 or 400 feet of it because of the
smoke. l.. E. Holden's automobile and ].
l.. Martins car have been in service all
; the week and have made at least six trips
each day.
The land on the mountain is owned by
Holden & Martin, the Lyons Granite
company, Henry Blood, George Fisher,
n Marcus Robbins, Albert Fits, John Taft
a | and Bert Reed. Mr. Reed had a quantity
q Of lumber all ready to be sawed in his
mill on the side of the mountain and
II steps were taken to save it from the
;, flames. good part of 1t was carted
= away and steam was made in the boiler
c and lines of hose laid in order to save the
mill.
s. The total loss is difficult to estimate
II because of the different size growths OF
= timber upon the burned tract but it will
= mount well into the thousa nds, to say
. nothing of the expense to the town of
Dummerston, which will pay the fire
fighters Is cents an hour for the time
If Holden & Martin, who were Offering the
men SO a day.
Yesterday with a brisk wind blowing
fears We're entertained that several
s. houses might be burned. At one point
" the flames worked up to within about
~ 200 yards of the Fisher home, but were
- headed off. party of Brattleboro men
- went with John Calvin to the scene to
= decide whether it would be necessary tc
'e call upon County Fire Warden Marvin
draft men to fight, but they decided
such step would be unnecessary, as
s. the fire appeared to be burning itseli
IS out. The fire is still in progress. but
III has been under control since yesterday
"a afternoon.
a large number of automobile parte.
have gone to the mountain this week tC
81. watch the burning timber and eacf
er evening the effect of the blazing pine.
a has been spectacular. Seemingly with
r. out warning tree would catch fire
blaze up and then with a puff like ex
plosion the blazing brands would b.
hurled long distances to start othel
!, fires. The burning forest being on on,
of the highest hills in this locality, tn,
flames have been seen a long distanc,
ry away and the view after nightfan from
as many parts of the surrounding country
l., has been striking.
of l.. e. Holden and Warden Howard
n. were given scare yesterday forenoon
From a point where they were watchin.
the flames they saw a dense volume O
smoke settle down and apparently en-
velop about Is men. all from Brattleboro
They were agreed that all would b.
suffocated but it happened that tn,
a smoke did not settle quite low enough
to seriously affect them and when /
S. lifted ii was great relief to Mr. Hol
den and Mr.. Howard to see the mel
= alive.
ed Fire In BURLINGTON "Wednesday after