Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-10-08
WORST FOREST
FIRES IN YEARS
Forest Rangers Fail to Con-
quer Timber Land
Flames.
MANY THRILLING ESCAPES
Settlers Endangered by Sweep Of
Flsmes-Record Loss in Missoula
District. w. w. Makes Trou-
BILE for Fire-Fighters.

Washington, D. C.-Stirring reports
are coming from forest rangers fight
ing fire in the Northwest. At head
| quarters here the situation is said to
be the most critical in years. The rec
ord summer of 1910 may have been
equaled in the acreage burned over
and timber destroyed since June. AS
fires are still raging, the loss may be
! greater than in that season.
There have been many thrilling es-
capes of settlers from the sweep of
the flames; there have been number
of daring rescues. Loss Of life has
/ been less than usual in forest fires.
One outstanding experience Of gov
eminent fire fighters occurred in Ida
| no. L. c. WilfOng, who had been de-
| tailed along Crooked creek was
| trapped with his crew of three men
| at point where three fires met. Get
| ting out alive seemed impossible.
| Their 13 horses were taken to q bunch
grass hill in the hope that they might
| be saved, while the men continued to
| fight for their lives.
Their camp, provisions and clothes
were burned. Wilfong and his men
finally jumped into Selway river, and
by covering their heads with wet
blankets, pulled through. They found
all their horses, but one, alive, but the
| pack saddles had been burned off their
| backs.
Devastation in MissouIa District.
and western Montana. 1t is called the
Missoula district. 1t is the best part
of the country's timber remaining from
what was once thought were mex
haustible preserves.
1t is here the burnings ten years ago
did most damage. The areas devastat-
ed tOtaled nearly five millions of acres.
More than six billion board feet of lum-
Der were destroyed and the big tree
loss was $14,SS9,724 aside from the
ruin of 100000 worth of timber not
big enough to cut.
This loss may be trebled by the fires
this summer. They have been con-
| slant. Thirty of them have each con-
| sumed everything but the rocks on
areas of one thousand acres or more
until the aggregate is already several
| millions, with no break in the drought
since June and with several of the
| most dangerous months to come.
Next in seriousness to, lack of rain
or water from drio5-up ctraa,nc ;c tho
scarcity of labor. Fire fighters cannot
| be found in sufficient numbers in such
| an emergency in the forest region EN-
ployment Offices have had to be opened
in Great Falls, Billings, Anaconda,
Butte and Spokane.
Trouble From I. w. w.
In the latter city, the |. w. w. gives
| trouble to the fire rangers seeking help.
Great care is exercised to prevent any
members of this organization from get
ting into the forces sent to the forest
fire line. There they can give an i'm
mense amount of trouble and Illustrate
efforts to put out blaze. Their IA
vOrite way is to create discomfort
among the crews as to pay and food
and induce them to quit or do as little
work as possible while the trees burn.
In spite of the care taken, some of
these plOtters have got into crews
and are doing mischief. Some bosses
have been reporting that their men
are laying down on their jobs" and
have been told to discharge them in.
continently. This is done under guard,
but formerly only to the edge of civili-
Zation. This can be done only in case
the man has worked out his transpor-
tatiOn and cost of keep and few fail
to do this before discovery. In that
case the armed guard must take him
TO the city from whence he came.
Nothing can be done to him, as he has
earned his transportation and sus-
tenance and must be taken back with
out expense, according TO contract.
Now and then an overzealous /. w.
w. gets busy too soon in the woods. If
he has not earned his expenses, he
may be arrested for defrauding the
government.
Two thousand gas masks have been
loaned by the war department to the
forest service for trial by fire fight
ers.
While the fire situation in Oregon
and Washington is not so serious as
in Montana and Idaho, ali the crews
there are fully occupied.
lIITTI Gao chuEn IM DrDI Iai