The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-03-29
FAMOUS FOREST FIRES.
Great Wisconsin Disaster in 1871
Worst Recent Catastrophe in 1910.

There have been a number of great
fires which have attained historic impor-
lance writes Henry S Graves in Ma
tional Geographic Society Bulletin "One
of these occurred in New Brunswick, in
the fall of 1925, on the Miramichi river,
during season Of great drought.
within nine hours that fire had burn
cd over a strip of forest so miles long and
thing in its path One hundred and sixty
persons persisted and nearly 1000 head of
stock Five hundred and ninety buildings
were burned and a number of towns were
destroyed, including Newcastle, Chatham
and Douglastown 1t is related that even
great quantities OF fish in the river were
killed by the heat of the fire.
Another historic fire was that which
occurred iii Wisconsin in the fall of 1871.
A single fire swept over an area of more
than 1900 square miles. 1t destroyed the
town of Peshtigo, and between 1900 and
1900 persons persisted That same year
the damage by fire elsewhere in the
country was enormous.
'Still another fire, which is remember
cd by many persons, was that which de.
stroyed the town OF Hinckley, Mimi, in
the fall Of 1891 As in other cases OF
great fires, there was a season of eXcep
tionol dranelt' MANY fires were constant
n.ti"~ during that fall, but there
no effective effort to eXtingulsh them
Forest fires were so common that there
was no special fear of possible danger un
ill it was too late to meet the situation
"As often happens when there arc
many fires burning under these conditions
and high wind springs up, the different
small fires were suddenly merged, and ;
great crown fire resulted which swep
over the town of Hincllley and six othe
towns, entirely destroying them, killini
500 persons. and making over 1000 mor'
entirely destitute. The estimated loss il
property by this fire was more thar
$25.O00,OO0
"The most recent great disaster from
forest fires occurred in the Pacific North
west in 1910 That year was the dries
ever known in the West, particularly il
northern Idaho and northwestern Mon
tana.
"On July % severe electric storm
practically without rain, passed over TIN
northern Rocky Mountains setting
large number of fires The Occur d Allen
Mountains in particular suffered from
these fires In three days the fores
rangers put out nine fires set by light
ming in the Occur d. Alene national forest
From one cause or another many othe
fires were set Heroic measures wer
taken to extinguish them.
"At one time 1900 men, besides tw
companies of soldiers, were fighting fire
in the Occur dAlcne forest alone, AM
large crews were fighting fires in othe
parts of the northwestern forests. TIL
men fought stubbornly, working day an
night building trenches around the fire
and gradually combining them to a sma
area
GAN fires seemed to be under contrC
when on August 20 terrific hmrican
sprung up, sweeping all the separate fire
together and making a gigantic wall {
fame many miles long Many of the fiji
fighters were directly in the path Of tn
fire. Seventy-nine fire fighters wer
killed, and if it had not been for I'll
skill and the nerve of the forest ranger
in charge of the crews verv muc
l5rger number would have persisted a
II was. about half of the number kille
lost their lives because of their falul
- obey the orders of the forest ranger
in charge Of the parties"