Evening star., 1947-10-24

us fled for the town landing"
At no time. officials said, were
those on the landing in danger.
Dynamiting of buildings and a
lucky shift in the wind, barred the
flames from the business district,
which is next to the waterfront.
Fire equipment and men came to
the island from as far as a hundred
miles away.
Estimates of property loss in
Maine forest fires alone stood at
around $5,000,000 before the flames
entered Bar Harbor. Unofficial es-
Inmates now range up to SIS 5,000, 900
and State officials said the fire loss
probably would exceed the $25 5,000,-
900 figure set by the hurricane and
floods of 1898.
Shortly after the Bar Harbor
blaze was proclaimed as under con-
troll, selectmen at Southwest Harbor
announced that Northeast Harbor ).
part of the town of Mount Desert,
of which Bar Harbor Is the main
community, was being evacuated in
the face of huge forest fire.
Buses Pressed Into Service.
Buses were pressed into service to
get the inhabitants to causeWay
connecting the little archipelago to
the mainland.
The Coast Guard cutter Sneho-
mish stood by at Northeast Harbor
to evacuate by sea If necessary.
About 1900 men, women and chill
dren were taken from Bar Harbor
in fishing smacks, pleasure craft
and small Coast Guard boats be-
fore the larger Coast Guard and
Navy ships, ordered from Boston
and other ports, could reach the
scene.
John r. McKernan, Bangor Daily
News sports editor, who made his
way into Bar Harbor at the height
of the fire, said "smoldering ruins
were all that remained of Bar Har-
bors hotel and residential district"
"F'oundations of as many as 30
homes still blazed fiercely," he
added.
For a time 1t appeared that the
Nationwide tour of the Freedom
Train would be held up by the
Statewide outbreak of fires.
A fire at Richmond prevented a
direct trip from Portland to Au-
gusta, but officials said later the
travelling museum would be routed
to the State Capital over the Maine
Central's inland route by way of
Lewiston and Waterville.
Fire Front 80 Miles Long.
Gerald Cole, Portland disaster
chairman for the Red Cross, said
he flew over the fire-stricken area
in Maine yesterday and he esti-
mated the fire front was from 80
to 80 miles long. although not en-.
tirely solid.
In Washington, the Red Cross
announced 1t was sending six dis
aster workers by plane to Port
land and that a good many"
others were leaving New York and
other Eastern States for the disas-
ter area.
The Red Cross said it expects to
pull a number of workers from the
Florida hurricane area and rush
them to Maine.
A single emergency telephone line
enabled Gov. Hildreth to keep con-
tact with Bar Harbor.
The Governor called on the citi-
zens of Maine to re-establish the
civilian agencies that functioned
during the war, namely fire fighting,
traffic control for evacuation pur-
poses and fire aid.
Early last night, Gov. Hildreth
announced the destruction of Bar
Harbor's principal resort hotels, the
Malvern and Belmont.
Hospital Patients Evacuated.
At Biddeford, Me, about so pa
tients were evacuated from Trull
Hospital. Those able to walk were
sheltered by the Red Cross in Pep
perell Hall. Bed patients were taken
to Portland hospitals, 16 miles away.
Fire crept to within 200 yards of
Riddeford's larger Webber Hospital
before it was checked.
The York County towns of Brown
field and East Brownfield were laid
waste.
Portland. the most populous city
in Maine, still was unscathed put
Weather Bureau officials said dan
ger might be encountered there Il
the present wind prevailed.