1947 Maine Fires
This is a great write up of the ’47 Maine fires, archived here (You’ll need to scroll down the archive version a bit to get to the article).
It was the worst disaster in the history of forest fire protection in Maine, resulting in heavy property losses and human privation.
The tragic results were: 215,000 acres of fields, pastures and forests burned, of which 180,000 acres were forested; the death of 16 people due to indirect causes brought about by the fires, but no loss of life in actual fire fighting; nine communities leveled or completely wiped out; 2,500 made homeless. Property losses were estimated at $30,000,000 of which $7,000,000 included millions of feet of mature timber, thousands of cords of cut and uncut pulpwood, and millions of board feet of sawed lumber stored in lumberyards. Suppression costs came to $300,000. It was heart-warming that many fire departments canceled fire bills for services and equipment to towns that were stricken by the fires.
And this quote particularly impresses me:
There were witnesses of crown fires racing through dry and shriveled hardwood leaf foliage.
Which I interpret as being the heat wave ahead of the main fire was so intense as to dry out the leaves on the already drought stressed hardwoods…then ignite them as it passed.
