DOCSLIB.ORG

The Big Burn of 1910 by Joyce Furstenau

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Big Burn of 1910 by Joyce Furstenau 8/10/2020 https://teacherworksheets.edhelper.com/cgi-bin/vspec.cgi?FORMMODE=RC30_1368_1&QUICK=1 The Big Burn of 1910 By Joyce Furstenau 1 Caption: A lone building still stands in Wallace, Idaho, after the fire. 2 "Our shoes were burned off our feet, and our clothes were in parched rags." This is the way one firefighter described a scene from the Big Burn of 1910. The Big Burn, or the Great Fire of 1910, occurred on August 20 and 21 of 1910. It was a forest fire that burned three million acres of forest in northeast Washington, western Montana, and northern Idaho. This fire changed the way all future forest fires were fought. It was the greatest forest fire on record for the Rocky Mountains. 3 It had been a long, rainless summer. It was the hottest summer on record. The forests were dry. June brought lightning storms, which started several small fires along the Salmon River near the Canadian border. Smoke filtered the sunlight the rest of the season. By the end of July there were nearly ninety fires burning near the mountains in Idaho and Montana. Firefighters were in short supply. Finally, the military was called in to assist. 4 Troops were sent to the front lines of the fires in towns like Wallace, Idaho. It seemed the best they could do was keep the fires contained. Everyone was near exhaustion when the forest exploded on August 20th. A cold front had created 75 mph winds. The winds whipped the ninety small fires into one big inferno. The men working at the edges of one of the smaller fires described the sound as "a distant waterfall." What they actually heard was the sound of the fire rushing toward them. 5 Twenty-eight men died trying to outrun the flames at Seltzer Creek (Idaho). Eighteen men died after they tried to take shelter in a cabin. The roof caught fire, and they died in a heap as they tried to escape. A 50-person crew took refuge by diving facedown in a nearby creek. The fire burned the skin on the backs of their necks. A falling tree killed three of them. 6 The defining moment of the Big Burn of 1910 surrounded the story of forest ranger Edward Pulaski. The townspeople of Wallace, Idaho, had set backfires in an attempt to control the blaze. Pulaski and his men were caught between the two fires. He ordered his crew of about 45 firefighters into an abandoned mineshaft. As the fire lapped at the mine's entrance, Pulaski covered the opening with blankets. He tried to fight the fire with his bare hands, but Pulaski and his crew were overcome with smoke. They lay unconscious in the mineshaft until one firefighter woke up and went for help. Five of these men died, but the rest made it. 7 By the morning of August 21, the fire had destroyed one-third of Wallace, Idaho. Grand Forks, Idaho, was completely destroyed. Four more towns in Montana had been burned to the ground. The fire sent smoke so far west that sailors on the Pacific Ocean saw it. Two days later, a rainstorm accomplished what the firefighters could not. The rain extinguished the fires. 8 All told, 78 firefighters and seven civilians lost their lives in the Big Burn. The destruction caused by the Big Burn of 1910 was the stimulus that created a new anti-fire policy in the Forest Service. By 1935, the U.S. Forest Service had its own army to fight fires. It trained ground troops to dig trenches and set backfires. It also trained elite smoke jumpers to parachute into remote areas. The Forest Service also added its own helicopters and airplane spotters. 9 There are lessons to be learned from natural disasters, and this fire was no exception. Edward Pulaski recovered from his injuries. He went on to develop a special hand tool for fighting fires: the Pulaski tool. It is used in wild land firefighting. It has proven to be a most useful tool for constructing https://teacherworksheets.edhelper.com/cgi-bin/vspec.cgi?FORMMODE=RC30_1368_1&QUICK=1 1/6 8/10/2020 https://teacherworksheets.edhelper.com/cgi-bin/vspec.cgi?FORMMODE=RC30_1368_1&QUICK=1 firebreaks. It can also dig soil and chop wood. A land management plan is also in place today to decide which forest fires should be fought and which should be allowed to burn so that forests can be thinned naturally. Copyright © 2020 edHelper https://teacherworksheets.edhelper.com/cgi-bin/vspec.cgi?FORMMODE=RC30_1368_1&QUICK=1 2/6 8/10/2020 https://teacherworksheets.edhelper.com/cgi-bin/vspec.cgi?FORMMODE=RC30_1368_1&QUICK=1 Name _____________________________ Date ___________________ The Big Burn of 1910 1. Where did the Big Burn of 1910 take place? 2. In what season of the year was the Big Burn In the mountains of Washington, Idaho, of 1910? and Montana Autumn In the mountains of Washington, Spring California, and Oregon Winter In the mountains of Oregon and Summer California In the mountains of Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming 3. What was one event that started some of the 4. How many men lost their lives at Seltzer fires? Creek? A gas lantern tipped over Lightning Wet hay bales A motorcycle spark 5. How many acres of forestland were destroyed 6. How many people all together lost their lives by the Big Burn? in this disaster? (You'll have to do the math.) https://teacherworksheets.edhelper.com/cgi-bin/vspec.cgi?FORMMODE=RC30_1368_1&QUICK=1 3/6.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Research Will Help Land Managers Take Risk-Analysis Approach to New
    Research will help land managers take risk- analysis approach to new wildfire reality 8 January 2020, by Steve Lundeberg Now, Dunn notes, "we suppress 97 or 98% of fires such that we experience the 2 or 3% that are really bad, where we have no chance of successful suppression because they're just so explosive." But those numbers over time can be inverted, he says. "We can choose to have more beneficial fires whose impacts aren't as consequential and less of those really bad ones, eventually," Dunn said. "It could ultimately mean more fire, but more of the right kind of fire in the right places for the right reasons." Taylor Creek and Klondike Fires, Rogue-Siskiyou NF, Using fire-prone landscapes of the Pacific OR, 2018. Credit: Kari Greer Northwest as their study areas, Dunn and collaborators developed a trio of complementary, risk-based analytics tools—quantitative wildfire risk assessment, mapping of suppression difficulty, and New digital tools developed by Oregon State atlases of locations where fires might be controlled. University will enable land managers to better adapt to the new reality of large wildfires through "These tools can be a foundation for adapting fire analytics that guide planning and suppression management to this new reality," Dunn said. "They across jurisdictional boundaries that fires typically integrate fire risk with fire management difficulties don't adhere to. and opportunities, which makes for a more complete picture of the fire management Led by Chris Dunn, a research associate in the landscape." OSU College of Forestry with several years of firefighting experience, scientists have used That picture makes possible a risk-based planning machine learning algorithms and risk-analysis structure that allows for preplanning responses to science to analyze the many factors involved in wildfires, responses that balance risk with the handling fires: land management objectives, likelihood of success.
    [Show full text]
  • Fire and Forest Management in Montane Forests of the Northwestern States and California, USA
    fire Review Fire and Forest Management in Montane Forests of the Northwestern States and California, USA Iris Allen 1, Sophan Chhin 1,* and Jianwei Zhang 2 1 West Virginia University, Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, 322 Percival Hall, PO Box 6125, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA; [email protected] 2 USDA Forest Service, PacificSouthwest Research Station, 3644 AvtechParkway, Redding, CA 96002, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: + 1-304-293-5313 •• check for Received: 14 December 2018; Accepted: 30 March 2019; Published: 3 April 2019 � updates Abstract: We reviewed forest management in the mountainous regions of several northwestern states and California in theUnited States and how it has impacted current issues facing theseforests. We focused on the large-scale activities like fire suppression and logging which resulted in landscape level changes. We divided the region into two main forests types; wet, like the forests in the Pacific Northwest, and dry, like the forests in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. In the wet forests, the history of intensive logging shaped the current forest structure, while firesuppression played a more major role in the dry forests. Next, we looked at how historical management has influenced new forest management challenges, like catastrophic fires, decreased heterogeneity, and climate change. We then synthesizedwhat current management actions are performed to address theseissues, like thinning to reduce fuels or improve structural heterogeneity, and restoration after large-scale disturbances. Lastly, we touch on some major policies that have influenced changesin management. We note a trend towards ecosystem management that considers a forest's historical disturbance regime.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 12 Review
    FIGURE 12.1: “The Swan Range,” photograph by Donnie Sexton, no date 1883 1910 1869 1883 First transcontinental Northern Pacifi c Railroad completes Great Fire 1876 Copper boom transcontinental route railroad completed begins in Butte Battle of the 1889 1861–65 Little Bighorn 1908 Civil War Montana becomes a state Model T invented 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1862 1882 1862 Montana gold Montana Improvement Anton Holter opens fi rst 1875 rush begins Salish stop setting Company formed 1891 1905 commercial sawmill in Forest Reserve Act U.S. Forest Montana Territory fi res after confrontation 230 with law enforcement Service created READ TO FIND OUT: n How American Indians traditionally used fire n Who controlled Montana’s timber industry n What it was like to work as a lumberjack n When and why fire policy changed The Big Picture For thousands of years people have used forests to fill many different needs. Montana’s forestlands support our economy, our communities, our homes, and our lives. Forests have always been important to life in Montana. Have you ever sat under a tall pine tree, looked up at its branches sweeping the sky, and wondered what was happen- ing when that tree first sprouted? Some trees in Montana are 300 or 400 years old—the oldest living creatures in the state. They rooted before horses came to the Plains. Think of all that has happened within their life spans. Trees and forests are a big part of life in Montana. They support our economy, employ our people, build our homes, protect our rivers, provide habitat for wildlife, influence poli- tics, and give us beautiful places to play and be quiet.
    [Show full text]
  • Guidedread083.Pdf
    Table of Contents Common Core State Standards ............................................................................... 1 The Summer of 1910 .................................................................................................. 2 The Big Blowup ............................................................................................................. 3 Fighting For Their Lives ............................................................................................ 4 A National Hero ............................................................................................................. 5 After the Fire .................................................................................................................. 6 The Forest Today .......................................................................................................... 7 Interesting Facts ........................................................................................................... 8 Burn Area Map ............................................................................................................. 10 Media Attributions ..................................................................................................... 11 Works Referenced ...................................................................................................... 12 Licensing ........................................................................................................................ 13 Common Core State Standards This text is relevant
    [Show full text]
  • Wildfire Strategy 2020-2022
    WILDFIRE STRATEGY 2020-2022 October 2020 | Environment Program TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction 3 II. The Problem 4 III. Pathways to success 7 I V. What success looks like 11 V. Conclusion 11 These materials were prepared as part of the Hewlett Foundation’s internal planning process and do not represent actions to be taken by Hewlett Foundation staff or by grantee staff at the Foundation’s direction. Although some of the implementation markers, for instance, may reflect the passage of legislation (based on inputs from grantees and experts in the field), the Hewlett Foundation does not lobby or earmark its funds for prohibited lobbying activities, as defined in the federal tax laws. The Foundation’s funding for policy work is limited to permissible forms of support only, such as general operating support grants that grantees can allocate at their discretion, and project support grants for non-lobbying activities (e.g., public education and nonpartisan research). (Cover image) A firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service does an annual prescribed burn on 336 acres of land at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, Colorado. Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images 2 I. Introduction Extreme wildfire events with devastating consequences for people and the environment have captured the world’s attention in recent years. Increasing wildfire size and frequency are contributing to rapidly changing forest biodiversity across the western United States and affecting human safety, groundwater management, forestry, recreation, and more. The unprecedented 2020 western U.S. wildfire season is reflective of a number of drivers that have led to extreme wildfire events.
    [Show full text]
  • Module 1: What Is Fire? Module 1: What Is Fire?
    Module 1: What is Fire? Module 1: What is Fire? Proposed Agenda Time Section name 9:00 9:30 Welcome and group introductions 9:30 10:00 Course overview 10:00 10:40 Wildland fire history 10:40 11:00 Break 11:00 11:40 The influence of fire on cultural mythology, with activity 11:40 12:15 Basic chemistry 12:15 1:15 Lunch 1:15 2:00 Fire triangle with activity 2:00 2:30 Break 2:30 3:10 Fire intensity and fire severity 3:10 3:30 Future module plans, wrap-up Overview ■ Know the components of the fire triangle This module provides a brief overview of ■ Know the difference between fire intensity wildland fire history and the influence that fire and fire severity has had on cultural mythology around the world. Learning Outcomes Module 1 also addresses the general principles of fire that are applicable to both wildland and Demonstrate knowledge of fire including the structural fire. These principles include elements components necessary for fire, combustion, and required for a fire to burn, and some definitions ways to put a fire out. pertaining to fire effects. Understanding these principles is essential to understanding fire. Content Outline ■ Learning Objectives Wildland fire history ■ Fire’s influence on cultural mythology ■ Understand wildland fire history around the world ■ Understand the influence that fire has had ■ Basic chemistry on cultural mythology around the world ■ Fire triangle ■ Know that fire is part of a chemical reaction ■ Fire behavior triangle called combustion ■ Fire intensity and severity 2 Module 1: What is Fire? “The agent by which fire was first brought down to earth and made available to mortal man was lightning.
    [Show full text]
  • Fire Chapter 5—Fire and Smoke Impact Study for Spokane, Washington
    Fire Chapter 5—Fire and Smoke Impact Study for Spokane, Washington Lead Authors: Mike Petersen (Lands Council), Levi Keesecker (E2 Environmental), Wei Li (E2 Environmental), Terry Lawhead (ret.), Katherine Rowden (NOAA), and Joel Breems (Avista), Jerusha Hampson (Lands Council), and Katherine Hegewisch (CIRC/University of Idaho). Chapter Summary: Examines the rise in wildfire activity projected for Spokane and the Pacific Northwest throughout this century. Focusses on the health impacts that smoke from historical wildfires has had on Spokane’s residents and the health impacts that smoke from future wildfires is projected to have on Spokane residents. Review Editors: Katherine Hegewisch (CIRC/University of Idaho), Nathan Gilles (CIRC/Oregon State University), John Abatzolgou (CIRC/University of Idaho), Ann Mooney (CIRC/OSU), and Meghan Dalton (CIRC/OSU). Key Findings: 1. Throughout this century, climate projections indicate that the Spokane region will see drier, warmer summers, conditions that are ideal for larger, more destructive wildfires. 2. Throughout this century, Spokane is projected to see an increase in the number of days during which fires could ignite. 3. During the fire seasons of 2017 and 2018, Spokane saw an increase in the number of days during which local air quality was listed as unhealthy and very unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index. 4. Spokane is likely to experience both a longer fire season and a longer smoke season in the decades ahead. 1 Recommended Resilience Actions: • Prepare for Increased Fire, Smoke, and Ash—Spokane emergency planners need to adopt policies and adaptation strategies that help Spokane and the surrounding region prepare for the increased risk of fire, smoke, and ash dangers.
    [Show full text]
  • Fire: Fight, Flight, Or Could Talk Coexistence? 9
    Activity If Trees Fire: Fight, Flight, or Could Talk Coexistence? 9 Teacher Page Time Frame OVERVIEW 4 Class periods + Library Research + Class Presentations Key Words Fire: Fight, Flight, or Wildfires Coexistence? has students Succession examine the history of wildland fires Natural Fire and their impact on society in Prescribed Fire America. Exploring our approaches Fire Exclusion Policy to living with fire, students will Tillamook Burn examine various fire management Teacher Pages techniques including prescribed fires, fire suppression, and fire Overview ……………... 1 prevention. Students will take a Objectives ……………. 1 closer look at the Tillamook burn in Lesson Plan ………….. 2 Oregon, and conduct a research Class Extensions ……. 2 project on wildfire history in another Team Teaching………. 3 state. Students will also gain a better Links ………………….. 3 understanding of Smokey Bear and References …………... 3 A wildfire in Yellowstone Park. the role of symbols in information Wk 1 Directions …...... 4-5 Courtesy of NOAA Paleoclimatology campaigns. Wk 3 Instructions……. 6 Program. Wk 4 Instructions……. 7 Answer Key …………8-12 Wildfire Timeline…….13-16 Student Pages OBJECTIVES Essay ……………….. 1-6 National Council for History Worksheet 1 ……….. 8-12 Worksheet 2 ………… 13 The students will conduct historical research; obtaining historical data. Tillamook Story..…...14-15 (Historical Thinking, Standard: 4B) Worksheet 3 ………. 16 Rubric 1 …………….. 17 The students will identify historical issues, evaluate alternative courses of Rubric 2 ………......... 18 action and formulate a position or course of action on an issue. (Historical Rubric 3 …………..... 19 Thinking, Standard: 5A, 5D, & 5E) Application …………. 20 Test ………………… 21-22 The students will learn how the rise of heavy industry and farming transformed the American people and land.
    [Show full text]
  • The Great Fire of 1910
    The Great Fire of 1910 The Great Fire of 1910 Contents A. The Great Fire B. Synopsis C. Blowup – Description by Tim Egan D. Map The Great Fire of 1910 The Fire No official cause was ever listed for the 1910 fire. But 1910 was also the driest year in anyone's memory. Snows melted early and the spring rains never came. By June, the woods were on fire in a hundred different places. Loggers, homesteaders and campers started some of the blazes accidentally. Others were thought to be the work of arsonists, possibly transient firefighters trying to insure future employment. However, it appears the largest single contributor was the newly constructed Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railway, which followed the St Joe River east from St. Maries to Avery, Idaho. It then disappeared into the densely timbered Bitterroot Mountains, emerging again near Taft, Montana. In a 1911 report, a supervisor on the Coeur d'Alene National Forest estimated more than 100 fires were started by coal-powered locomotives that frequently spewed red-hot cinders into tinder-dry forests. The railroad hired spotters to walk the tracks and douse flare-ups, but as summer wore on the inevitable drew near. By August, normally swift-running rivers had slowed to a crawl and many streams had simply disappeared into bedrock. A bad electrical storm the night of July 15 touched off a large number of fires in North Idaho. It was one of the largest forest fires in American history. Maybe even one of the largest forest fire ever anywhere in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Books About the Great Fire of 1910
    Publications about the Great Fire of 1910 Page 1 of 5 I. Books (most recent listed first) The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America (ISBN: 0618968415 / 0-618-96841-5) by Egan, Timothy, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Flames and Courage: Saga of the 1910 Fires (children’s book) by Helen Meadows and Sandra Gubel, Stoneydale Press, [email protected], 406-777-2729, 2007 Firefighters (ISBN: 0883636190 / 0-88363-619-0) By JoEllen L. Kelly, Robert A. Yatsuk, and J. Gordon Routley, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. / National Fallen Firefighters Fndtn., Emmitsburg, MD, 2003 The Big Burn (teen novel – young adults survive the fire) (ISBN: 0152047468 / 0-15-204746-8) by Jeanette Ingold, Hartcourt, New York, 2002 Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 (ISBN: 0670899909 / 0-670-89990-9) By Stephen Pyne, Viking Penguin Group, Penguin Putman Inc, 2001 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 11014, 2001 Montana Disasters (ISBN: 0871089181 / 0-87108-918-1) by Molly Searl, Pruett Publishing, Boulder, Colorado; 2001. Forty Years a Forester, 1903-1943 (ISBN: 0878423788 / 0-87842-378-8) by Elers Koch, Peter Koch Mountain Press Publishing Co., Missoula, Montana, U.S.A., 1998. Up the Swiftwater: A Pictorial History of the Colorful Upper St. Joe River Country (ISBN: 0964364727 / 0-9643647-2-7) by Sandra Crowell and David Asleson, published by the authors, 1980 published by Museum of North Idaho Publication, 2003 I'll Never Fight Fire with My Bare Hands Again, Recollections of the First Forest Rangers of the Inland Northwest (ISBN: 0700606777 / 0-7006-0677-7) by Hal K.
    [Show full text]
  • Edward Pulaski and the Tool
    Edward Pulaski 1 Contents Page 3 Ed Pulaski: A Short Biography Page 5 What Makes Pulaski a Hero? Page 6 Pulaski: The Firefighting Tool 2 “Big Ed” Pulaski: A Short Biography Edward Crockett Pulaski may have been born on February 9, 1868, on a farm near Green Springs, Ohio. Like so much in Pulaski’s story, different sources offer different dates. Green Springs is a village in northern Ohio, south of Lake Erie. Ed was the son of Rudolph (1840- 1928) and Celia Pulaski (1840-1918). The 1880 federal census listed Rudolph Pulaski’s birthplace as “Poland,” Celia’s as “Ohio.” According to a letter about family history, Rudolph came to America in 1857 and married Celia Crockett, of Tiffin, Ohio, on February 14, 1864. Tiffin is an Ohio town 18 miles southwest of Green Springs. Rudolph became an American citizen October 5 1866. Ed was Rudolph and Celia’s first child, followed by Emma, George, and Mary. The family moved from Ohio to Marshall, Missouri perhaps sometime in the 1870s. Marshall lies in central Missouri, roughly 85 miles east of Kansas City and 660 miles west- southwest of Green Springs. Why they moved is unknown. Ed’s formal education was limited, although not unusually so for his time. He attended “country school” near Green Springs and “graded school” at Marshall, quitting, as he once wrote, “at about 15 years to make living.” An adventurous uncle, his mother’s brother, influenced Ed considerably as a boy. Ed treasured a series of the uncle’s letters written to his mother from “Fort Wallah Wallah,” beginning in 1851.
    [Show full text]
  • Keeping History Alive
    1.​Title / Content Area: Our Story: Keeping History Alive 2.​ Developed by: Ruth Ferris 3.​ Grade Level: 5 - 8 4.​ Essential Question: 1. What can we learn from the past? 2. How can we be sure of what really happened in our past? 3. What are the attributes of heroism and how could they change? 4. If you were to leave behind your own legacy for future generations, what would it would be and why? 5.​ Contextual Paragraph The Forest Fire of 1910 burned over 3 million acres and was the cause of approximately 85 deaths*. (* Actual number undetermined.) By mid August there were between 1,000 - 3,000 fires burning in Washington, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia. The main fire blew up and burned for over two days (August 20-21, 1910). The US Forest Service was a very young organization when faced with this natural disaster. This disaster changed how the nation viewed and fought forest fires. Ranger Edward Pulaski was one of the heroes in this event. Jim See researched and developed curriculum materials and historic exhibits that I would encourage you and your class explore (see web resources).I have also included Teacher Notes that outline my teaching plan.​ ​bit.ly/1910BigBurn 1 Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set Annotated Resource Set (ARS) Phase I 6.​ Resource Set Ax, Pulaski Ranger Joe Halm and Former Marshall Man a Another Town is Avery Firefighters Fighting the Forest Fires McKay at Pulaski Tunnel Hero Doomed by Fierce Torrents of Fire Tool for fighting After the fires, looking Report of how Ranger Continuation - Report Photo courtesy of Vandals will be shot; wildfire.
    [Show full text]