Fire in the Forest

The Adirondacks survived two major forest fires in the early 1900s. The ’Big Burn’ of 1903 destroyed around 464,000 acres of forest and homes. Then in 1908 another fire burned approximately 600,000 acres. As devastating as these events were they helped lead to the creation of the NYS Forest Service.

Transcript

Fire in the Forest

Preview Segment 

Listening to news reports in the summer of 2021 we heard a lot about wildfires burning in Canada and the western United States. The haze from those fires created beautiful sunsets here and all over the east coast. But the impact to the thousands of acres destroyed was enormous. It made me realize how lucky we are here in the Adirondacks that nothing like that has happened to us. Or has it?

This episode is all about a couple of forest fires that devastated the Adirondacks in the past.

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast Intro - Ready to earn some extra credit? You are listening to ADKX-tra Credit, a podcast for students about the history of the Adirondack Mountains and the people that have lived, worked, and played here. The Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, is located in the heart of the Adirondack Park of New York State. 

CONTENT

Did you know that each year there is a burn ban in the Adirondacks from mid-March until mid-May? When I first heard that I couldn’t figure out why. It’s March. Right now as I record this the ground is covered with snow. 

A burn ban is a law that prohibits a person from burning brush on their property. It can also include campfires and backyard pit fires. The reason it starts in March when there is usually still snow on the ground is because ‘usually’ doesn’t mean always. Sometimes the weather warms up and the snow melts. This probably makes you think of wet, soggy ground. But, what if it's warm and dry? Then the leaves that fell last fall are on the ground and they dry out. Anybody who has ever been camping knows that nothing starts a fire fast like dry leaves. A pile of dry leaves and some dry sticks and you have a great campfire. Left unattended or if it’s started by accident it could also be the start of a really scary forest fire!!

The two big fires I’m going to tell you about happened in the early 1900s. It’s important to remember what life was like in the remote wilderness of the Adirondacks at that time. People traveled into the area by train. That’s key. Trains were powered by steam back then and the steam was created with coal or wood fires. 

Also, to clear land for farming or to build people often burned the brush to clear the land. Logging the big trees to use for buildings was common but what gets left behind are the small trees and the shrubby type of plants and bushes. It’s easiest to just set it all ablaze to get rid of it. That is still a common practice in some parts of the world. 

Early Forest Service was not as we know it today. The rangers; or fire wardens as they were called back then, didn’t have any training. They relied on common sense and folk knowledge. That’s like the old customs and ways they would have learned from their parents or grandparents. They weren’t paid to patrol or look for fires, they were only paid if there was a fire and they helped in the fight to put it out.

If you’re starting to think all this is a recipe for disaster, you're right.

TRANSITION - sounds

In 1903 spring started to dry things out in the forest pretty early. March was as cold and snowy as ever but April began a drought that would last for six weeks. May 1903 was the driest in 77 years. A few large wildfires in recent years have been traced to one incident of carelessness. In 1903 there wasn’t just one fire that grew to a large blaze. There were many fires. 

With no rain and no green trees, only dry leaves and brush, it seemed that every spark became another large fire. Remember I said that train travel was going to be key? Well, those steam engines powered by very hot coal and wood fires threw off sparks. Those sparks would land on the dry leaves and brush and whoosh; fire. 

There were reports of fires all over the Adirondacks. Most started by sparks from trains. But there were a lot of other causes reported, too. The second leading cause was farmers burning brush to clear fields. And the list goes on.

• Sparks from chimneys of homes and businesses
• Lit cigars thrown away carelessly
• Fires used for smoking meat
• Burning trash

Fire was a huge hazard at this time; you know, before electricity. People used candles, lamps, and other things with open flames. So add in dry conditions and you have a big problem. 

And a big problem it was! There were fires all over the Adirondacks. People lost their homes, businesses, and summer camps. Families lost everything they owned, happy to escape alive. Humans weren’t the only creatures affected of course. Streams were awash with dead fish, the water so hot and dirty  that they died. Deer, porcupine, snakes, birds, all manner of animals that rely on the forest and call it home were endangered.

Without the mechanized fire-fighting tools of today men and women battled the flames with buckets of water drawn from lakes and streams and wells. They raked massive amounts of leaves and brush trying to reduce the amount of fuel for the fires. They dug trenches to stop the fire. In one case; the town of St. Huberts, they dug a trench encircling the entire town!

On June 7th the weather turned and it began to rain. The fires were slowly extinguished by the heavy rain. In fact, so much rain came that there was flooding. Like the area hadn’t had enough misfortune! 

Over 400.000 acres of forest and homes and towns had been destroyed. Luckily there had been no human fatalities. But the loss of property was great. Also, some areas would never be quite the same again. For example, the summit of Giant Mountain was blackened and bare.

You would think that some significant safety changes would have been made. But, you're about to find out that wasn’t the case. 

TRANSITION - sounds

The spring and summer of 1908 were the driest on record. The previous winter had very light snowfall. This was followed by drought. Dry conditions were felt all across the United States. The Adirondacks was not the only place plagued by wildfires that year. And this lasted all summer long. 

Long months without rain lead to fires popping up again and again all over the mountains. Remember I said that the smoke and haze resulting from the  fires out west last summer made for pretty sunsets here in the east? The smoke and haze in 1908 was so thick that ships entering the harbor in New York City had to slow to a crawl. People living in NYC and all over the eastern United States were coughing and choking from the smoke filled air. 

TRANSITION - another voice 

The New York Times wrote that , “The cloud over the city had not a bit of rain in it. The overhanging pall was merely smoke from the Catskills, smoke from the Adirondacks, smoke from Maine, smoke from Massachusetts.”

TRANSITION - sounds

What was probably the saddest thing about these fires…while the drought was an act of nature, the fires were caused by the actions of humans. After the fires of 1903 there were no significant changes. Lawmakers talked about things but not a lot really happened.

Railroads were king in 1908. It was the main mode of transportation for most of the nation and most certainly in the Adirondacks. The steam locomotives fueled by coal or wood threw off sparks. Those sparks hit the dry leaves and branches in the forest instantly creating a wildfire. If this happened along the rail line in the woods it could be quite a long while before it was known and people could begin to battle the blaze. 

Lumber operations of the time period did not have safe practices. One of the most dangerous things they did was limbing the tree tops and piling them up. You see, the tops of the trees that were harvested for lumber were not considered good for anything.  So, they were just tossed to the side as waste. After a while those piles of ‘waste’ wood grew to 12 or 15 feet high. The wood then dried out. Imagine it being like the pile of tinder you would start a campfire with, only the pile was as tall and wide as a house. And this tinder pile is right next to a rail line with steam locomotives constantly throwing off sparks. 

The first fires were reported in late April and fires kept starting and raging in different spots all over the Adirondacks for months. The last one was finally out on October 24. Over 600,000 acres burned. One entire town; Long Lake West, was completely lost. The tops of some mountains that had their vegetation burned away have never completely recovered. 

The long months of fire had one good result. Finally lawmakers realized they needed to enact safety laws and other measures. 

TRANSITION - sounds

You may be wondering “Did they get rid of steam locomotives so there wouldn’t be any fires?” No, that is not the case. People still needed to get around and cars were not being used very much yet. What they did was enact some rules to make them safer. It was noticed that the Raquette Lake Railway had not had a single fire along its line. That railway used oil instead of coal or wood. The oil did not throw off sparks, making it a safer alternative. 

 Safer logging practices were also put into place. Lumber companies eventually found a use for the waste wood and stopped just piling it up.

A very important change was implementation of fire patrolmen. Instead of just battling a fire that is already raging, patrolmen would constantly be on the lookout for smoke and other signs of fire and danger. That way there was a possibility of preventing fires rather than battling full forest fires. These patrolmen are known today as Rangers. The surveillance  that those early rangers did was from towers that were built on the tops of the mountains so they could keep watch on a big area and send warnings early. 

Also, burn bans (like the one I mentioned earlier) were put into place. During times like early spring or during a drought there are restrictions on open fires. This helps Rangers and fire departments keep track of small fires so that they don’t become big fires. Fire prevention became the key to keeping the Adirondack forests safe.  I think the most important thing to learn from the fires of 1903 and 1908 is to listen to the words of Smokey Bear; “Only you can prevent wildfires.”

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast conclusion - Thank you for joining us for an episode of ADKX-tra Credit. This podcast is brought to you by Adirondack Experience, the museum on Blue Mountain Lake. Our mission is to expand understanding of Adirondack history and the relationship between people and the Adirondack wilderness, fostering informed choices for the future. If you want to learn more fun Adirondack history visit our website theadkx.org