The flames continued to ravage the lands around the district and continued to devour Wallace Idaho. Several Montana towns would simply disappear. Flames raged at speeds of 60 mph or more eating everything in their path. Beer was now being used for drinking purposes in Wallace for on Saturday August 20th the water supply ran short for drinking, as all well and cistern water was turned into the mains, water needed for the fire attack. All saloons were given permission by Mayor Hanso to remain open on Sunday. Fires had begun to dissipate by the morning, many people had been evacuated from the town, while word was quickly spreading that an entire trainload of people from Wallace had been trapped and that all people onboard had perished, having been burned to death. This was nothing more but rumor, for the truth was, the flames had eaten the railroad yards at Wallace and to the west, the trains could simply not get through.
Wallace would be considered by many to be the heart of the 1910 fires. This fire was what saved the Forest Service as due to lack of funding, this agency was near being disbanded until August 1910 when fire reared her head and further drove home the need for these service people.
Wallace would be considered by many to be the heart of the 1910 fires. This fire was what saved the Forest Service as due to lack of funding, this agency was near being disbanded until August 1910 when fire reared her head and further drove home the need for these service people.
This morning, 100 years later, there was a procession through Wallace, United States Forest Service pack string, Coeur d'Alene Fire Department Pipe and Drum Corps, apparatus of many local districts, Buffalo Soldiers and firefighters, the procession proceeded to town to the Visitors Center, where at a dedication ceremony , the current Mayor of Wallace, Dick Vester stood at a podium before hundreds of people. Visitors, firefighters, curious onlookers listened astutely as he filled us all in on the fact that many compare the fire of 1910 to a "nuclear explosion", told how in August 1910 "fire policies were written to the day before the fire." Through insurance, and painstaking mental and physical anguish the reconstruction of the once vibrant town of Wallace didn't really begin until 1912.
Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter greeted the crowd "Welcome to this day of rememberence." and stated how "we don't want this to happen again." As I listened I thought on how no one wanted any of this to happen in the first place.
Timothy Egan, Pulitzer Prize winning author of "The Big Burn:Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America" talked about the way things were back in 1910, how compared to the East "you don't see many statues in the West, you have intersections of courage and hope." he talked about the fires "millions of acres in 36 hours, three (3) towns left the map." He told how the town of Avery was saved by the Buffalo Soldiers, how enough timber blew down to rebuild the city of Chicago (lost to fire and the hurricane force winds). He told how back in 1910, the United States Forest firefighters wwere making twenty five cents an hour, and worked for at least 16 hours per day, how there was 900,000 acres of lands assigned to each manager which they oversaw for less than $100 per month! "This was the biggest wildfire in recorded history", Egan stated to the crowd. For the time, for the year, for the resources it will probably remain that way.
When the USFS Director of Fire and Aviation Director, Tom Harbour took the podium he told how "Fire was dancing all around these hills," later stating "78 United States Forest Service Fire Fighters would die" proudly stating to all "I'm a Forest Service fire fighter and I am proud of what we do" and later "We catch, on initial attack, about ninety eight percent of the fires." and a quite profound statement and a fact we do not think of "We will never, ever, take fire out of these mountains."
After the corps beautifully instrumented "Amazing Grace", and we observed a minute (not moment) of silence for all firefighters lost, some of the wildland firefighters, came up with Pulaski's, as they approached the memorial shrouded from view, I noticed the hewn logs at the sides. Everyone watched breathless as the tools fell, cutting the ropes that held the tarpulins in place and the memorial was revealed. All eyes turned toward the hillside where three aircraft flew in, and aerial drop with the first red,
the second white,
and the third blue.
A truly befitting closing to yet another memorial event involving the fire service. At the time there was no seperation between wildland, structural, rural, city, students and engineers. All that were in attendance were as one, as one family.
The Forest Service, city of Wallace, Memorial Committee who spent countless exhausting hours in trying to achieve the goal. Those that I spoke with that told me the funding was short, yes the memorial is paid for, but the goal of this committee was to pay for the memorial, have a fund for at least a year of upkeep of the memorial, not just the memorial at the visitors center but that located at the final resting place of those firefighters lost 100 years ago. The committee chair, Forest VanDorn told me with a broken voice, "My hopes were to also present the Wildland Firefighter Association with a check for $20,000. To help those that survive, and for those that do not help the families." This was to be after all the other expenses. Please give if you can, as they are having a raffle and it is a beautiful Jeep, the site to buy your chance at owning a piece of such a historical event, is firecoop.org the Jeep will be raffled off on September 1, 2010 and you don't have to be in Wallace Idaho to win! With that being said, yes Virginia, I bought tickets. Calling all firefighters.... and those that support what we do......, can you give just a little so that those that give so much, but are left behind, get what they, and/or their survivors so truly deserve.
My next posting will be about Pulaski - the man, the legend, the inventor who gave to firefighters the multi-faceted tool that can indeed save so much.
