Been watching all the news on the forest fires out west, this year and really for the last several years. I feel for the people losing their homes and property. No doubt it's terrible and a tragedy. All the people involved in fighting those fires. Most are trained specialist's. Got me to thinking about an old magazine I have. Life June 28 Issue, 1937. The article was about forest fires out west. Thought it was applicable even today. There is a picture of my uncle fighting a fire in Plumas National forest in California.
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Forest Fires Out West
- Thread starter barryg
- Start date
My uncle is in the last pic. He's on the left helping the man the man out from the fire. He's wearing the English style cap. All the men and boys in this pic are hobo's. They have been rounded up off trains and railroad yards. My uncle said they were given a choice fight the fire or go to jail. My uncle said he volunteered at the end of a gun pointed at him by the county sheriff. He's 15 years old and the year of this pic is 1931. He lived in LA, California and rode the rails to Denver, Co. to work for his Grandfather in a casino.
6322
Member
Thanks for your post and the recognition. This has been a long, hard season especially with the loss of our comrades at arms. Most folks have been gone from home and family for most of the summer with their lives on the line every day. That tends to wear on you. Just keep them in your prayers and pray for rain.
gp
gp
I live in the wine country a little bit southwest of the Valley Fire and the smoke was drifting over us yesterday. I rode my bike through Middletown just a couple months ago so I'm keen to go back and take a look at the damage as soon as the CHP lifts the barricades. Middletown is pretty much burned to the ground, as is Harbin Hot Springs. What a mess. I was a forest fire fighter during my summers in college up in Oregon but I've never seen anything like the Valley Fire and the preceding nearby Rocky Fire. Both moved incredibly fast through some tough terrain filled with essentially woody gasoline.
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R184
Tutum amicum
Thank you to your Uncle and all those like him. Year and after year these people risk everything to fight and control these fires. We are fortunate there are people like this.
EvryDayRide
John
That was a great post! Enjoyed the old pictures and how simplistic Wildland Firefighting was in those days. My Dad was a California State Firefighter and later a Forester for the State. Back then it was a cotton khaki shirt, green pants, and an aluminum helmet as safety gear.
I have friends on both the Butte and Valley fires where homes and lives have been lost. Unbelievable fire season!!!! I retired from the Fire Service here in California. In my 32 year career, I have not seen anything quite like this? They will be rewriting the books on fire spread when this season of drought is over.
I had to laugh to myself when you said your uncle was pictured fighting fire in the Plumas. I scrolled down and the first picture I saw was a woman standing on the beach??? Anyway, the first impression made me laugh. Nice looking uncle!!!!
Thanks again,
John
story
New member
Back in the day all able bodied men were drafted to fight fire. Loggers were shanghaied first then anyone who came along. They would set up road blocks and shanghai all who were able. If you were driving through on vacation, your wife and kids continued on while the man was pulled out and put on the fire line. Convicts would set up a camp kitchen and cook for everyone. My dad was a logger and was drafted many times.
SeabeckS
New member
I agree with John, they'll be re-writing the books after this fire season. Truly incredible rate of spread, particularly with the Valley fire. We've frequently passed through the area enroute to our favorite vacation spot in Calistoga. I've thought on more than one occasion that the fuel loading, limited access, tough terrain, and dispersed housing had an nasty potential for huge wildfire, but never envisioned anything like this one.
Also a retired fire service guy, 26 total, 18 with Nevada Division of Forestry in Reno-Tahoe region. My heart goes out to all those who have lost so much...
Also a retired fire service guy, 26 total, 18 with Nevada Division of Forestry in Reno-Tahoe region. My heart goes out to all those who have lost so much...
36654
New member
It's been many decades since logging was a viable job for anyone but a sadist. The pay is poor and the price for timber literally sucks. While many Farmers will keep going until all the money is gone, loggers seem to go until the job kills them. If you want to see bent, broken, old young men, go to a funeral for a logger.
While there will always be money for disaster response, I wonder how much funding has been provided lately for fuel removal and other prevention efforts? While the weather is definitely a factor, zoning and insurance practices have to updated in light of our choices for home construction. It's the same issue facing flood and storm plane areas.
Isn't that the truth. My grandfather was a logger for Weyerhaeuser in Washington in the early 20th century and he was nearly killed by a falling branch. Interesting fact: he was one of the few loggers back then to actually file a claim under the rudimentary workers' compensation program at the time. Weyerhaeuser blackballed him and he was never able to work as a logger again. Maybe that was a good thing given the danger of the job, but the episode also turned him into a bit of a Red Finn.
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These are always fun artifacts from the glory days of Logging in PNW.
The first is what some might call a bushmaster knife. My grandfather made it in the early 1940s from saw steel. As a saw filer they used a saw tooth filer to break the metal down and give the shape. Part of the tip is actually the original saw tooth from the 12 or 16 foot blade. Or, so the story goes. I wasn't there then
It was called a "toothpick" by grand dad. It is balanced very nicely if nose heavy. solid tang all the way through the handle with melted aluminum.
The other is a two handed saw. I've got half a dozen of these. Most in great condition. Mostly retrieved from various uncles or cousins who have gotten out of the business through misadventure.
I don't know why I lug these around still today. Just bits of history my kids and soon grand kids will never understand. Seems like (no offense intended) that most of these kinds of implements simply will fade because they represent activities people don't like anymore. I think the guys to wield them, fight fires in the world that grew that capability, and maybe the world that needs them have all changed. Maybe not. I work with a pretty adventurous crew who get their boots dirty on a daily basis.
That two-handed saw is a bit of a collector's item. My dad had a few of them but they disappeared over the years.
36654
New member
I have a brand new, never used 5-ft saw that was purchased just before the fire consumed the family sawmill. However, my father had no regrets, as he found much better work doing road construction during the Depression and then took a machinist apprenticeship during the Lend-Lease period. Some of his cousins stayed in the logging business.
SeabeckS
New member
Weren't those two handle saws called misery whips?
As to the comment about funding for prevention/fuel reduction...that's always on the back burner (purely intentional pun) in Congress and State legislatures. In Nevada, we had an informal office pool based on the number of weeks it would take to deplete our annual wildland firefighting budget. In bad years it was usually on the order of 3 - 4 weeks, sometimes we'd go 8 weeks....
As to the comment about funding for prevention/fuel reduction...that's always on the back burner (purely intentional pun) in Congress and State legislatures. In Nevada, we had an informal office pool based on the number of weeks it would take to deplete our annual wildland firefighting budget. In bad years it was usually on the order of 3 - 4 weeks, sometimes we'd go 8 weeks....
SeabeckS
New member
Some similar pathways...my wife's grandfather and his two sons operated one of the larger independent logging companies in the PNW. Eventually they transitioned to being road contractors...a much more lucrative business for them following WWII.
36654
New member
Like farming, the romance of the job beats the reality.
But, then again, we do need backgrounds for all those pretty pictures in the Filson catalog.
