Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 240, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1919 — WORST FOREST FIRES IN YEARS [ARTICLE]

WORST FOREST FIRES IN YEARS

Forest Rangers Fail to Con- " quer Timber Land Flames. mm IMG .ESCAPES Settlerr Endangered by Sweep of Flames—Record Loss in Missoula District—l. W. W. Makes Tfouble for Fire-Fighters. ’ i j , j. ■ ?;■ Washington, D. C.—Stirring reports rre coming froiit fm'cst rangers fightIng fire in the Northwest. At headjuarters. Here the situation is said to be the most critical in years. The regard sinh ni er of 1910 may have been equaled in the acreage burned over and timber destroyed since June. As fires are still raging, the loss majTbe greater than in that season. 1 There lutve been many thrilling escapes of settlers from the sweep of the Hames; there have been a number 'oT^aHng r- rescuesT _ Tbss of ITfe Tfas been leagHhari usual in forest fireSr— Qno hUtsthnding expedience oT~ eminent fire fighters occurred in Idaho. F. C. Wilfong, who had been detailed along Crooked creek was trapped with his crew’ of three men at a point where three fires met. Getting out alive seemed impossible. Their 13 horses were taken to a bunch xrass hill in the hope that they might >e saved, while the men continued to tght for their lives. Their camp, provisions and clothes -Svere burned. Wilfong and his men finally jumped into Sei way river, and oy covering their heads with wet blankets, pulled through. They found all their horses, but one, alive, but the pack saddles had been burned off their ..backs. - ~— ~Devastation In Missoula District Most damage is being done in Idaho and western Montana. It is called the Missoula district. It is the best part of the country’s timber remaining from what was once thought were inexhaustible preserves. It is here the burnings ten years ago

did most damage. The areas devastated totaled neatly five millions of acres. More than six billion board feet of lumber were destroyed and th’e big tree loss was $14,880,724 aside from the ruin of $9,000,000 worth of timber not big enough to cut. ~ —— —- This loss may be trebled by the fires this .summer. They have been constantr—Thirty of thenr"tnrre~~ench'~con~ sinned everything hut the rocks on areas of one thousand acres or more until the aggregate is already several millions, with no break in the drought most to come. Next in seriousness to lack of rain or water from dried-up streams is-the-scarcity of labor. —Fire fighters Clin HUT be‘ found in sufficient numbers in such an emergency in the forest region. Employment offices have had to be opened in Great Falls, Billings, Anaconda, Butte and Spqkane. Trouble From 1. W. W. In the fatter city, the I. W. W. gives trouble to the fire rangers seeking help. Great care is .exercised to prevent any members-of this organization frqm getting into the forcessent to the forest

fire line. There they can give an immense amount of trouble and frustrate efforts to put out a blaze. Their favorite way is to create discontent - among the crews as to pay and food and induce them to quit or do as little work as possible while the trees burn. In spite of the care taken, some of these plotters have got into crews .. and are doing mischief. Some bosses have been reporting that their men are “laying down on their jobs” and have been told to discharge them incontinently. This is done under guard, but formerly only to the edge of civilization. This ca li-be- doneoulyin #case the man has worked out his transpor--tatlon and cost of keep and few fall~ to do this before discovery. -In that ease' the armed guard must take him to the city from whence he Came. Nothing can be dpne_to him, as he has tenance aml -must lie taken- back w ithout expense, according'*!© contract. Now and then an overzealotis I. W. W. gct'klrosyiOosobn in the woods, it he has not earned his expenses, ire may be arrested for defraudihg the government. -* \ Two "thousand gas masks have been loaned by the war department to the forest service for trial by fire fighters. While the fire situation in Oregon and .Washington is not so serious as in Montana' and Idaho, all the crews there are fully - --kr