Jesup Memorial Library 34 Mt. Desert St. Bar Harbor, ME 04609 Prologue The Great Fire Jesup Memorial Library 1 34 Mt. Desert St. Bar Harbor, ME 04609 It was October 1947. A hot, dry summer, causing numerous forest fires to break out all over Maine. No rain had fallen in Bar Harbor for over two months. A Placard hung in front of the fire station from July on, telling the degree of fire danger. During October two fires were extinguished, one on the Crooked Road, October 16, and the other one on the Heath, October 17, outside Dolliver's Dump. That fire, having been checked short of Salisbury Cove, was carefully watched, then was considered safe to let the water out of the hoses. Fire equipment was left in position however, as the peat in the Heath was still smoldering. Six men were always on duty, as pay records show. on Tuesday October 21 a spot fire was discovered outside the hose line. This was the start of the Great Fire. The wind was terrific, a northeast wind driving the fire towards Norway Drive. Fire assistance came from Bucksport, Camden, Brewer and Ellsworth fire departments. A crew from Dow Field Army Base, Bangor, Maine also helped but the fire could not be checked, The fire was loose to do its damage wherever the winds drove it. It raged to Eagle Lake where a stand was made to stop the fire as it came over McFarland's Mountain. On Wednesday, October 22, the fire couldn't completely be controlled and it crossed over Sargent's Mountain with disastrous results, making it the Mount Desert Island Fire. As the fire spread, assistance came from the other towns. Here, as previously planned, the Acadia National Park authorities took over their section. Meanwhile the Mount Desert Fire Department took responsibility for any shift to the west. Bar Harbor firefighters bore the brunt of the fire now as the wind shifted steadily. The wind blew away from Sargent's Mountain long enough for trained 2 ? Park Service firefighters flown in from Florida and the Great Smokies to check the fire and hold it within bounds. The wind shifted again, driving the fire toward the village of Bar Harbor. A plan of evacuation was made by the Fire Chief, David Sleeper, and advisors. There was found no need for putting the evacuation plan in effect however, as the wind shifted again, driving the fire towards the village of Hulls Cove. At three o'clock on the afternoon of Thursday, October 23, the wind dropped completely. Then with a roar it swung into the North and fire leaped forward as 11 from a thousand blow torches." The wind was estimated from sixty to sixty five miles per hour. Some estimated it higher. That terrible blast caught up the fire and threw it back toward the village of Bar Harbor. At three p.m. the evacuation whistle was sounded. Flames from the Breakneck came over the Grant Hill, tore up Cadillac Mountain and over to the Kebo Golf House, down the east side of Cadillac to Sieur de Mont Springs and on to the Jackson Memorial Laboratory destroying most everything in its path until it blew out to sea later that night. Additional aid was not long in coming. The first arrival was Battery B, One Hundred, and the Fourteenth Field Artillery, Brewer, Maine. Batteries A and D and the Headquarter Batteries followed. A pass system was set up, keeping off the island all who were not engaged in firefighting. Army Dow Field Personnel, Bangor, Maine came in through the night. Naval and Coast Guard vessels were on the way. Bangor Theological Seminary provided manpower also to help the weary firefighters. A canteen was set up. Donated truckloads of food came to the Bar Harbor Fire Station. The fire wandered about until Saturday October 25 when it was checked 3 in the woods near the Crooked Road. From Saturday until Wednesday the 29th, the fire continued burning outside of town. Finally, on Wednesday morning October 29, it was possible for the authorities to allow the evacuees to return home. From The Story of Bar Harbor by Richard Walden Hale, Jr 1 Bar Harbor Weather 1947 Oct 17 Friday 62 degrees Sunshine Oct 18 Saturday 65 degrees Sunshine Oct 19 Sunday 68 degrees Sunshine Oct 20 Monday 70 degrees Sunshine Oct 21 Tuesday 63 degrees Sunshine Oct 22 Wednesday 60 degrees Sunshine Oct 23 Thursday 64 degrees Sunshine Bar Harbor, Naine Evacuation Thursday, October 23, 1947 3 P.M. It had been a hectic week. Two forest fires had been extinguished. No rain had fallen for over two months. Forests were in 5th degree of danger. A spot fire developed on the Heath which could not be controlled due to the capricious gale force winds. On Wednesday october 22 liquor, beer and ale sales were prohibited during the emergency. Students had been skipping school to fight fire. I believe permission was given later on. News of the conflagration was sent out and additional assistance came immediately from other towns. On that Wednesday, October 22, my son Oliver, age thirteen, came home in the evening. Both he and his brother, John, age fifteen years, had been fighting fire whenever possible. Oliver said " Nama ! look out the window; you had better start packing." The sky had a red glow in the southwest. At three P.M. Thursday October 23 the evacuation whistle was blown. My trunk was carried down from the attic and I started packing. Baby clothes were selected as I expected my baby in November. Loving cups awarded Joy and John in high school, photographs, snapshot albums, winter clothes purchased by the children and a few other cherished items. I also packed a shopping bag with necessary clothing and toilet articles. The trunk was picked up by Army jeep and taken to the Athletic Field. It was very exciting. Cars and trucks were speeding by like mad on Main Street, a lot of activity going on what with the evacuation whistle blowing continuosly and loudspeakers on vehicles announcing the evacuation and instructions. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry. The weather was not so cool as yet, a beautiful Indian Summer day. Leaves were being blown about by the gusts of wind. The smell of smoke was in the air. While standing in the lane watching the activity on Main Street my good friend and neighbor Lottie Poirier joined me. Lottie operated a dining room formerly known as the Pineo House, corner of Main and Mount Desert Streets. She said 11 I heard the whistle. What is going on ?" I then explained to her everyone was to wait at the Athletic Field for further evacuation orders. " Well", she said " I want to finish my ironing. I'll meet you at the Athletic Field later on." I looked at her in amazement as the fire was headed in the direction of Bar Harbor and she was worried about her ironing. My youngest child Mary Jane, age eleven years, came home. She had been selling the Bar Harbor Times. John was fighting fire and Joy, age seventeen, was on duty at the local telephone exchange. Oliver wanted to rejoin the firefighters but I persuaded him to go with us. Mary Jane pulled on two skirts ( one recent1t purchased which I had neglected to pack.) We put on our jackets. I handed Mary Jane her favorite doll, picked up my shopping bag, tucked my Philco ten by fourteen inch radio under my arr, and went out the door on Pineo Lane. I left the door unlocked to 3 enable firefighters to enter if necessary. We walked to the Athletic Field. Oliver deposited his hip boots beside the trunks. Lottie my friend joined us later saying she had finished the ironing. We spent the greater part of the afternoon sitting on the trunks watching the activity around us. Refrigerators, trunks, kitchen appliances, automobiles and other items were scattered over the field for safekeeping. The National Guard soldiers would patrol the field later. We exchanged fire news with other evacuees. Time seemed endless as we waited on the field. Then I saw flames shooting up in the sky on Strawberry Hill directly in front of us. The trees were exploding from the flames. Sparks were flying overhead, smoke billowing everywhere. Flames were shooting up in the sky in the vicinity of Glen Mary Road also. I stared in fascination at the eerie sight - the sky so yellow, and the wind coming in great gusts now. I had often heard the old adage " Fire makes its own wind " and I believe that is true. Orders were then given to proceed to the town wharf where busses would be waiting to evacuate the people. Naval vessels were steaming on the way to Bar Harbor also to help with the evacuation. Lottie, Mary Jane and I with my radio and shopping bag walked to the wharf, stopping on the way to say goodbye to Joy on duty at the telephone exchange. The supervisor assured me she would see that Joy was evacuated if necessary. We reached the wharf. The busses were already filled with people. My brother, Bernard Hawkes, his wife Gladys and their children were on a bus. He returned to Bar Harbor later and joined the firefighters. We were then directed to the Bar Harbor Reading Room, an unoccupied building on the Shore Path. Chairs and candles were passed around. 4 Mary Jane and I walked to the wharf later on. It was low tide. Several volunteers, evacuation fishing boats, were having difficulty trying to anchor near the ladder in the gale force winds and tossing waves. when that position was accomplished however, people would cautiously climb down the ladder to be transported to Southwest Harbor, Gouldsboro, Prospect Harbor, Hancock Point, Winter Harbor and other places. I took one look at the wind driven waves and knew I could not maneuver myself down the ladder. It was estimated about four hundred people were evacuated by sea that terrib day. The destroyer Perry, Coast Guard Cutter Bibb and other ships were on the way to Bar Harbor but none arrived until later in the evening. My brother's wife, Susan Mitchell, and two children of Edgewood Street were evacuated by a Coast Guard Cutter from Southwest Harbor. Sam, her husband, was fighting fire. His father, Samuel Mitchell Sr, could not be induced to leave his home on Edgewood Street. His two brothers, Edward and Charles, joined him and the three brothers waited out the fire. I heard later that Charles' and Carrie's home on Pine Street was destroyed in the fire. Time again seemed endless in the Reading Room. People were sitting and restlessly walking about, the hum of conversation and anxiety was in the air. I would look out the door now and then. An unconfertable scene. The sky was lurid yellowish orange color, the smoke smell very strong now, the wind screaming like a banshee. All sorts of rumors were heard - that flames were nearing the Clark Coal Company's huge storage tanks on nearby West Street. Houses were being dynamited. We might have to wade into the ocean. Finally orders were given at 9:10 P.M. to board open Army trucks lined up on the driveway outside the Reading Room door to form a Convey, destination Ellsworth, Maine. My friend Lottie decided she would ride with her friend Marthe Burton in the truck ahead of ours which was near the end of the convoy. She invited us to join them. Concealing my hurt feelings I declined the offer, a very fortunate decision as you will read later on. Oliver, Mary Jane and I boarded the truck assigned us. I noticed Mildred Foster was one of the truck occupants. After some delay the convoy started rolling with the police, police reserves, private cars and busses leading the way. Going out by way of West Street past the Clark Coal Company, I looked back sadly towards the wharf thinking I would never see Bar Harbor again except in ruins. When we approa ched the intersection of West and Eden Streets, which had recently been bulldozed of bricks, hot wires, debris and other obstructions, we pulled coats or whatever was available over our heads. A lone chimney was standing on the smoldering DeGregoire Hotel lot. A fireman nearby hosed the passing evacuation vehicles with water. Across the intersection a settlement of houses on Brookside Avenue known as the Guzzle had vanished. Only smoking embers and live coals glowing in the darkness lay on the ground as far as the eyes could see. Sparks flew overhead, a no man's land. The convoy continued on its way. Fire devastation was everywhere. As our truck rounded a curve in Hulls Cove, we noticed men sweeping the road which was covered with glass fragments. The convoy halted for a while. An Army Jeep Station Wagon had collided with the convoy truck ahead of our truck. Both my friend Lottie and Marthe Burton were injured in the collision. Lottie received neck and back injuries. Marthe received a severe facial injury which later left a very noticeable scar. A young girl Helen Louise Cormier of Bar Harbor died a few days later from injuries received in the accident. I was so thankful I had refused Lottie's offer to"join them". I heard other occupants of the truck had been removed to houses nearby. The car which had collided with the truck was on the left hand side of the road. I believe it was headed in the direction of Bar Harbor. A soldier was draped across the wheel, another soldier laying on the ground covered with blood. I tried to shield Mary Jane from the sight. I heard later other soldiers were injured and had been taken to the hospital. when cleanup was completed the convoy proceeded on its journey. It was getting very cold. Blankets were distributed in Trenton. Finally about 11:00 P.M. or later, due to the delay on the road, we reached our destination, Ellsworth City Hall, Ellsworth, Maine, where plans had been put into operation to receive evacuees. Ellsworth went all out to receive us. The city was grateful for the help given their people in its devastating fire of 1933. We then registered. I heard later that over 1500 evacuees registered at City Hall. Others registered at Trenton, Gouldsboro, Winter Harbor, Prospect Harbor, Hancock, Lamoine and other places. Cots had been set up in the Masonic Hall, High School, City Hall and elsewhere. Heals were to be served at St Joseph's Church, Congregational Church and Masonic Hall. I called my sister in New Jersey ( free of charge ) She was relieved to know we were safe. We were assigned a room in a private home. Oliver with my permission had returned to Bar Harbor. I later heard a reporter gave him a ride. When they reached the Trenton Bridge the reporter showed his pass and Oliver was allowed to continue on to Bar Harbor. He picked up his hip boots which still lay on the ground beside the trunk on the Athletic Field and rejoined the firefighters. Johnny visited us for a short time in Ellsworth. He said Joy was staying with friends and relatives. Mary Jane and I spent most of the days sitting in the City Hall watching 7 the activity around us. People were milling about. Evacuees were being paged over the loudspeaker. Clothing and other articles donated to the evacuees were being selected. I saw familiar faces and anxiously listened to the fire reports. False fire rumors were circulating, especially in reading the newspapers - a time of uncertainty for the evacuees. On Wednesday October 29 at 10:00 A.M. notice was given over radios and loudspeakers that evacuees with homes standing would be permitted to return to Bar Harbor. I was so happy. I grabbed my shopping bag, put my radio under my arm and with Mary Jane joined the people entering cars. We reached the Trenton Bridge, and discovered to my embarrassment I had neglected to apply for a pass. Mary Jane and I returned to Ellsworth, then with the necessary pass returned to the Trenton Bridge where it was collected, then onward to Bar Harbor and home. The apartment door was still unlocked. Nothing had been disturbed. Johnny told me later he had been refused admittance to the apartment by the National Guard Patrol. He informed the soldier he lived there but to no avail. The Firemen, Police, soldiers and National Guard were to be commended for their tireless efforts in guarding and protecting the property of the evacuees. My trunk was delivered from the Athletic Field. Curfew was in effect. All women and children were to be off the streets at 6 P.M. unless on specific business. This was to enable the firefighters to continue to fight the fire without interuption. A few days later I walked to the outskirts of town to view the fire damage. The Building of Arts, a cultural center leveled by the fire, looked like a giant deck of cards scattered on the ground. All the houses on Eagle Lake Road, Highbrook Road, Brookside Avenue, Oak Street, Pine Street, Clefstone Road, Prospect Avenue, Mountain Avenue, For est Street, Kebo Street and Rockwood Avenue had been consumed in the fire. Most of the houses on Eden Street and Harbor Lane were also destroyed. Nothing but cellars, chimneys and rubble remained where hotels and mansions once stood, a scene of utter desolation. I walked toward home and stood at the junction of Eden Street and Eagle Lake Road which meets Mount Desert Street. This was where one of the last ditch stands was made. At that time the nearby Miller Cottages, Belmont and Malvern Hotel and Annex were engulfed in flames. The courageous firefighters under wetted blankets slowly advanced step by step and somehow managed to check the fire at the corner of Holland Avenue and in doing so prevented the fire from entering the residential and business section of the village of Bar Harbor. The fire scorched the ell of the Hamor Building directly across the street, then swiftly turned down Spring Street skipping houses here and there, touching one side of Glen Mary Road, continuing on its Etatic journey, spreading destruction to Lower Ledgelawn Extension, Strawberry Hill, Lower Main Street, then jumping across the road to the Mount Desert Nurseries, onward to the Jackson Memorial Laboratory, a famous mouse research center, consuming many thousands of experimental mice and anything else not wetted down, on its way to the ocean where the fire finally blew out to sea. Houses were still burning when the Coast Guard Cutter Laurel steamed into the bay later that evening. The following paragraph taken from an interview with Police Chief George C Abbott at That time impressed me very much. " All we did was sit here and pray that they would hold the fire away from the main part of town and they held it! 11 1 Epilogue The fire was still burning when the evacuces returned home. The long awaited rain fell early in November. The fire was declared officially out November 14. Later on we fire was discovered four feet underground in Sieur de Monts Meadow after the snow had fallen. Miles of hose and numerous portable pumps were used to extinguish the fires. It was estimated about 17,188 acres of land was burned, 77 acres in Mount Desert, 8364 in Bar Harbor and 8750 in Acadia National Park. In all 1500 men fought fire. Approximately 175 residential homes, several inns, three large hotels, 70 summer homes, 45 garages and greenhouses were consumed in the fire. Most of the burned year round homes would be rebuilt on their former foundations. The lumber used on some of these homes was from charred trees salvaged from the burned forests. Due to the amazing speed with which the fire traveled through the forests, trees that were seared on the surface but not seriously damaged on the inside were cut and stored in witch Hole, Lakewood and other ponds. This method of storage was used to protect the trees from worms and rot until the spring of 1948 when the trees would be taken to the sawmills. Eighteen homes had been built by May 1948 and sixty more were under construction. Many lives were undoubtedly saved due to Fire Chief David Sleeper's orders. Messengers were dispatched by cars to warn residents living on Forest Street, Highbrook Road, Mountain Avenue, Prospect Avenue, Eagle Lake Road to evacuate their homes as the fire was rapidly approaching. I read an article stating that the crown fire which rolled forward from that terrific blast in Hulls Cove reached Howe's Park in a matter of 45 minutes at 4:00 P.M. Five people died due to the evacuation and fire. Mrs Arthur Pray and Richmond Karst died from heart attacks. Irving Young, an elderly resident, Mountain Avenue, died presumably from smoke inhalation. Warrant Officer Walter S Coates stationed at Dow Field, Bangor, Maine died from injuries received when the Jeep station wagon collided with the Convoy evacuation truck at Hulls Cove, Maine. Helen Louise Cormier, a popular student at Bar Harbor High School, a passenger in the Convoy truck, died from injuries received in the collision. October 23, 1977 will be the 30th anniversary of Evacuation Day. It is still vivid in my memory. Over the years most of the scars from that disastrous fire have been erased. Nature has restored the beauty of Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park included, which is incomparable anywhere. Frances Spear Seeley Pineo Lane Bar Harbor, Maine January, 1977 - Gartial list of burned and familier Brenton Herman Budreau David Budreau Hm. Cantwell John Carry James Arthur " " Elizabeth " William x Sonya Course Bessie Grane Bund Designee Justin Garrel Street James Layer Calvin Dorathy Great Henry me George Gray Laughlin Enthur militule Charlee montella Philip Hutchine arthur man Letter Patterion Chauller Robert Paine Robhere Edward Pugh Handed Rame Hallis Stewart Line Ryden George Jr Handworth Canald Parene Hinkest Pinkham Breweter menton Signature Dumond Rudent Frame Hilliam Petineon Linda " 2 - Bunker Palph Lymbunner mangarie Ellemone Elliot Richardson Grace Hagelton Leannied Lecome Thank Berry Freeley Handworth alongo Truman Clinton Daw Harrard Patter Delmont Charlee Charlee Higgine Card Grant Hashington Stover Halter Brunker Bestram Canner Came Whiteomb John Liccomb Harace, annie