Maine DACF says lessons to be learned from 1947 wildfires

BAR HARBOR — The state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is hosting a series of events to highlight what happened in 1947, “The Year Maine Burned,” and how to prepare for and prevent wildfire in the state today.
On Oct. 17, 1947, a fire started in Bar Harbor that spread through the town and Acadia National Park. It was just one of many wildfires that sprang up across the drought-stricken Northeast, including much of Maine, posing unprecedented challenges.
By Oct. 23, more than 200,000 acres across the state had burned.

In 2016, 796 fire in Maine burned 946 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
One of the most important wildfire prevention concerns in the state is homeowners and camp owners who do not maintain adequate defensible space between their homes and forested areas, according to northeastfire.org. In Maine, 75 percent of all reported wildfires either threaten, damage or destroy structures.
Another concern is reaching the “hard-to-reach” residents who are careless with their brush pile/debris burns and those who accidentally start machine-caused wildfires. Over the last five years, the most common causes for wildfires in Maine are escaped debris burns and machine-caused fires.
A panel discussion from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesaday, Oct. 17, at The Criterion Theatre in Bar Harbor will address the Great Acadia Fire 70 Years Later: What happened? Could it happen again? What if it happened again? The panel will feature scientists, fire management specialists from the Maine Forest Service, Acadia National Park and Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Commission; and the fire chiefs from Mount Desert Island communities.
The public will also have an opportunity to view modern and historic firefighting equipment at the Bar Harbor Fire Station and YMCA baseball field.
The Bar Harbor Historical Society, which premiered a documentary about the 1947 fire on Oct. 1, will also be open to share historical artifacts and newspaper clippings about the fire.
“In 1947, the state of Maine suffered its largest forest fire disaster in modern history,” said Kent Nelson, forest ranger specialist with the Maine Forest Service. “In the last 70 years, firefighting equipment, communication, training and fire prevention efforts have improved considerably, yet humans still cause over 90% of wildfires in Maine. Maine’s forest rangers encourage you to remember the hard lessons of the past.”
Information about the full series of events can be found on the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange website, www.firesciencenorthatlantic.org.
Information about the 1947 fire can be found on the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Commission’s outreach website, www.northeastwildfire.org.