Blackwater Fire of 1937
The Blackwater Fire was started by a lightning strike on August 18, 1937. Fifteen firefighters were killed by the forest fire when a dry weather front caused the winds to suddenly increase and change direction. The fire consumed 1,700 acres of old-growth forest dominated by Douglas fir trees. In 1937, firefighters did not have portable radios for rapid on-scene communication or helicopters to bring supplies and provide water drops.
About Blackwater Fire of 1937 in brief
The Blackwater Fire was started by a lightning strike on August 18, 1937. Fifteen firefighters were killed by the forest fire when a dry weather front caused the winds to suddenly increase and change direction. The fire consumed 1,700 acres of old-growth forest dominated by Douglas fir trees on the west slopes of Clayton Mountain. In 1937, firefighters did not have portable radios for rapid on-scene communication or helicopters to bring supplies and provide water drops. Firefighters had some access to gas-powered portable water pumps, but most used backpack pumps that were manually operated and held limited water. Firelines were dug by handcrews using shovels, axes and pulaskis. Most firefighters wore cotton and wool clothing, which provided poor protection from flames. The steepness and ruggedness of the terrain in Blackwater Canyon meant firefighters had to access the fire on foot, carrying all their supplies. The event led the USFS to develop better ways to provide a more immediate response to combat fires; one of them was the development of the smokejumper program in 1939. In 1957, the Ten Standard Firefighting Orders, a standardized set of wildland firefighting principles, were developed in 1957. After a series of severe and deadly forest fire events in the early 20th century officials established the 10am rule in 1935, which recommended aggressive attack on all fires, and to have them controlled by 10am after they are detected. This was intended to prevent fires from remaining active into the afternoon when the rising temperatures and more turbulent air caused fires to expand and become more erratic.
A scientific publication about fire behavior could be used for widespread training of firefighters became available in 1951. The first CCC company from the Wapiti Ranger District of Shoshone National Forest included 1852 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service and 1852 Forest Service Ranger District. It was estimated at the time it was about 2 to 2.5 acres in size. By the evening, it had expanded to 200 acres and 65 firefighters from the United States Forest Service. It remained undetected until early August 20, when it was estimated to be about 2,000 acres. The blaze killed more professional wildland firefighters than any other in the 103 years between the Great Fire of 1910 and the Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013. The canyon consists of numerous ravines and small ridges, which form a washboard landscape shaped by extensive erosion of the volcanic igneous rock that constitutes the Absaroka Range. Blackwater Creek originates on the north slope of Sheep Mesa at an altitude of 11,400 feet and flows north through Blackwater canyon. The regional flora is an upper montane mixed-conifer forestdominated by Douglas Fir trees. Many of the firefighters were employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps and had limited training in wildfire suppression and behavior, as the CCC was mainly engaged in construction projects. The canyon has moderate to steep slopes with a gradient of 20 to 60 percent. The forest was dense and mature with heavy fuel loads from dead trees, which also had dead limbs extending to the ground.
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This page is based on the article Blackwater Fire of 1937 published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
