1967 Wildfire & Smoke Season

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1967 Wildfire & Smoke Season

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Fire Hits In Idaho Forests
August 19th, 1967
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19670819. ... N--------1
Idaho Gov. Don Samuelson sent National Guardsmen into the battle against a stubborn forest fire near the Canadian border today as timber blazes crackled in five Western states and British Columbia. More than 40,000 acres of grass, brush and timberland have been charred the past three days in the nation’s worst outbreak of fires this summer.

Hot, dry weather heightened the fire danger. Samuelson declared a state of emergency in the Trapper Peak area, 10 miles from the Canadian border, where 3,200 acres of forest were blackened. He said the situation could worsen if electrical storms occur during the weekend. Some 25,000 acres were burned in British Columbia as strong winds fanned the flames. In an effort to ease the danger, all logging operations were ordered shut down. Campfire permits were suspended in one forest and a recreational closure was ordered for another.

Fires also ravaged timber and brush lands in Montana, Washington, Oregon and California. Forest Rangers warned weekend travelers to use extreme caution with smoking materials. In California an army of smoke-eaters controlled a forest fire which burned 1,000 acres in the Lake County vacation area. The blaze erupted Friday afternoon as the thermometer soared over the 100-degree mark.

On the north coast, a fire began eating into Douglas fir trees after raging through 3,500 acres of grass and brush near the Eel River. Fire fighters hoped to control a 390-acre fire in the Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon today. The blaze had been out of control for three days, there has not been rain in the area since June 1. Gov. Tom McCall flew over Western Oregon Friday and said a dry lightning forecast “could create an explosive situation” because the forests were bone dry.

A lightning-caused fire south of Jordan Valley, Ore., seared 750 acres of ranchland. Two blazes were ruining picturesque areas of Glacier National Park in Montana. One blackened 2,000 acres and jumped into the Flathead National Forest. The other burned about 500 acres in a remote area which includes high, rocky cliffs. Glacier Park Supt. Keith Nielson ordered two lookouts evacuated because “dense smoke made it difficult to see anything.” Besides the two big fires, he said, nine small ones were reported in the park. In Washington, Forest Rangers reported that all the fires in their areas were minor. However, trey feared the influx of weekend fun-seekers could make the situation dangerous.

Canadian foresters said fires devoured thousands of acres of virgin timber in the Nelson, Kamloops and Prince George regions. A 2,500-acre blaze on Vancouver Island was controlled after a 48-hour battle. Thirty-three fires surged through more than 10,000 acres in the Prince George region. Fires at Bak and Tuff consumed 5,000 acres each. In the vicinity of Kamloops and Nelson. 260 fires roared over nearly 10,000 acres.


Fire Series Rakes Pacific Northwest
August 21st, 1967
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19670821. ... --1967---1
Hundreds of lighting-sparked forest fires roared across the tinder dry Pacific Northwest today, some with such intensity that weary firemen walked off the battle lines in frustration. The rash of blazes, fanned by a record heal wave, already has charred more than 51,000 acres of brush and timber in five Western states and British Columbia. Major fires were out of control in Idaho, Oregon, Montana and British Columbia, where two Canadian fire spotters were missing in a plane crash.

California and Washington reported only minor blazes, but the continuing hot, dry spell left conditions explosive. The mercury climbed to 100 degrees throughout the fire area again Sunday. Lewiston, Idaho, recorded its 11th consecutive day of temperatures above 100. Portland, Ore., was expected to tie an all-time record today—60 consecutive days with no measurable rain.

British Columbia was hardest hit, with 30,000 acres destroyed by some 400 fires in the past week. The toughest fire-fighting conditions were reported in the rugged mountain country of Northern Idaho. Three major timber fires jumped lines in the area Sunday, and a fast-moving dry lightning storm set nine new blazes. The situation was far worse than Friday, which Idaho Gov. Don Samuelson proclaimed a state of emergency.

A U.S. Forestry spokesman said the Trapper Peak fire jumped state-manned lines and burned downhill over rugged terrain. The conflagration has destroyed nearly 4.000 acres, despite the efforts of 1,000 firefighters. The spokesman said the blaze was so tough some smoke-eaters were walking off the lines without collecting their pay. He said some men had to be pulled up cliffs by rope after flames drove them back into deadend rock formation. A call went out for 500 additional men to replace some of the firefighters who had been battling the blaze for 10 days.

Meanwhile the Kaniksu Mountain fire northwest of Trapper doubled in size to nearly 500 acres despite the efforts of 350 men. The Plume Creek blaze,10 miles northeast of Sand Point, Idaho, exploded from 30 acres to an estimated 600 in two days. The situation in British Columbia was so bad that officials closed outdoor recreation areas including Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver. Two fire spotters were reported missing when their light plane crashed Sunday in the Nelson forest district.


Northwest Plagued By Forest Fires
August 22nd, 1967
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19670822 ... --1967---1
Vast forest land areas of Idaho, Oregon, Montana and British Columbia were aflame today as firefighters sought to overcome manpower shortages, dry weather, and a threat of lightning storms in the Northeast. More than 400 new fires were reported yesterday in the region. Washington State officials said the forest fire threat there was the worst in history.

Spokesmen for the U.S. Forest Service regional office in Ogden Utah, said exact estimates on the number and size of the fires are impossible. "We don't have enough men to cover all the fires," Richard Stauber, Forest Service information officer, said. "We've been trying to fight the big ones and then on to the others as we can." He said the Forest Service, stale and volunteer groups hoped to muster enough manpower today to control all but the most minor blazes. No fatalities have been reported.

A major blaze southwest of the small north Idaho community of Peck mushroomed out of control. More than four square miles of tinder-dry-trees and grass had been blackened last night. About 70 other smaller fires were burning in north Idaho, while southern Idaho firefighters attempted to choke off the largest of 80 blazes. Hardest hit were Payette and Salmon National forests. More than 250 new fires have hit Idaho since Sunday night. In Oregon than 1,000 men faced blazes racing over 250,000 acres. The largest was a 140,000-acre fire on Bureau of Land Management property south of Burns. Three ranch houses were destroyed in an 8,000-acre fire southwest of The Dalles in central Oregon near the Washington border.

With more than 13,000 acres of Canadian timberland on fire, British Columbia faced possible labor problems. Walter Allen, president of an International Woodworkers of America local, said the union is investigating complaints of meals, hiring methods, hours and other conditions in the section where a 6,000-acre blaze is raging on Vancouver Island. Another 7,000 acres of British Columbia forests were burning out of control in the Dawson Creek area at Portage Mountain. More than 1,300 men were reported fighting the Canadian fires.

About 150 new fires had been reported in Montana, where blazes have broken out at an average of of 15 per day since June. Hardest hit has been Glacier National Park where 5,000 acres have been blackened by two blazes. The U.S. Weather Bureau put out a "red flag alert" Monday. This was termed the worst kind of firefighting weather possible. Many of the lightning storms which hit Sunday were "dry storms" -- setting fires but giving no rain to the parched areas.
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Re: 1967 Wildfire & Smoke Season

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Northwest Fires Rage In Record Dry Spell
August 23rd, 1967
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19670823. ... --1967---1
National Guardsmen and fresh volunteers joined battle weary veterans today in an effort to contain hundreds of lightning-spawned blazes that have devastated 85,000 acres of brush and timber in the Pacific Northwest. One forestry official said the fight was being waged in an area made so dry by a record heat-wave, “you could almost spit and cause a forest fire.” Temperatures which hovered near the 100 degree mark for more than a week have eased, but Portland, Ore., recorded its 61st consecutive day without rain Tuesday — an all-time record.

The most serious fires raged out of control in Idaho, Montana and British Columbia. Mopping up operations were in progress in Oregon, Washington and California. Fresh recruits, many of them workers idled by a strike in the copper industry, were rushed to the uncontrolled 5,500-acre Trapper Peak fire in northern Idaho, where the leader of fire fighters reported his crews were working at “about 50 per cent effectiveness because of exhaustion.” Forestry officials in Missoula, Mont., said 200 firefighters were recruited in Butte and 150 in Spokane. Another 325 were en route from California.

However, they said the new men would be used to supplement the 4,400 smoke-eaters presently on the lines in 16 northern region forests. Women were put to work at fire headquarters Tuesday, packing parachutes for smokejumpers and rations for the men on the lines. An official said parachute crews have made 464 jumps in the past 10 days. A new fire erupted in the rugged Clearwater National Forest of Idaho Tuesday, and three blazes remained out of control in Montana’s Glacier National Park.

The entire southern half of British Columbia was closed to travelers, campers and fishermen at midnight Tuesday. The worst outbreak of fires in the history of the Canadian province has charred nearly 50,000 acres in the past 10 days, and several large blazes are still out of control. The cooling trend and a slight possibility of showers raised hopes among some fire officials. “If we get a little break in the weather and the wind,” one said, “I think we can stop them.”


Northwest Fires Still Uncontrolled
August 27th, 1967
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19670827 ... --1967---1
The battle against one of the Pacific Northwest's most disastrous forest tire epidemics In more than a half century continued unabated yesterday.

Nearly 9000 weary firefighters manned firefighters in Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, Oregon and Washington as hundreds of fire continued to ravage valuable timber, brush and rangeland.


Canada Cracks Down On Tinder-Dry Camping Area
August 30th, 1967
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19670830. ... --1967---1
Canadian officials cracked down on campers in tinder dry recreation areas today as armies of fire fighters made alight headway in attempts to smother blazes in the Pacific Northwest and Southern California. Nearly 200,000 acres of grass, brush and timber land have been ravaged by fires the past three weeks in British Columbia, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Montana and California.

It has been the worst outbreak in memory. In Southern California, firemen controlled portions of the 2,800-acre Pirn fire. However, gusty winds sent flames licking into Lime Canyon and threatening about 50 oil wells. Forest rangers said no lives were in danger. Provincial forest officials announced late Tuesday in Vancouver, B. C., that more than a dozen campers were cited for using recreation areas closed because of the high fire danger. “A lot of people just don't seem to believe that closures are really in effect,” an official of the Kamloops forest district said. “They just keep going into the woods where they don’t belong.”

A ray of hope came when smoke-eaters finally doused a stubborn 6,000-aore blaze in the Sproat Lake area on Vancouver Island. Officials were also hopeful the 25,000-acre Shuswap Lake fire would be brought under control within a couple days. Canadian officials said about 3,000 men have been pressed into fire duty in the province which has been plagued by more than 300 blazes.
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Re: 1967 Wildfire & Smoke Season

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No Relief Seen From Hof Spell
August 31st, 1967
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19670831. ... --1967---1
No relief of the dry, hot weather in the Far West was in sight today following another day with temperature readings over 100 degrees. By contrast, early morning temperatures today were into the 40s in the northwestern Great Lakes and the Northern Plains as another surge of cool air pressed into the nation’s midsection. Some shower activity was reported from the Texas Panhandle to the Upper Ohio Valley and in Florida and the Rockies. The rest of the nation enjoyed clear skies.

The U. S. Weather Bureau predicted that present conditions would continue through the upcoming Labor Day weekend. While picnickers could rejoice in the Pacific Northwest, continued dry and hot weather offered no relief at all to the firefighters who have been fighting blazes on nearly 200,000 acres of dry grass, brush and timber land in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Montana and California and in British Columbia.


Winds Whip Northwest Blazes
September 2nd, 1967
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19670902. ... --1967---1
Infernos whipped by erratic winds raced rampant through the parched Pacific Northwest today, defying professional fire fighters and frustrating Labor Day weekend campers. In northern Idaho near Coolin, 30-mile-per-hour winds sent fire sprinting through 25,000 acres of lush timberland. Local residents were warned to be prepared to evacuate their homes.

More than 272 fires were burning out of control in British Columbia. Hundreds of others were unchecked in Montana, Oregon and Nevada. Only in California and Washington were weary fire battlers gaining the upper hand. The U S. Forest Service said this has been the most destructive fire year since 1961. Officials estimated the recent three-week binge of fires has ravaged more than 225,000 acres of brush, grass and timberland.

Some early-autumn rain fell Friday near the coast in western British Columbia, but there was little encouragement for fire fighters inland, where temperatures were in the 80s and winds reached 60 m.p.h. Father south, torrential rains triggered by an electrical storm helped firemen quell a 5-day-old brush fire in Piru, Calif., where 3,808 acres of valuable water shed were blackened. The Piru fire was the last major blaze burning in tinder dry southern California. Cooling temperatures and light rain helped tire fighters corral three major fires in Washington, but gusty winds posed a threat to the state’s generally optimistic report.

The extreme fire hazard, magnified by the potential carelessness of thousands of Labor Day campers, led authorities to close hundreds of parks and require the curtailment of logging operations. Virtually all of Montana west of the Continental Divide was closed to the public. National forests in British Columbia were sealed tight, Oregon state police set up roadblocks on highway 20 outside the Willamette National Forest where flames have danced through 112,000 acres.


Big Idaho Fire Out Of Hand
September 5th, 1967
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19670905. ... --1967---1
A force of 3,200 fire fighters massed on the lines today against Northern Idaho’s huge Sundance blaze, the largest conflagration still out of control in a month-long series that has sent flames through 300,000 acres of the Pacific Northwest.

The 55,000-acre Sundance fire and a seemingly unending plague of explosive eruptions in British Columbia remained the only brim aspects of otherwise encouraging reports from forestry officials. They said the Sundance blaze was not really growing because of favorable winds. However, more than 65 miles of firelines will be required to contain it and only 26 have been built. Fresh smoke eaters, including Eskimos from Alaska and Indians from the Southwest, joined the battle early today.

In British Columbia, a quick change in the wind turned a huge wall of flames in the 40,000-acre Lake Shuswap blaze, forcing firemen to flee. Two Oregon fires remained out of control but the state's largest, covering 7,700 acres at Big Lake Airstrip, was contained. The situation was reported under control in Washington, Montana and California.

State-by-state report:
Idaho -- A military atmosphere prevails at the community of Sandpoint, headquarters for a 6,000-man force of forestry officials, Army personnel and civilian volunteers. Major assault under way on the Sundance fire. The 16,500-acre Trapper Peak blaze reported near containment.

British Columbia -- Canadian crews fought about 250 fires, including the huge Shuswap conflagration and a 28,000-acre fire near Nelson.

Oregon -- Control of the Big Lake airstrip blaze is expected today, and officials are predicting control of the smaller Devil’s Ridge and Eagle Hock fires by Wednesday.

Washington -- Evergreen Mountain and Dalles Ridge fires under control and reduction of crews under way.

Montana -- Only a few scattered fires remained after lightning - spawned blazes charred 30,000 acres of range land. One fire destroyed barns, corrals and an entire hay crop at a ranch near Malta.
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Re: 1967 Wildfire & Smoke Season

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Near the backend of summer 1967, wildfire smoke eventually settled into the Lower Mainland for a long while.

Smoke first drifted into the region on September 14th and persisted for over two weeks or about 16 days, until September 29th (at first glance, seems pretty similar to that smokey stretch we saw in September 2020) with a few breaks during that period, as seen at the hourly observations taken at YXX here: https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_d ... 2&time=LST
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Re: 1967 Wildfire & Smoke Season

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Fire Occurrences By Months, 1967
Pg 103 Fire Occurrences By Months, 1967.png

Number and Causes of Forest Fires, 1967
Pg 103 Number and Causes of Forest Fires, 1967.png

Number and Causes of Forest Fires for the last 10 years, 1967
Pg 103 Number and Causes of Forest Fires for the last 10 years, 1967.png
Source: https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs ... l_1967.pdf
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