Wildfire Loose: The Week Maine Burned

by Joyce Butler

Book Overview

It was October of 1947, & Maine was as dry as a tinderbox. Then the sparks started flying. Before the conflagrations ended a week later, 200,000 acres had burned, countless historic buildings were consumed, & 15 people lost their lives. It was an event that left an indelible mark on the people of Maine, & this is the definitive account, now in its third edition, of the crucial days in which Mainers fought to save their state. "If this were fiction...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892722428
• ISBN13: 9780892722426
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Down East Books
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Fires in Maine

Mainers are quickly coming upon the 60th anniversary of the most calamitous natural disaster to hit their state - the 1947 fires that burned a huge swath of land and property in the southern part of the state as well as on Mt. Desert Island. The fires struck in October under ideal forest fire conditions: a summer drought that had stretched into autumn and windy conditions. Virtually anything generating heat - even extinguished burnt matches - were enough to start blazes. Fires spread quickly and devastatingly in York and Oxford Counties, where entire towns were destroyed. At the same time, 200 miles down East, another outbreak of fires on Mt. Desert Island destroyed million-dollar summer mansions and threatened the town of Bar Harbor; the famed Jackson Laboratory, a center for cancer research, was reduced to ashes. One big problem in containing the fires was that many of them burned under ground along root systems for days before flaring up again; many fires that looked extinguished actually weren't. Butler presents a detailed and vivid picture of the causes, spread, and resultant destruction of the fires, and also specific accounts of the many fire-fighters, their acts of bravery and perseverance - and terror - battling the blazes. Fifteen people died in the fires and 200,000 acres and many homes were destroyed. Joyce Butler's book is a good account of this natural disaster.

"Maine is burning!"

I had never heard of this book when I happened to see it in the gift shop of the place where my wife and I were staying for a few days last month in Bar Harbor, ME (one of the most beautiful places in this country!). As a person always interested in unusual historical events, I purchased this book, and I am very happy that I did. It is a well-written, extremely lucid account of the great Maine fire of October 1947, which really devastated that state. By the terms of our current western wildfires, which destroy millions of acres, this was small (only a bit over 200,000 acres were hit), but a lot of the destruction happened in occupied areas, when homes, businesses, churches, schools, and almost entire towns were lost. This book is at its best when it recounts the human aspect of this series of fires, and the author has collected newsprint accounts, in addition to interviewing the people involved at the time. It is a true tale of heartbreak and heroism, and it shows the resolution and sheer grit of the folks from Maine. They are wonderful people, and this book is quite a tribute to them!

Wildfire Loose : The Week Maine Burned

An exciting book. Historicaly accurate telling of the great fire in October 1947. It grips you like a work of fiction, but all the accounts are true. The only stories I've heard of this disaster that are in more detail, are from my family members who were there and fought the fire. Great read, and highly recommended.