August Berger was among the 78 firefighters who lost their lives in the great 1910 firestorm that changed the US Forest Service's policies for the next 90+ years.
The firemen were trapped and tried for safety in mineshafts, or by rolling & laying in the streams to soak themselves. Some also found refuge in previously burnt-out areas of the forest.
The 1910 fire lasted only two days, but destroyed nearly 5,000 square miles in a firestorm pushed by winds of over 80 mile per hour. Besides the 78 firefighters, 8 civilians also lost their lives.
Besides this tombstone, there is also a monument with his name on it in the Silver Valley, alongwith three other firefighters who were found dead with him: William Learmouthe, Richard Woods, Joe Ferre, and a man whose remains could not be identified.
In the Catholic row of the cemetery is the grave of one of the unknown firefighters - some died without their names because recruitment was done in such haste:
"Unknown - D: August 20, 1910 fighting forest fires"
There is a monument to all firefighters near the mineshaft up the road to Moon Pass, Shoshone County, Idaho, where US Forest Service Ranger, Ed Pulaski, led 48 members of the fire crew to keep them from panicing and running out into the flames.
There is a monument to all firefighters near the mineshaft up the road to Moon Pass, Shoshone County, Idaho, where US Forest Service Ranger, Ed Pulaski, led 48 members of the fire crew to keep them from panicing and running out into the flames. A photo of the monument can be viewed at:
http://www.wildlandfire.com/pics/memor/memorial1910.jpg
58 of the lost firefighters were buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in St.Maries, Benewah County, Idaho. Eight of their tombstones state unknown names - Five who died at Big Creek and three who died at Setser Creek - because the fire chiefs gathered men in such haste that some of them did not get all the volunteer firefighters' names.
Bibliography:
1.The Big Burn of 1910 - A Missoulian Special Section - Mountains of Fire - by Sherry Devlin, Published 2000 by Missoulian, A Lee Enterprise Publication,accessed 7/27/2006, http://www.missoulian.com/specials/1910/mountains/html;
2.AOL.Hometown - Wallace, Idaho - accessed 7/25/2006 - http://hometown.aol/Gibson0817/wallace.htm;
3.USDA Forest Service - Northern Region Forest Service - Centennial: Historic Fire Tower Lookouts & Cabin Rentals;
4.Idaho Forest Fire Stories 1910 - accessed 7/25/2006 -
www.idahoforests.org/fires2.htm;
5.The Online Encyclopediea of Washington State History - Timeline Library - accessed 7/26/2006 - www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5488;
6.Book, "Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910" by Stephen J. Pyne, published 2001,2002 by Penguin Books;
7.Nine Mile Cemetery, Wallace, Shoshone County, Idaho - Internment.Net Cemetery Transcripton Library - submitted by Maggie Rail - [email protected] - published/copyright 1997-2006 - accessed 7/23-7/27/2006 - www.internment.net/data/us/id/shoshone/wallace/index.htm
The firemen were trapped and tried for safety in mineshafts, or by rolling & laying in the streams to soak themselves. Some also found refuge in previously burnt-out areas of the forest.
The 1910 fire lasted only two days, but destroyed nearly 5,000 square miles in a firestorm pushed by winds of over 80 mile per hour. Besides the 78 firefighters, 8 civilians also lost their lives.
Besides this tombstone, there is also a monument with his name on it in the Silver Valley, alongwith three other firefighters who were found dead with him: William Learmouthe, Richard Woods, Joe Ferre, and a man whose remains could not be identified.
In the Catholic row of the cemetery is the grave of one of the unknown firefighters - some died without their names because recruitment was done in such haste:
"Unknown - D: August 20, 1910 fighting forest fires"
There is a monument to all firefighters near the mineshaft up the road to Moon Pass, Shoshone County, Idaho, where US Forest Service Ranger, Ed Pulaski, led 48 members of the fire crew to keep them from panicing and running out into the flames.
There is a monument to all firefighters near the mineshaft up the road to Moon Pass, Shoshone County, Idaho, where US Forest Service Ranger, Ed Pulaski, led 48 members of the fire crew to keep them from panicing and running out into the flames. A photo of the monument can be viewed at:
http://www.wildlandfire.com/pics/memor/memorial1910.jpg
58 of the lost firefighters were buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in St.Maries, Benewah County, Idaho. Eight of their tombstones state unknown names - Five who died at Big Creek and three who died at Setser Creek - because the fire chiefs gathered men in such haste that some of them did not get all the volunteer firefighters' names.
Bibliography:
1.The Big Burn of 1910 - A Missoulian Special Section - Mountains of Fire - by Sherry Devlin, Published 2000 by Missoulian, A Lee Enterprise Publication,accessed 7/27/2006, http://www.missoulian.com/specials/1910/mountains/html;
2.AOL.Hometown - Wallace, Idaho - accessed 7/25/2006 - http://hometown.aol/Gibson0817/wallace.htm;
3.USDA Forest Service - Northern Region Forest Service - Centennial: Historic Fire Tower Lookouts & Cabin Rentals;
4.Idaho Forest Fire Stories 1910 - accessed 7/25/2006 -
www.idahoforests.org/fires2.htm;
5.The Online Encyclopediea of Washington State History - Timeline Library - accessed 7/26/2006 - www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5488;
6.Book, "Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910" by Stephen J. Pyne, published 2001,2002 by Penguin Books;
7.Nine Mile Cemetery, Wallace, Shoshone County, Idaho - Internment.Net Cemetery Transcripton Library - submitted by Maggie Rail - [email protected] - published/copyright 1997-2006 - accessed 7/23-7/27/2006 - www.internment.net/data/us/id/shoshone/wallace/index.htm
August Berger was among the 78 firefighters who lost their lives in the great 1910 firestorm that changed the US Forest Service's policies for the next 90+ years.
The firemen were trapped and tried for safety in mineshafts, or by rolling & laying in the streams to soak themselves. Some also found refuge in previously burnt-out areas of the forest.
The 1910 fire lasted only two days, but destroyed nearly 5,000 square miles in a firestorm pushed by winds of over 80 mile per hour. Besides the 78 firefighters, 8 civilians also lost their lives.
Besides this tombstone, there is also a monument with his name on it in the Silver Valley, alongwith three other firefighters who were found dead with him: William Learmouthe, Richard Woods, Joe Ferre, and a man whose remains could not be identified.
In the Catholic row of the cemetery is the grave of one of the unknown firefighters - some died without their names because recruitment was done in such haste:
"Unknown - D: August 20, 1910 fighting forest fires"
There is a monument to all firefighters near the mineshaft up the road to Moon Pass, Shoshone County, Idaho, where US Forest Service Ranger, Ed Pulaski, led 48 members of the fire crew to keep them from panicing and running out into the flames.
There is a monument to all firefighters near the mineshaft up the road to Moon Pass, Shoshone County, Idaho, where US Forest Service Ranger, Ed Pulaski, led 48 members of the fire crew to keep them from panicing and running out into the flames. A photo of the monument can be viewed at:
http://www.wildlandfire.com/pics/memor/memorial1910.jpg
58 of the lost firefighters were buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in St.Maries, Benewah County, Idaho. Eight of their tombstones state unknown names - Five who died at Big Creek and three who died at Setser Creek - because the fire chiefs gathered men in such haste that some of them did not get all the volunteer firefighters' names.
Bibliography:
1.The Big Burn of 1910 - A Missoulian Special Section - Mountains of Fire - by Sherry Devlin, Published 2000 by Missoulian, A Lee Enterprise Publication,accessed 7/27/2006, http://www.missoulian.com/specials/1910/mountains/html;
2.AOL.Hometown - Wallace, Idaho - accessed 7/25/2006 - http://hometown.aol/Gibson0817/wallace.htm;
3.USDA Forest Service - Northern Region Forest Service - Centennial: Historic Fire Tower Lookouts & Cabin Rentals;
4.Idaho Forest Fire Stories 1910 - accessed 7/25/2006 -
www.idahoforests.org/fires2.htm;
5.The Online Encyclopediea of Washington State History - Timeline Library - accessed 7/26/2006 - www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5488;
6.Book, "Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910" by Stephen J. Pyne, published 2001,2002 by Penguin Books;
7.Nine Mile Cemetery, Wallace, Shoshone County, Idaho - Internment.Net Cemetery Transcripton Library - submitted by Maggie Rail - [email protected] - published/copyright 1997-2006 - accessed 7/23-7/27/2006 - www.internment.net/data/us/id/shoshone/wallace/index.htm
The firemen were trapped and tried for safety in mineshafts, or by rolling & laying in the streams to soak themselves. Some also found refuge in previously burnt-out areas of the forest.
The 1910 fire lasted only two days, but destroyed nearly 5,000 square miles in a firestorm pushed by winds of over 80 mile per hour. Besides the 78 firefighters, 8 civilians also lost their lives.
Besides this tombstone, there is also a monument with his name on it in the Silver Valley, alongwith three other firefighters who were found dead with him: William Learmouthe, Richard Woods, Joe Ferre, and a man whose remains could not be identified.
In the Catholic row of the cemetery is the grave of one of the unknown firefighters - some died without their names because recruitment was done in such haste:
"Unknown - D: August 20, 1910 fighting forest fires"
There is a monument to all firefighters near the mineshaft up the road to Moon Pass, Shoshone County, Idaho, where US Forest Service Ranger, Ed Pulaski, led 48 members of the fire crew to keep them from panicing and running out into the flames.
There is a monument to all firefighters near the mineshaft up the road to Moon Pass, Shoshone County, Idaho, where US Forest Service Ranger, Ed Pulaski, led 48 members of the fire crew to keep them from panicing and running out into the flames. A photo of the monument can be viewed at:
http://www.wildlandfire.com/pics/memor/memorial1910.jpg
58 of the lost firefighters were buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in St.Maries, Benewah County, Idaho. Eight of their tombstones state unknown names - Five who died at Big Creek and three who died at Setser Creek - because the fire chiefs gathered men in such haste that some of them did not get all the volunteer firefighters' names.
Bibliography:
1.The Big Burn of 1910 - A Missoulian Special Section - Mountains of Fire - by Sherry Devlin, Published 2000 by Missoulian, A Lee Enterprise Publication,accessed 7/27/2006, http://www.missoulian.com/specials/1910/mountains/html;
2.AOL.Hometown - Wallace, Idaho - accessed 7/25/2006 - http://hometown.aol/Gibson0817/wallace.htm;
3.USDA Forest Service - Northern Region Forest Service - Centennial: Historic Fire Tower Lookouts & Cabin Rentals;
4.Idaho Forest Fire Stories 1910 - accessed 7/25/2006 -
www.idahoforests.org/fires2.htm;
5.The Online Encyclopediea of Washington State History - Timeline Library - accessed 7/26/2006 - www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5488;
6.Book, "Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910" by Stephen J. Pyne, published 2001,2002 by Penguin Books;
7.Nine Mile Cemetery, Wallace, Shoshone County, Idaho - Internment.Net Cemetery Transcripton Library - submitted by Maggie Rail - [email protected] - published/copyright 1997-2006 - accessed 7/23-7/27/2006 - www.internment.net/data/us/id/shoshone/wallace/index.htm
