8 POTLATCH TIMBER PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 



I think that most of this fire killed timber, if not all of it, has 

 been logged ere this. There was no other damage done by any 

 of these fires. 



Ninety-seven per cent of the total acreage burned over 

 and the only loss sustained was caused by three fires which 

 started in old burns the latter part of June. 



The slashing and debris of logging operations had been 

 burned carefully and well some time before these fires and ex- 

 traordinary precautions had been taken to see that all fire was 

 out. 



From June 1st to June 15th we had one-half inch of pre- 

 cipitation, and on the 16th twelve-hundredths of an inch, so 

 that, under anything like normal conditions, it would have 

 been practically impossible for a fire to get started from these 

 old slashing fires. 



However, on Tuesday. June 18th, the temperature began 

 to raise and reached a point of 90 degress. On the 19th the 

 mercury mounted to 92, on the 20th to 93 and on the 21st 

 reached 104. The next two days were comparatively cool, 

 but it got hot again on Monday, the 24th, the thermometer 

 registering 101 degrees on this date. The temperature reached 

 104 on the 25th, 104.5 on the 26th and 105 on the 27th. 



This protracted period of extreme heat dried out the 

 woods, and especially the open slashings, to a really remark- 

 able extent. It culminated in a dust storm during which the 

 wind attained a velocity seldom experienced in this section, with 

 the result that old slashing fires, which would have been en- 

 tirely safe tinder all ordinary circumstances, broke out, were 

 scattered by the hurricane which was blowing at the time, 

 and were soon beyond control. These three fires burned over 

 an area of 825 acres and were the hottest and most stubborn 

 I have ever seen. 



Several times during the progress of the fires it looked 

 as though the entire crew of fire fighters would be utterly 

 wiped out in the swirling maelstorm of flames. 



The Potlatch Lumber Company, in whose operations all 

 three fires started, put all of its men in the vicinity into the field 

 and finally got the fires under control at no expense to the 

 association. 



