October
events highlight lessons from 1947 fire
Bar Harbor,
ME – 1947 has been called “The Year Maine Burned.” A series of events is being
offered this October to highlight what happened and how we prepare for wildfire
today.
On October
17, 1947, a fire started in Bar Harbor, Maine, that spread through the town and
Acadia National Park. Meanwhile, wildfires sprang up across the
drought-stricken Northeast, posing unprecedented challenges.
On October
17, 2017, an evening panel discussion at The Criterion Theatre in Bar Harbor
will address the Great Acadia Fire 70 Years Later: What happened? Could it happen
again? What if it happened again? The panel will feature renowned scientists; fire
management specialists from the Maine Forest Service, Acadia National Park, and
Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Commission; and the fire chiefs from Mount
Desert Island communities.
“The
concerned citizens of Mount Desert Island should attend this discussion at the
Criterion Theatre,” said Tony Davis, fire management officer at Acadia National
Park. “They will see firsthand the most current and locally-relevant wildland
fire science. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to ask wildland
fire-related questions of their local fire chiefs and other wildland fire
managers.”
The public
will also have an opportunity to view modern and historic firefighting
equipment at the Bar Harbor Fire Station and YMCA baseball field. The Bar
Harbor Historical Society, which will premiere a new documentary about the 1947
fire on October 1, will also be open to share historical artifacts and
newspaper clippings about the fire.
“In 1947, the
State of Maine suffered its largest forest fire disaster in modern history,”
said Kent Nelson, forest ranger specialist with the Maine Forest Service. “In
the last 70 years, firefighting equipment, communication, training and fire
prevention efforts have improved considerably, yet humans still cause over 90%
of wildfires in Maine. Maine’s forest rangers encourage you to remember the
hard lessons of the past.”
Information
about the full series of events can be found on the North Atlantic Fire Science
Exchange website, www.firesciencenorthatlantic.org.
Information
about the 1947 fire can be found on the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection
Commission’s outreach website, www.northeastwildfire.org.
# # #
For more
information, contact Amanda Mahaffey at the Forest Stewards Guild, (207) 432-3701
or amanda@forestguild.org.
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