The Tillamook Burn was a series of
forest fire
A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Australia), dese ...
s in the
Northern Oregon Coast Range of
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
that destroyed a total area of of
old growth timber in what is now known as the
Tillamook State Forest. There were four wildfires in this series, which spanned the years of 1933–1958. By association, the name Tillamook Burn also refers to the location of these fires. This event is an important part of Oregon's history.
First fire (1933)
The first fire started in a ravine at the headwaters of
Gales Creek on August 14, 1933. The exact cause of the first fire is unknown; however, the common narrative states that as logging crews were wrapping up operations early due to fire hazard restrictions, a steel cable dragging a fallen
Douglas fir rubbed against the dry bark of a wind-fallen
snag. The snag burst into flame, and the wildfire that grew out of this burned before it was extinguished by seasonal rains on September 5.
[Tillamook Burn reforested after three blazes. ''Hillsboro Argus'', October 19, 1976.] An oppressive, acrid smoke filled the neighboring valleys; ashes, and cinders, and the charred needles of trees fell in the streets of
Tillamook; and debris from the fire reached ships at sea. A
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...
member was the only known human casualty of fighting the fire.
The loss in processed lumber was estimated to have been $442.4 million in contemporary (1933) dollars—a serious loss not only to the
timber industry at the time, but also to a nation struggling with the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. A massive salvage operation was immediately begun to harvest usable portions of the burned wilderness.
The speed with which a forest fire can spread in heavy fuels under the most hazardous conditions is well illustrated by this fire. From August 14 at 1 p.m. until the early morning of August 24 the fire had burned about and it appeared that it might be brought under control soon. Thus, for over 10 days it had burned at an average rate of about a day. On August 24, the humidity dropped rapidly to 26 percent and hot gale-force winds from the east sprang up. During the next 20 hours of August 24 and 25 the fire burned over an additional , or at a rate of per hour along a front. The fire was stopped only by the fact that the wind ceased and a thick, wet blanket of fog drifted in from the ocean.
Second fire (1939)
The second fire was started in 1939, allegedly by another logging operation. It burned before being extinguished, and was contained within the bounds of the earlier fire.
Third fire (1945)
A third fire started on the morning of July 9, 1945, near the
Salmonberry River, and was joined two days later by a second blaze on the
Wilson River, started by a discarded
cigarette
A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...
. This fire burned before it was put out. The cause of the blaze on the Salmonberry River was mysterious, and many believed it had been set by an
incendiary balloon launched by the
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese (due to the fire occurring in the waning days of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
), which had been carried to Oregon by the
jet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow thermal wind, air currents in the Earth's Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere.
The main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds, flowing west to east around the gl ...
.
The third fire was perhaps the best known, after the initial wildfire, because it affected much of the forested mountains along the popular highways between
Portland and the recreational destinations of the
ocean beaches. This devastation remained visible to any traveler through the area as late as the mid-1970s.
Fourth fire (1951)
The last fire started in 1951, and burned only . It was also confined within the burned-over area.
Salvage operations
Immediately after the first fire, new logging camps formed and existing ones expanded operations. At the time, access to the forest was limited and the railroad lines did not yet extend into the inner reaches of the forest.
The town of
Timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...
expanded during the time and became a prominent logging town along with the smaller town of
Cochran to the west. Some of the logging companies near Glenwood joined their operations to form the
Consolidated Timber Company. The lumber from these operations played an important part in providing wood resources to the United States during World War II.
Throughout the subsequent years, miles of roads and railroad lines and were built through the forest to the various logging camps providing enhanced access. This made it easier for forestry restoration, maintenance, and fire prevention operations allowing them eventually to get a handle on the continued series of burns, however it had the secondary effect of creating new issues with erosion among a terrain known for landslides.
Restoration
The repeated fires led some to think that large wildfires in the area were inevitable and that the land was now too damaged from the intense heat to ever again sustain forests. But determined efforts by Oregonians—private citizens, government officials, land owners and many others—resulted in efforts to restore The Burn, beginning with hearings during World War II under Judge H. D. Kerkman of Washington County and eventually resulting in a decades-long reforestation program.
Much of the lands of the Tillamook burn had come to be owned by the counties of
Tillamook,
Yamhill, and
Washington through foreclosures on unpaid property taxes; at the time of the forest fires, most of the land was owned by timber companies, which also paid the cost of fighting the fires. A
measure was submitted by the
Legislative Assembly to the voters to float a bond to finance
reforestation, which narrowly passed in 1948.
In a book published that same year,
Stewart Holbrook
Stewart Hall Holbrook (1893–1964) was an American logger, writer, and popular historian. His writings focused on what he called the "Far Corner": Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. A self-proclaimed "low-brow" historian, his topics included Etha ...
wrote about the Tillamook Burn in ''Northwest Corner: Oregon and Washington'':
eforestation/nowiki> can never compensate for that tragedy we call the Tillamook Burn, as somber a sight as to be viewed this side of the Styx. There they stand, millions of ghostly firs, now stark against the sky, which were green as the sea and twice as handsome, until an August day of 1933, when a tiny spark blew into a hurricane of fire that removed all life from of the finest timber even seen. It was timber, too, that had been 400 years in the making. It was wiped out in a few seething hours which Oregon will have reason to remember well past the year 2000. To this day the forest stands powerless against the threat of wildfires.
Reforestation was performed simultaneously with research by the forest industry into the best methods of growing and planting the young trees (including how to protect them from the ravages of deer, beavers, mice and other wildlife). Young people from northwest Oregon helped with the hand-planting of seedlings. Between 1949 and 1972, they planted about a million seedlings, a massive number but still only about 1 percent of the total of 72 million seedlings replanted by all means.
Everything from state prisoners to newly designed helicopters played a part in the reseeding program over the years. Eventually the forest began to return and in 1973, Oregon Governor
Tom McCall dedicated the Tillamook Burn as the
Tillamook State Forest.
At the time the reforestation of the Tillamook Burn began, some assumed that the forest land would, when the trees were mature, be harvested for lumber. Current
environmental beliefs have questioned this assumption, and both the proportions and specific parts of this land that will be logged or conserved for wildlife are in dispute.
In popular culture
Poet and author
Albert Drake titled a 1970s book of poems and essays, ''Tillamook Burn'', from his experiences growing up in
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
.
Folk singer
Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...
references the Tillamook Burn in his song "Fourth of July" from his album ''
Carrie & Lowell''.
Martin Milner mentioned the Tillamook Burn in the 1960 ''
Route 66'' episode “Legacy for Lucia.”
Citations
General and cited references
* Lucia, Ellis, ''Tillamook Burn Country: A Pictorial History'' (1984, Caxton Printers) ().
* Wells, Gail, ''The Tillamook'' (
Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...
Press, 1999)
*
Holbrook, Stewart and Henry Sheldon (1948). ''Northwest Corner: Oregon and Washington: The Last Frontier''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company
External links
Tillamook Forest Center
{{Authority control
1930s wildfires
20th-century wildfires in the United States
1933 fires in the United States
1933 in Oregon
1933 natural disasters in the United States
1939 fires in the United States
1939 in Oregon
1939 natural disasters in the United States
1940s wildfires
1945 fires in the United States
1945 in Oregon
1945 natural disasters in the United States
1950s wildfires
1951 fires in the United States
1951 in Oregon
1951 natural disasters in the United States
Civilian Conservation Corps in Oregon
Old-growth forests
Tillamook Burn
Tillamook County, Oregon
Washington County, Oregon
Wildfires in Oregon
Yamhill County, Oregon