It would be impossible to measure the importance that our regional forests represent to our community. Their timeless lure and untold economic impacts as a recreational attraction, in addition to the vital commerce derived from the forest products industry, both historically and in the present day, have been the “life’s blood” of our rural economy!

From the mid 1800’s to today, and surely into the future, our natural resources have defined this region and have set it apart. Chief among these resources is a vibrant well-managed and protected working forest. Our forests provide direct and indirect income for our families and businesses. They supply materials for our homes and those of our nation. They also provide fiber for numerous paper producers and other essential forest products. Our regional forests also protect the quality of our water and air and provide habitat for fish & wildlife. In recent years the important role our forests play in reducing carbon dioxide emissions to help combat climate change are revealing yet another long-overlooked benefit. And how does one even begin to measure the tranquility they afford us as they soothe our souls and lift our spirits?

Since 1908 the Maine Forest Service (MFS) has been the lead agency charged with protecting our forests. What began with a mission to prevent and fight forest fires has evolved over the years into role encompassing far more. Since its inception, the Maine Forest Service has not only vastly reduced the number of fires and total acreage burned annually, they now also protect our forests from diseases and insect pests that threaten their destruction as well. MFS also enforces the laws aimed at keeping our forests sustainable. This effective agency is also responsible for the enforcement of timber theft and trespass laws, erosion violations and other duties aimed at better protecting the future of Maine’s forests.

Whatever criticisms one might have about the effectiveness and “bang for the buck” that a particular government agency might offer; the Maine Forest Service sits at the top or near it when it comes to professionalism and historically superior performance. When the Service was founded in 1908, (with a total budget of $50,000 dollars) Maine saw 98,000 acres of forests burn and this was close the statewide average. Yes, drought and conditions change from year to year as the cataclysmic fires of 1947 attest when over 200,000 acres of the Pine Tree State went up in smoke. However, today through extensive training, improved communications and the availability of an, albeit aging, air fleet to knock down fires quickly, acreage lost to wildfires has been reduced to just 400 acres annually! This laudable performance is remarkable given the substantial reductions in manpower and the expanded duties of Maine’s Rangers as they regulate forest practices as well as the additional duties mentioned above.

What follows appeared in the June 27, 1957, edition of the Rangeley Highlander. Read on to learn more about how the Maine Forest Service used to accomplish its wildfire fighting mission back in the day.

(Slightly redacted for space reasons, otherwise all text reprinted just as it appeared in 1957).

Rangeley Highlander June 27, 1957, Page 1

Fire Control Service of The Forestry Department Is a Complicated and Important Task

The thought of an uncontrolled fire in the hundreds of square miles of dry slash that lies throughout many parts of northern Maine is a terrifying idea. Any one of the hundreds of ‘smoke calls’ the Rangeley

Division of the Forestry Department answers in a year’s time could easily become just such a tragedy. The key station for the Rangeley district is situated at the north tip of Cupsuptic Lake. This is a small barn-like building that has an office and control room for the six telephones and the short-wave radio system, which connects five mountain top fire lookout towers with the patrol trucks. They are always ready to speed to the nearest point to any fire that develops in the woods. The five towers that report to the Cupsuptic station are Saddleback, West Kennebago, Aziscohos, Magalloway and Old Speck Mountains. The towers on these mountains survey the country from Wilton to the Canadian Border and from over in New Hampshire to the Arnold Trail. Of this territory, over 610,000 acres of forests are the direct responsibility of the Rangeley District. This vast area is under the control of only five tower men, five patrolmen and one Chief Warden. Ken Hinkley of Rangeley is Chief Warden of the Rangeley District and is known all over the state as a specialist in the handling of big fires. Ken is often called to other district to advise when a big fire develops, as he was recently at Jackman Station when 3,500 acres burnt over this spring. The patrolmen are Don Mullen, stationed at Pine Island in Richardson Lake; Willis Bean, stationed at Albany just five miles from Bethel; Wayland Williams who has the Parmacheenee, Bowman Town, Oxbow area; Don Wilcox, who cruises Reddington, Dallas Plantation, the Slopes of Saddleback and Washington & Perkins unorganized township which lie between Weld and Wilton; and Prince Edwards, who is stationed at the Cupsuptic central station and looks after the country around Sturtevant Pond, Lincoln Pond and Mooselookmeguntic Lake. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards live in the comfortable apartment on the second floor of the Cupsuptic station, and Mrs. Edwards runs the control station.

How does the system work? Supposing the man in the lookout tower on Saddleback Mountain reports a smoke on the south shore of Rangeley Lake to Mrs. Edwards at the Cupsuptic Station. What happens then? When the tower man reports the smoke, he gives the point of the compass in degrees and the estimated number of miles the fire lies from his tower. Mrs. Edwards notes the position on a huge wall map of the region and calls another tower that should be able to see the smoke, in this case West Kennebago Mountain. She asks the tower man there to take a bearing on the smoke and report the degrees and estimated miles. Then it is easy to plot the position on the map and locate very accurately. the fire. Immediately, by radio, Mrs. Edwards calls Prince or some other patrolman that is nearest to the fire, and he hurries to the spot. If It is possible, the patrolman puts the fire out. If it is too big, he radios back for reinforcements. Mrs. Edwards contacts Chief Warden Hinkley who mobilizes men and equipment to handle the fire. The building at Cupsuptic houses a large quantity of the latest forest firefighting equipment. Besides this, each truck carries at all times the necessary equipment for ten men to use in fighting fire. Firefighting equipment consists of shovels, axes, chain saws, lanterns, canvas dams to dam up small streams, Indian pumps which are a five gallon can shaped to carry on your back with a hand pump Which will shoot a stream of water about thirty feet, and the portable power pumps which are the big guns of the forest fire fighting business. These portable power pumps come in two sizes. The ten liorso power pumps use an Inch and a half hose and will pump about 200 gallons of water a minute. The pump itself weighs about 60 lbs. with its motor and is built to pack on a pack rack on a man’s back. Another pack holds 300 feet of hose and weighs 60 lbs. also. On some occasions it is necessary to lay as much as a mile or more of hose in order to get sufficient water to the fire. A smaller pump is the 5-horsepower pump which weighs about 38 lbs. and pumps from 85 to 100 gallons a minute. It is tlie intention of the fire patrol to get to a fire as quick as possible and bring it under control before it gets too big. Of the hundreds of smokes investigated by the fire service each year about 80% are controlled smokes built by campers, strangers or thoughtless residents who fail to report to the local fire warden and get permission to build a fire. These careless Incidents create something like a “false alarm” and take up the principal part of the time and money allotted to the Forest Service for the purpose of fire control. A City fire department that had 80% “False Alarms” would be practically immobilized and it is a shame that thoughtless persons take up a major part of the time of so vital a service as the Forest Service Fire Patrol. Of the remaining 20% of the fires spotted by the service less than 5 % are caused by natural causes such as lightning. The rest are caused by careless handling of fire and a large part of such fires require not only the patrolmen to put them out but several outsiders’ help as well So be mighty careful with your fire. If it gets out of control you may be recruited by law to help put it out after it becomes a terrifying, dangerous and destructive thing.

To learn more, visit the new exhibit “The Maine Forest Service” debuting at the Maine Forestry Museum, 221 Stratton Rd. (Rte. 16 east) in Rangeley. I am very excited to be returning to Rangeley to help create this new exhibit! As you enjoy our beautiful forests this summer, think about thanking the men and women of the Maine Forest Service for helping ensure that this unique place remains so beautiful and special for generations to come.

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