Forks History from the pages of the Forks Forum, Sept. 27, 1951

Forks Returning to Normal Self After Devastating Forest Fire Forks is gradually getting back to normal living as a climax to almost a week of fear and anxiety when it was expected last Thursday afternoon and evening that the devastating forest fire would wipe out the entire town. The fire did burn the north end of Forks, destroying 23 homes, nine cabins, three barns, four garages and a sawmill. Considerable equipment in and near the large gypo operator's garages also were lost in the blaze.

September 18, 2014 7:39 pm
Front page photo from the Forks Forum Sept. 27
Front page photo from the Forks Forum Sept. 27

Forks Returning to Normal Self After Devastating Forest Fire

Forks is gradually getting back to normal living as a climax to almost a week of fear and anxiety when it was expected last Thursday afternoon and evening that the devastating forest fire would wipe out the entire town.

The fire did burn the north end of Forks, destroying 23 homes, nine cabins, three barns, four garages and a sawmill. Considerable equipment in and near the large gypo operator’s garages also were lost in the blaze.

The garages and homes in the northwest section were completely burned in about 15 minutes, firefighters report.

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Brager Bros. Logging Company was hard hit by the fire, losing two donkeys, other equipment and timber valued at $25,000. Bragers log in the Calawah area as do Sackett Bros. who also lost some equipment.

Rayonier Incorporated’s logging railroad from Sappho to the Brager re-load in the South Calawah district suffered the loss of four bridges and about a mile of track.

Damage to timber in the burned-over area cannot be figured at this time but a rough estimate is over $6 million. The fire has covered, to date, approximately 40,000 acres.

Old Fire “Blows Up”

At 3:15 p.m. last Thursday morning, Mickey Merchant, fire lookout at Gunderson Mountain station, reported the fire to the Tyee Fire Station. It started at Camp Creek, 18 miles northwest of Forks, and originated from the smoldering remains of the Sol Duc fire behind Heckelsville which burned this summer.

A strong northeast wind blowing about 30 miles per hour, literally made the old fire explode and witnesses likened it to an atomic bomb explosion. The fire traveled from Camp Creek to the Brager re-load, a distance of 14 miles, in 3 hours and 15 minutes, hitting there at 7:30 a.m.

It was burning on the northeast edge of Forks prairie shortly after 10 a.m. and continued eating its way toward town. A fire line was established north of the Legion Hall and Warner’s Garage. The men were about to give up the fight when the wind died down and the blaze was brought under control.

When Gourlay Lumber Co. east of Forks on Calawah Way burned to the ground it was feared for a time that Hagrin Shingle Mill adjacent to the razed mill and congested housing to either side and across the street would go. Should the areas south of the Legion and Warner’s and near the burned mill have caught on fire, it is almost a certainty that the entire town would have gone up in flames.

The smoke from the tremendous blaze was so thick overhead that it blotted out the sun and the daytime was almost as black as night. Smoke was reported billowing 15,000 feet above the blaze and fishermen on the nearby Pacific ocean reported needles falling on their fishing boats 20 miles to sea.