The Bar Harbor Fire, 1947

My mom just sent me a package that included a newspaper article about the devastating fire that destroyed parts of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island 60 years ago, in October 1947. My dad's parents were living Hulls Cove (a tiny little village just before you reach Bar Harbor) at the time and I remember seeing a book about the fire at my grandparents house and asking them about it. My grandmother told me how the fire went up one side of their house and down the other and she had a picture that was in Life magazine of all of their belongings in a pile in the middle of the town baseball field because they had to evacuate their house.

It is interesting to me that the anniverary of this fire, which is a big deal in the history of Maine, is happening right at the same time as the devastating fires in California. In the Maine fire, over 17,000 acres burned, 10,000 in Acadia National Park alone. The damage was over $23 million, including the loss of many of the summer "cottages" of the rich and famous on the outskirts of Bar Harbor. It took over a month for the fire to be completely put out - it burned out of control for a week, then continued to smolder for another 3 weeks.

I've spent some part of nearly ever summer of my life in Bar Harbor and I've always found this fire fascinating, partly because I know my grandparents lived through it (my dad would be born 2 years later in Bar Harbor) and partly because it dramatically changed the face of Bar Harbor. I can't even begin to imagine what the town looked like in its heyday with all the mansions. The fire also destroyed Jackson Laboratory, a cancer research lab, and years of cancer research were lost. Here is a photo of Bar Harbor now, the way I know and love it, but it is interesting to think about how it looked 60 years ago when the fires were coming down the hills towards the town and the water.

It is incredible how destructive a fire can be. The pictures and stories on the news about the California fires are heartbreaking. It must be so scary to be there right now - in the path of something that people have such little control over. It is interesting to me to see history repeating itself, just on a different side of the country. The combination of the current news and the newspaper article my mom sent me got me to thinking, so those are my thoughts...