1938 — Oct 10-13,  Forest Fires, Border area of Ontario (17) and Minnesota (3)      –20-21

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 11-1-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

Blanchard note: From the MN and Canada breakouts below it appears there were twenty deaths. However, in that both the AP and UP reported twenty-one total deaths on the 12th and 15th, we include this in our range of 20-21. We do not use the NFPA number of 22 deaths in that we have located no other source reporting 22 deaths. It is possible that a burn victim died afterwards, or another body was found later, but we have not located such though we extended our search out to October 20.

–22  National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. (We do not use.)

–21  AP. “Forest Fires Are Under Control…” Evening Tribune, Alber Lea, MN. 10-15-1938, p1.

–21  UP. “Find Bodies of Family; Blazes Under Control.” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. 10-12-1938, 1.

–21  UP. “Forest Fire Toll up to 21.” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN, 10-12-1938, p. 1.[1]

–20  AP. “Forest and Brush Fires Death Toll Reaches 20…Bodies are Found.” 10-12-1938.[2]

–20  AP. “Forest Fires Under Control.” The Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. 10-14-1938, p.1.

–20  AP. “Order State Troops Held For Duty in Forest Fire Area.” Evening Tribune, MN. 10-13-1938, 1.

Minnesota                  (  3)

— 3  Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. “16 Killed by Forest Fires.” 10-11-1938, p. 1.[3]

            –2  International Falls area. Fred Service, 60, of Dunseith, ND, and Joe Dardin, 65.

–1  Little Falls. Orville Williams, a CCC enrollee.

 

Ontario, Canada       (17)

–17  Alexander. “‘Lest we forget’: Canada’s major wildland fire disasters of the past, 1825-1938.”

–17  Dance Township. Dalstrom and Dalstrom. “We Were Not Worried at Dinner Time.” 2009.

–13  Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. “16 Killed by Forest Fires.” 10-11-1938, p. 1.

 

Narrative Information

 

Alexander. “‘Lest we forget’: Canada’s major wildland fire disasters of the past…:

“Dance Township, Ontario. Oct. 10, 1938. 30,355 hectares. 17 [lives lost] plus 18 others seriously injured. Several settler fires merged together. No rain for a month prior to fire occurrence.”

 

Newspapers

 

Oct 11: “Fort Frances, Ont., Oct 11 (Canadian Press)….Constable David Hamilton….said the fires had been eating slowly through the timber county 50 miles northwest of here [Fort Frances, Canada] for two weeks. Yesterday [Oct 10] fresh winds drove them toward this town, on the Minnesota border and at one time they were within a mile of Fort Frances….” (Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “15 Persons Reported Dead as Forest Fires Rage in Northern Minnesota and Canada.” 10-11-1938, p. 1.)

 

Oct 11: “Fort Frances, Ont. — The death toll in the forest fire area here rose to 16 this afternoon as two additional casualties were reported.

 

“….perhaps a score injured and several missing today as the result of widespread brush and forest fires on both sides of the Minnesota-Ontario border.

 

“Whipped by rising south winds, the flames crept within a short distance from Fort Francis, International Falls, Minn., and other towns in the area. Thousands of men were on the fire lines on both sides of the border.

 

“The known dead included eleven persons in Ontario and three in Minnesota.

 

“In Minnesota at least four persons were missing and feared dead…” (Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. “16 Killed by Forest Fires.” 10-11-1938, p. 1.)

 

Oct 12, UP: “Fort Frances, Ont. – (UP) – Authorities directing 5,000 fire fighters today believed they had brought under control brush and forest fires which had raged over 700 square miles on both sides of the Minnesota-Ontario border….No new fires were reported today in the endangered area. Finding of four additional bodies in Dance township, north of here brought the list of known dead to twenty-one. Searching parties found the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Fyle, 21 and 19, respectively, their one-year-old son, Donald, and Mrs. Fyle’s sister, Mable Larson, 12. Authorities believed all others previously reported missing were accounted for.” (United Press. “Find Bodies of Family; Blazes Under Control.” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. 10-12-1938, p. 1.)

 

Oct 13, AP: “By the Associated Press. Acting while existing border county fires which have taken 20 lives, continued dangerous, Gov. Elmer A. Benson today gave Adjutant General E. A. Walsh broad powers to mobilize troops and evacuate citizens in any emergency. Immediately after receiving a report on fires in six northern Minnesota counties from State Forester Ellery Foster, Governor Benson issued an executive order to General Walsh to ‘mobilize such portions of the Minnesota national guards as you may deem necessary to evacuate citizens of the stricken areas and otherwise cooperate with the Forestry department.’….He was advised by Foster of the existence of numerous forest fires in St. Louis, Koochiching, Clearwater, Beltrand, Lake of the Woods, and Roseau counties. [Foster]: ‘The danger area is in the far northern part of the state from the range communities to the International border, with the most serious concentration in the vicinities of International Falls, Baudette and Warroad.’….

 

“The most devastating fires on the Canadian side of the border were reported from Dance township, west of Fort Frances, Ont. It was in that section that 17 settlers were burned to death.

 

“Little Fork, Minn., south of International Falls, was the center of the danger zone on the American side of the border. Three American fire fighters have lost their lives during the long battle with the widespread fires, which have blackened scattered areas from Warroad, Minn, eastward to the Messabi Iron Range. As thousands of fire fighters, who have worked virtually without rest since Monday [Oct 10], swung axes and shovels in the path of the flames, national guard airplanes circled overhead to spot new outbreaks. The entire area is tinder-dry, and tangles of underbrush and fallen trees hampered the workers….” (Associated Press. “Order State Troops Held For Duty in Forest Fire Area.” The Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. 10-13-1938, p.1.)

 

Oct 14, AP: “By Associated Press. Fires which swept through large areas of brush and timber along the Minnesota-Ontario border, taking a toll of 20 lives in Monday’s outbreak, were reported under control early today. Authorities said there was no immediate danger of a new outburst in the region about International Falls, Minn., and Fort Frances, Ont., where a score of persons perished….” (AP. “Forest Fires Under Control.” The Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. 10-14-1938, p.1.)

 

Oct 15, AP: “By Associated Press. Rangers along a 500 mile front reported today they had forest and brush fires on the Minnesota-Canadian border under control despite high winds Friday which fanned anew the blazes that have taken 21 lives….All blazes in the Little Fork, Minn., area were under control.” (Associated Press. “Forest Fires Are Under Control, Is Report of Rangers.” Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. 10-15-1938, p. 1.)

 

Oct 17, AP: “By The Associated Press. Forest fires that swept northern Minnesota last week were reported under control today after heavy rains eased the task of fire crews. Most of the firefighters around International Falls, heart of the fire area on the Minnesota side of the Canadian border, were released from duty Sunday. Brush fires in northeastern Minnesota were quenched by rains.”

(AP. “Rains Quench Forest Fires.” The Winona Republican-Herald, MN. 10-17-1938, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Alexander, Martin E.. “‘Lest we forget’: Canada’s major wildland fire disasters of the past, 1825-1938.” Proceedings of 3rd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference, October 25-29, 2010, Spokane, Washington, USA. Birmingham, AL: International Association of Wildland Fire. Accessed 10-31-2024 at: https://www.frames.gov/documents/catalog/alexander_2010_LestWeForgetCanadasMajorWildlandFireDisasters1825-1938.pdf

 

Associated Press. “Forest and Brush Fires Death Toll Reaches 20; more Bodies are Found.” The Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. 10-12-1938, p. 1. Accessed 11-27-2016 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/minnesota/albert-lea/albert-lea-evening-tribune/1938/10-12?tag

 

Associated Press. “Forest Fires Are Under Control, Is Report of Rangers.” Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. 10-15-1938, p. 1. Accessed 11-1-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/albert-lea-evening-tribune-oct-15-1938-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Forest Fires Under Control.” The Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. 10-14-1938, p.1. Accessed 11-1-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/albert-lea-evening-tribune-oct-14-1938-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Order State Troops Held For Duty in Forest Fire Area.” The Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. 10-13-1938, p.1. Accessed 11-1-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/albert-lea-evening-tribune-oct-13-1938-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Rains Quench Forest Fires.” The Winona Republican-Herald, MN. 10-17-1938, p. 1. Accessed 11-1-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/winona-republican-herald-oct-17-1938-p-1/

 

Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. “16 Killed by Forest Fires.” 10-11-1938, p. 1. Accessed 11-27-2016 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/minnesota/brainerd/brainerd-daily-dispatch/1938/10-11?tag

 

Dalstrom, Harl Adams, and Kay Calame Dalstrom. “We Were Not Worried at Dinner Time”: The October 1938 Forest Fires and the Last Frontier in the Rainy River-Lake of the Woods Borderland. Rainy River District Women’s Institute, 2009, 111 pages. Google snippet accessed 11-27-2016 at: https://books.google.com/books/about/We_Were_Not_Worried_at_Dinner_Time.html?id=YwlSAQAAIAAJ

 

Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “15 Persons Reported Dead as Forest Fires Rage in Northern Minnesota and Canada.” 10-11-1938, p. 1. Accessed 11-27-2016 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/minnesota/albert-lea/albert-lea-evening-tribune/1938/10-11?tag

 

Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “Order State Troops Held for Duty in Forest Fire Area.” 10-13-1938, p. 1. Accessed 11-27-2016 at:

http://newspaperarchive.com/us/minnesota/albert-lea/albert-lea-evening-tribune/1938/10-13?tag

 

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at:  http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

 

United Press. “Find Bodies of Family; Blazes Under Control.” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. 10-12-1938, p. 1. Accessed 11-1-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/brainerd-daily-dispatch-oct-12-1938-p-1/

 

United Press. “Forest Fire Toll up to 21.” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN, 10-12-1938, p. 1. Accessed 11-27-2016 at:

http://newspaperarchive.com/us/minnesota/brainerd/brainerd-daily-dispatch/1938/10-12?tag

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] The Fort Frances originated article appears to indicate that there were 21 Canadian fatalities.

[2] Writes that four bodies were found 50 miles northwest of Fort Francis, “where at least 14 others perished.” Thus appears to indicate Canadian fatalities, though this is not clear.

[3] A later Associated Press story noted that “Three American fire fighters have lost their lives during the long battle with the blackened scattered areas from Warroad, Minn., eastward to the Messabe Iron Range.” (Evening Tribune, Albert Lea, MN. “Order State Troops Held for Duty in Forest Fire Area.” 10-13-1938, p. 1.)