Forest Fires in the Adirondacks

Imagine a town ablaze, fueled by 50 barrels of kerosene and 1,500 pounds of dynamite. This was the reality of the 1903 wildfire in Long Lake West, NY (“Adirondack Journal” n.d.). To this day, forest fires threaten the Adirondack habitat. Fortunately, the dangers of these fires have been significantly reduced because of new laws since the fires of the early 20th century. However, the fires remain a threat to Adirondack life.

Although recent fires have damaged Adirondack forests, two main fires devastated hundreds of thousands of acres of the park in 1903 and 1908. Both fires occurred during fire season, in which the wind dries dead leaves and vegetation. Due to logging in the Adirondacks, there were copious amounts of dead tree tops that took many years to biodegrade. As logging spread throughout the Adirondacks, so did the dangerous tinder. Once these conditions are set, a single spark could ignite the forest. Unfortunately, sparks were abundant because of coal-fueled trains. Although there were fines for sparks released by trains, it was much more cost-effective for company owners to pay the $100 fine than to run on oil instead of coal (“Adirondack Journal” n.d.).

Although both the rail and logging industries primed the Adirondacks for forest fires, poor fire-fighting infrastructure is equally responsible for the damage. The state struggled to detect fires and to transport firefighters to them, which often resulted in huge fires spreading through the forests. Remarkably, many Adirondack residents dismissed the wildfires in 1903 as God’s will and took no action to prevent future fires, despite the destruction of over 600,000 acres of Adirondack land (“Adirondack Journal” n.d.). After the wildfires of 1908, however, Adirondackers recognized that human actions were the main cause of wildfires. In response to this realization, the state government took action. The state passed laws requiring locomotives to burn oil rather than coal between the months of April and October to cut down on sparks during the fire season (“Adirondack Journal” n.d.). The state also required the loggers remove limbs from tree tops they leave behind to speed up biodegradation and reduce the forest tinder (“Adirondack Journal” n.d.). With the help of these requirements and the construction of fire towers, forest fires in the Adirondacks have been greatly reduced.

Even with these improvements, wildfires in the Adirondacks are always a possibility. In 2002, the Department of Environmental Conservation reported 643 fires that destroyed over 2,000 acres within the Adirondack State Park (“Department” n.d.). In the past week alone, North Country Public Radio reported over 100 acres of land burned in recent forest fires (Mann 2016). Clearly, the threats of wildfires persist in the Adirondacks, but thanks to continued improvements since the 20th century, most forest fires can be contained quickly.

A photo from the NYS DEC of forest fires in Schroon Lake in September 2015.

Works Cited:

"Adirondack Journal — The Adirondacks Are Burning: A Brief History of Forest Fires." Adirondack Museum. The Adirondack Museum, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

Mann, Brian. "Fire Crews Battle Multiple Adirondack Wildfires." NCPR. St. Lawrence University, 22 Apr. 2016. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

"Department of Environmental Conservation." Wildfires. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.