FIVE YOUNGSTERS NARROWLY ESCAPE BEING TRAPPED
From Nevada State Journal, July 21, 1954
Courtesy Virginia Lutes via Raymond Giminez
Four distinct and disastrous fires raced through powder-dry forest and brushland northwest of Reno yesterday.
The most serious of the blazes was a 500-acre timber fire which started near Loyalton yesterday. By last night it had tapped into Ball Canyon 30 miles northwest of Reno.
Ball Canyon was the scene of a devastating forest fire in 1949. W. J. Van Arsdale, US Forest Service dispatcher in Reno said last night that 50 men and all available equipment was being sent to the scene.
Mr. Van Arsdale said a dozen men who had been fighting a less serious fire at Beckwourth Pass on Highway 24 were ordered to Ball Canyon.
Reno crews were ordered to Ball Canyon when the Loyalton fire passed the boundaries of the Tahoe National Forest into Toiyabe National Forest.
Other fires in the area included a 4,800-acre timber blaze near Susanville; a 10,000-acre brush fire which was reported under control in the Red Rock area after blazing unchecked for nearly two days; and the Beckwourth Pass fire.
Teen Agers Trapped
The blaze at Beckwourth Pass temporarily trapped five Loyalton teen-agers who were camping a mile above the Chilcoot schoolhouse, where the flames broke out.
Mrs. Eula Hathaway, operator of the Vinton Store, named three of the teen-agers as Bill Cahill, 14, Raymond Giminez, 13 and Gene Hawe, 13. She said the youths were rescued when two men and their wives broke through the flames to lead them to safety.
The school house was saved by backfiring. There were no immediate estimates of the acreage covered by the blaze.
Started at 1:00
The Sierraville district of the Tahoe National Forest reported the fast spreading Loyalton fire broke out about 1 p.m. near the Rotary Campground four miles from town. It was definitely man-caused. Carried by heavy winds, the fire was topping valuable timber land in an easterly direction. Loyalton was not threatened, and there were no settlements or structures in the general path of the blaze.
The Forest Service dispatcher at Sierraville said late last night that lookouts reported the fire “looks better.” However, it had covered “at least 300 acres” and had raced into the Toiyabe National Forest in the Ball Canyon area. The Sierraville dispatcher said the fire might be brought under control before this morning. She said, however, that it was raging through rugged, heavily timbered country and was “exceedingly hard to fight.”
One hundred and fifty men were fighting the fire from the Loyalton-Sierraville side. At least four bull-dozers were in use.
Among the workers were crews from Truckee, Downieville, Camptonville and Forest Hills. A crew from the prison honor camp at Downieville was also at work.
Scouted From Plane
Keith McDonald, forestry officer from Nevada City, scouted the blaze from an observation plane during the daylight hours. The plane was used for directing ground fire fighters and spotting “hot spots” on the borders of the fire area.
In Reno, Mr. Van Arsdale said the fire had creeped over the hills to enter Ball Canyon near Babbitt Peak He said the fire was still 30 miles northwest of Reno, and had not crossed the Nevada state line. He reported the Dog Valley area was probably too far south to be threatened.
Rolling smoke from the various fires led many Reno residents last night to believe Dog Valley was the site of the large fire.
Commuters reported hundreds of cars lined Highway 395 and California’s Highway 24 to watch the progress of the fires.
At Susanville
At Susanville an estimated 4,800 acres of valuable timber had been burned by a fire which started Monday. Last night the racing flames were defying 250 men and 14 bulldozers to threaten ranches in Willow Creek Valley.
The California Division of Forestry reported the fire “80 per cent under control,” but added the weather was not favorable. Thirty-five mile-an-hour winds were blowing and more fire fighting units were reported being moved into the area occupied by the threatened ranches.
The brush fire which started Monday morning near Hallelujah Junction and spread over nearly 10,000 acres through the Red Rock area was reportedly under control last night after jumping fire lines yesterday afternoon.
Mrs. Dan Solari of Carson City said her husband, Bureau of Land Management range manager for the Virginia City district, reported at 7:30 p.m. that only a few smouldering “snags” remained at the fire scene.
GRASSHOPPERS were bad in July of 1954, too. In the July 23, 1954 Sierra Booster, it told: “Grasshoppers have been controlled in Clover Valley due to nearly two weeks of aerial spraying by Marty Kronberg of Reno from a temporary base in Clover Valley and a permanent one at Beckwourth Airport. 950 acres were sprayed on the Pat Noble Ranch, 250 on the Shipp Ranch and 150 on the Julie Bonta Ranch. Marty moved his equipment out last Friday.
Oddity of the operation was a close inspection made by a State observer. The man, who should have known better, walked out into the field where the spraying was being done and lay down in the path of the plane so he could see – first hand – what was going on. Marty didn’t see the man’s body until he was passing directly over it – thought it must be a calf. The man was drenched with poison spray which made him quite ill and he was taken to a Portola doctor, a saddened man, but a wiser one.
(A crop-duster like Marty flies so low over the field that the plane’s wheels often skip along the ground.)”
From Nevada State Journal, July 21, 1954
Courtesy Virginia Lutes via Raymond Giminez
Four distinct and disastrous fires raced through powder-dry forest and brushland northwest of Reno yesterday.
The most serious of the blazes was a 500-acre timber fire which started near Loyalton yesterday. By last night it had tapped into Ball Canyon 30 miles northwest of Reno.
Ball Canyon was the scene of a devastating forest fire in 1949. W. J. Van Arsdale, US Forest Service dispatcher in Reno said last night that 50 men and all available equipment was being sent to the scene.
Mr. Van Arsdale said a dozen men who had been fighting a less serious fire at Beckwourth Pass on Highway 24 were ordered to Ball Canyon.
Reno crews were ordered to Ball Canyon when the Loyalton fire passed the boundaries of the Tahoe National Forest into Toiyabe National Forest.
Other fires in the area included a 4,800-acre timber blaze near Susanville; a 10,000-acre brush fire which was reported under control in the Red Rock area after blazing unchecked for nearly two days; and the Beckwourth Pass fire.
Teen Agers Trapped
The blaze at Beckwourth Pass temporarily trapped five Loyalton teen-agers who were camping a mile above the Chilcoot schoolhouse, where the flames broke out.
Mrs. Eula Hathaway, operator of the Vinton Store, named three of the teen-agers as Bill Cahill, 14, Raymond Giminez, 13 and Gene Hawe, 13. She said the youths were rescued when two men and their wives broke through the flames to lead them to safety.
The school house was saved by backfiring. There were no immediate estimates of the acreage covered by the blaze.
Started at 1:00
The Sierraville district of the Tahoe National Forest reported the fast spreading Loyalton fire broke out about 1 p.m. near the Rotary Campground four miles from town. It was definitely man-caused. Carried by heavy winds, the fire was topping valuable timber land in an easterly direction. Loyalton was not threatened, and there were no settlements or structures in the general path of the blaze.
The Forest Service dispatcher at Sierraville said late last night that lookouts reported the fire “looks better.” However, it had covered “at least 300 acres” and had raced into the Toiyabe National Forest in the Ball Canyon area. The Sierraville dispatcher said the fire might be brought under control before this morning. She said, however, that it was raging through rugged, heavily timbered country and was “exceedingly hard to fight.”
One hundred and fifty men were fighting the fire from the Loyalton-Sierraville side. At least four bull-dozers were in use.
Among the workers were crews from Truckee, Downieville, Camptonville and Forest Hills. A crew from the prison honor camp at Downieville was also at work.
Scouted From Plane
Keith McDonald, forestry officer from Nevada City, scouted the blaze from an observation plane during the daylight hours. The plane was used for directing ground fire fighters and spotting “hot spots” on the borders of the fire area.
In Reno, Mr. Van Arsdale said the fire had creeped over the hills to enter Ball Canyon near Babbitt Peak He said the fire was still 30 miles northwest of Reno, and had not crossed the Nevada state line. He reported the Dog Valley area was probably too far south to be threatened.
Rolling smoke from the various fires led many Reno residents last night to believe Dog Valley was the site of the large fire.
Commuters reported hundreds of cars lined Highway 395 and California’s Highway 24 to watch the progress of the fires.
At Susanville
At Susanville an estimated 4,800 acres of valuable timber had been burned by a fire which started Monday. Last night the racing flames were defying 250 men and 14 bulldozers to threaten ranches in Willow Creek Valley.
The California Division of Forestry reported the fire “80 per cent under control,” but added the weather was not favorable. Thirty-five mile-an-hour winds were blowing and more fire fighting units were reported being moved into the area occupied by the threatened ranches.
The brush fire which started Monday morning near Hallelujah Junction and spread over nearly 10,000 acres through the Red Rock area was reportedly under control last night after jumping fire lines yesterday afternoon.
Mrs. Dan Solari of Carson City said her husband, Bureau of Land Management range manager for the Virginia City district, reported at 7:30 p.m. that only a few smouldering “snags” remained at the fire scene.
GRASSHOPPERS were bad in July of 1954, too. In the July 23, 1954 Sierra Booster, it told: “Grasshoppers have been controlled in Clover Valley due to nearly two weeks of aerial spraying by Marty Kronberg of Reno from a temporary base in Clover Valley and a permanent one at Beckwourth Airport. 950 acres were sprayed on the Pat Noble Ranch, 250 on the Shipp Ranch and 150 on the Julie Bonta Ranch. Marty moved his equipment out last Friday.
Oddity of the operation was a close inspection made by a State observer. The man, who should have known better, walked out into the field where the spraying was being done and lay down in the path of the plane so he could see – first hand – what was going on. Marty didn’t see the man’s body until he was passing directly over it – thought it must be a calf. The man was drenched with poison spray which made him quite ill and he was taken to a Portola doctor, a saddened man, but a wiser one.
(A crop-duster like Marty flies so low over the field that the plane’s wheels often skip along the ground.)”
