Memories were stirred last week as Bill Matthias, former superintendent at Northwood School in Minong, visited the Spooner Memorial Library for a presentation. His topic was the 1977 Five Mile Tower Fire.
Many will recall that huge wildland fire, which raged out of control April 29-30 of 1977, until the mop-up on May 1. It was ignited by a campfire that got away and erupted thanks to tinder-dry conditions. Once it jumped into the dry jackpines, it became a crown fire and took on a life of its own. It destroyed more than 13,000 acres and consumed 63 buildings, becoming one of Wisconsin’s largest and most historic wildland fires.
Bill was there on the front lines, coordinating the student firefighting crews at Northwood. A charter member of the Wascott Volunteer Fire Department, he knew what he was doing, and his experience and leadership helped the volunteer firefighters finally get the upper hand.
Yes, it was 1977, and firefighting has changed since then. But if you had a Northwoods cabin then or have one now, you will be spellbound reading his detailed book, “Monster Fire at Minong,” about Wisconsin’s Five Mile Tower Fire of 1977. You didn’t have to be there to realize that this is a fascinating and important book.
If you have already read it, you may want to do so again. If you have not read it, try to do so. You won’t be sorry. It is available at such sites as Amazon, Wisconsin History Press, AbeBooks, Prairie Light Books, Barnes & Noble, ebay.com and at local book stores such as Spooner’s Northwind Book & Fiber.
Like Bill Matthias, I was there when it happened. I was a senior at Spooner High School at the time, one of the army of more than 1,600 volunteers from high schools, including Northwood, Spooner, Shell Lake, Hayward and others. There were kids, senior citizens, local fire departments and regular guys and women picking up shovels, boots, chainsaws, hatchets and whatever firefighting gear they could to head out to the woods.
Volunteer firefighters came from Minong, Spooner, Chicog, Webster, Webb Lake, Scott, Gordon, Wascott, Hayward, Solon Springs and many other communities across northern Wisconsin to help fight the rapidly growing, flaming beast.
Even though it was 47 years ago, the memories remain vivid. I remember it being hot and dry. We’d had no rain for more than a week. Humidity was low, at only 23%, according to records of the day. The wind was at 17 to 20 mph and would prove to be a real enemy to firefighting efforts. Ranger stations, including the stations at Minong and Spooner, were at high alert — you could almost “feel” that something was going to happen. I was just a kid and had that feeling. I imagine to the much more experienced rangers and other experts those feelings were almost off the charts. Then the sirens went off. To this day, I remember it was an almost eerie sense that something big was going to take place. The conditions were right as the fire started, and it soon erupted into a firestorm.
It was hot as I headed out to volunteer, but I grabbed a jacket anyway. It was a good thing, because once the sun went down, the temperature plunged. A lot of folks who went out dressed just in T-shirts were freezing later on. I still have that jacket, and to this day it smells of smoke if it gets wet. I also managed to put on a pair of heavy-duty work boots. Many were just wearing tennis shoes, which did not hold up well.
I was one of the first at the fire scene before things really got organized. I remember looking out across a field at this huge cloud of smoke as the fire got started. How were a bunch of Minong, Spooner and Shell Lake kids going to put that thing out, I wondered.
In those days, however, we were young, fearless and indestructible. We just signed up, got instructions and headed out with heavy water tanks on our backs — they became affectionately known as Ps Cans by those of us lugging them. For two days and nights, we stayed out, walking, spraying and digging in what looked like an alien landscape. We did not go where the fire was burning; we were a mop-up crew.
Our group had a pretty good sense of direction, so we never got lost. We just kept walking and working through charred timber, putting out small flare-ups. I should add that among those in our bunch were a couple of girls and they worked every bit as hard as the guys. Everything was coal-black, including us, from head to toe.
Plumes of smoke would drift upward, eventually disappearing as they were caught by the breeze. Every now and then, we would be treated to the sight of small 3-foot-high fire “tornadoes” swirling for a few seconds. The real excitement happened as burning stumps would explode, sounding like cannons.
We came across animals wandering aimlessly, looking almost shell-shocked. Deer would walk with a few feet of us, paying no attention. There were rabbits, raccoons, squirrels and ruffed grouse. They did not appear injured, just dazed. We saw the survivors, those that made it out. Many animals did not.
At one point, we came out to a clearing. There were trucks and cars as far as the eye could see. There were bulldozers, buses and tankers. There were what seemed like countless Ps Cans stacked up, so we reloaded. This was, we learned later, what came to be known as the Headquarters. There is a photo of it in Bill Matthias’ book. We even managed to get some sandwiches and a little rest.
By that time, the DNR was taking over and getting things organized. Even though our group had been working pretty well for a while, they decided we didn’t know what we were doing (and they were right) and assigned us to new teams.
And that is about the end of my memories. It was a historic effort, and although today private citizens and high school kids would not be allowed anywhere near the fire, I feel like we did a lot of good.
The private citizens got involved because we felt it was the right thing to do. To be honest, we had no training, no safety equipment and are darned lucky nobody got hurt. The DNR, Wisconsin Army National Guard, local law enforcement officials and various fire departments could evacuate people and attack the blaze with knowledge, bulldozers, airplanes and fire-suppressing chemicals. We had shovels, Ps Cans and went into already-burned areas to mop up. But we did what we could, and the private effort was unprecedented.
The government types took credit for putting out the blaze, but there are a lot of common guys and girls who did their part. And today, nearly 50 years later, we can look back, remember and take a lot of pride in knowing that we were part of the high school army, the farmers, the businessmen, the loggers and thousands of everyday people who united to take on the Five Mile Tower Fire in 1977.
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