Yacolt Burn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Yacolt Burn was the worst forest fire in the history of Washington state.

Fanned by the dry "Devil Wind" from eastern Washington, the fire began in the early hours of September 12, 1902 just north of Carson, Washington. It traveled 30 miles in 36 hours and destroyed 238,920 acres (967 km²) of timber, about 12 billion board feet (28,000,000 m³), in Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania counties. The loss of timber alone was assessed at a 1902 value of US$30 million.

The fire dropped one-half inch of ash in Portland, Oregon. The smoke was so thick that street lights glowed at noon in Seattle 160 miles (258 km) away. Yacolt, Washington was approached by the inferno close enough to blister paint on the town's 15 buildings, but the wind changed, causing the fire to veer north toward the Lewis River, where it burned itself out.

In 1929, the Dole Valley fire destroyed another 153,000 acres of timber. The last major fire was on November 8. 1952. The propensity for the forested uplands in this area to be repeatedly burned is due to the presence of the Columbia River Gorge, which slices through the Cascade Mountains at nearly sea level and makes the climate of the Portland Metropolitan Area relatively immoderate compared to that of Seattle. The area's wet winters cause rapid growth of lush timber, but this is followed by the intrusion of hot, dry weather in the summer from the arid Cascade Mountain rainshadow. As a result, all logging and other commercial activity in the area is regulated by very restrictive "Yacolt Burn Rules".