Forest Fires Ravage Vashon and Peninsula
Settlers battle encroaching brush fires across Vashon Island and the mainland near Olalla.
Forest fires started yesterday on Vashon Island and by night had increased their area until several hundred acres were covered. All the settlers are at work fighting the fire. The blaze from this fire, added to that from a start on the mainland south of Colby and another still farther south and in the vicinity of Olalla Harbor, lighted up the sky last night. A fire is also raging around Artondale on the mainland, beyond Olalla Harbor. It began yesterday afternoon through the burning of slashing. A force of men is fighting the fire, but owing to the wind, little headway is being made. The country in that region is covered by orchards, berry lands and market gardens. There are no heavy forests for the fire to feed on, the country consisting of logged-off lands with a second growth of timber. No buildings have been burned, but the homes of a number of settlers are threatened.
“The blaze... lighted up the sky last night.”
The seasonal threat of fire in the Pacific Northwest has been a reality for over a century. The mention of 'logged-off lands' highlights the radical change in regional landscape that contributed to these fires in the early 1900s.
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