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In a far northwest corner of Wisconsin, amassive forest fire raged for nearly 24 hours, engulfing 13,000 acres. Littleremembered today, at least here in southeast Wisconsin, the catastrophe is thesubject of Monster Fire at Minong:Wisconsin’s Five Mile Tower Fire of 1977 (Wisconsin Historical SocietyPress).
The author, Bill Matthias, was a schoolsuperintendent at the time who organized his high school volunteers to helpbeleaguered fire fighters and DNR rangers. His account begins with the campfirethat got out of control on a dry windy day and rolls along as flames leapt frombranch to branch on the pine plantations. The culprit was a single match, notcarelessly tossed but setting the woods on fire in an almost freakish chain ofevents. Monster Fire is a story ofgovernment agents and local people coming together with great efficiency in anhour of crisis. It also testifies to the resilience of nature. Thirty-threeyears later the forest has returned.
The author, Bill Matthias, was a schoolsuperintendent at the time who organized his high school volunteers to helpbeleaguered fire fighters and DNR rangers. His account begins with the campfirethat got out of control on a dry windy day and rolls along as flames leapt frombranch to branch on the pine plantations. The culprit was a single match, notcarelessly tossed but setting the woods on fire in an almost freakish chain ofevents. Monster Fire is a story ofgovernment agents and local people coming together with great efficiency in anhour of crisis. It also testifies to the resilience of nature. Thirty-threeyears later the forest has returned.
