Bar Harbor, ME Forest And Town Fires, Oct 1947

WOODLAND FIRES FANNED BY STRONG BREEZE TODAY.

SWANK SUMMER COLONY AT BAR HARBOR, ME., VIRTUALLY WIPED OUT.

DEATH TOLL TO FIFTEEN.

THE PROPERTY DAMAGE HAS MOUNTED ABOVE $26,000,000 MARK.

Bar Harbor, Me., Oct. 24. (AP) -- The swank summer colony of this playground of the rich, and six other communities, were virtually wiped out today as strong winds fanned woodland fires ravaging New England into fresh fury with the death toll already at fifteen and property damage mounting above $26,000,000.
A spectacular all-night evacuation by land and sea a peacetime Dunkerque, left Bar Harbor a deserted town as 3,500 townsfolk fled in fright before flames that levelled from 200 to 300 homes, including summer showplaces of the international society set.
Damage to the ruined mansions in this town alone was officially set at $8,000,000 -- not counting the loss of valuable art treasures and furnishings they contained.
While most of the swank summer colony of Bar Harbor was left in shambles, the business center of the town was still intact.
Six other villages left virtually "ghost towns" were York county dairying village of Lyman, Brownfield and East Brownfield in Northern York county, Goose Rocks near Kennebunkport, Fortune's Rock and East Waterboro -- their populations averaging close to 500 each.
The Bar Harbor fire, sweeping toward the southeast shore of Mount Desert Island, was on the edge of Otter Creek a community of 150 families.
Sheriff NORMAN DYER expressed belief that unless the wind shifted "we can hold it at Seal Harbor, Otter Creek and Northeast Harbor."
The fire front was two miles from Seal and Northeast Harbors, from which many residents already had been evacuated.
As north winds blew up to a force of 25 miles an hour throughout the region this morning -- gaining momentum all the time -- the outlook was grim with still no appreciable amount of rain in sight.

Chillicothe Constitution Times Missouri 1947-10-24
__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!