EPISODE 534 DATELINE MAY 30, 1686 — PIERRE DE TROYES, Temiskaiming forest fire — dateline 1957: Sam Markou, firefighter -dateline 1970:
Red Skeoch, fire starter
Alan Skeoch
Feb.15, 2022
SAM MARKOU: Dateline : summer day 1957
SAM MARKOU’S fire was likely not this big but it was burning and ready to jump across the gap by which they got into the lake.
Sam Markou and I have shared the last half of the the 20th century and the first quarter of
the 21st century. We did not share this forest fire though.
Sam Markou called me yesterday after reading the story of the great forest fires of
1911 and 1916. “Alan, that story reminded me of the summer I worked near the
Manitoba border of Ontario as a teen ager. I was part of a small team sent to douse
a forest fire. Small fire it was thought so we were given a lot of hand pumped backpack
equipment. The fire was burning close to a small lake. Just as we were filling the
backpacks we noticed the fire had got bigger and was burning down both sides of
the lake. We dropped our gear and sped by canoe to the the gap. We got out in the nick
of time. I don’t know what happened to our gear.” Sam and I have shared a lot of
adventures in our lives. Teen agers of the same lucky generation. Maybe this summer
we will paddle from Toronto to Kenora and then NW to Caliper Lake just to see if
his fire fighting gear is still there. Maybe not.
TEMISKAMING FOREST FIRE: dateline May 30, 1686
FORESTS OF TEMISKAMING ARE PRONE TO FIRE…NOT JUST THEN OR NOW BUT ALWAYS
Anyone who believes those great Temiskaming forest fires were the only such
conflagrations will be wrong. Granted the piles of slash left by homesteaders and
miners provided fuel for the fires of 1911,1916 and 1922. But forest fires
in the Boreal Forests of Canada are as old as time. At least it seemed that
way when I cam across this account by Pierre de Troyes, dated May 30, 1686:
“The fire burned into the woods with great fierceness pushed along by
a very strong wind … Whirlwinds of flame swept swept the length of the portage …
we were obliged to run with all our strength, while the fire while the fire pressed
so closely that the sleeve of shirt was burned by the shower of sparks and burning
cinders … We hurriedly climbed into our canoes … and moved to the centre of the
lake, which at that spot was only thirty feet wide. The fire then became so furious
that the flames swept like a torrent over our heads. and set fire to the bush on
the other side of the lake.”
North of Lake Temiskaming, May 30, 1686, Pierre de Troyes
GRASS FIRE, FIFTH LINE, ERN TOWNSHIP, WELLINGTON COUNTY, 1970
Dogs do talk, Peter certainly did the day of the grass fire. “Red started a fire today…lost control of it…we gave up!…where is my dinner”
Grass fires happen every springtime. The causes are often human centred.
Arnold “Red” Skeoch came home to Toronto from a day at the farm
in early spring around 1970. His pantlegs were black. His bare legs
were black. His arms were black. Everything else was wet with sweat. His dog, Pete, was
concerned. We could tell by the way the dog reported to us. Dad’s
comment was longer and larded with curse words. “The goddamn grass fire
got out of hand. I started the fire just to clear a patch of the garden but the
wind caught it. I tried to stamp it out…ran back and forth using my coat but
the fire got bigger and bigger. I let it burn…exhausted. Burned like a son
of a bitch all the way to the tree line in the back field.” When we drove
up to the farm the next day the front fields were all black and later became
a rich green with new growth feeding on the ashes. The tree line at the back
had held and quashed the fire. That was the biggest grass fire that dad
started but it was not the last. We should have kept dad on the dog leash
rather than Pete.
Mom love dad, in spite of all the reasons not to do so. When he got in trouble, which was often, she had one word for him. “Oh, Red,
you Fathead.” This was one of those days.
SOME SAY THE WORLD WILL END IN FIRE, SOME SAY IN HATE
Robert Frost’s popular poem on the world ending in fire is thought to be a
compression of Dante’s Inferno. Hell in other words where humans
are trapped by ice as the forest of hell burns towards their expose heads…or
something line that. Not a pleasant prospect. The poem has even deeper
origins. But let’s keep it simple. Red Skeoch must have felt his little
world of agriculture was about to be incinerated the day. And I believe
he used the word ‘hell’ often. “How in hell can I get this goddamned fire out?”
Fire and Ice
BY ROBERT FROST
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.