'Ordeal By Fire' to be shown locally

This is the 100-year anniversary of the 1910 fire. The fire raged across the Panhandle of Idaho and the mountains of western Montana in August 1910 becoming the biggest forest fire in US history.

To commemorate the anniversary, "Ordeal By Fire," a hour-long film sponsored by the Idaho Humanities Council and the Museum of North Idaho, will be shown in the region.

The film features interviews with historians and scientists as well as some fascinating family stories, illustrated with period newsreels and photographs.

The DVD is available at the Museum of North Idaho and Coeur d'Alene Hastings or from the Museum's Web site www.museumni.org.

Gathering these historic materials was no easy task. Writer-director George Sibley pored through the film collections of the National Archives in College Park, Maryland and regional Forest Service collections at the Museum of North Idaho and in Boise and Missoula to come up with footage of vintage fire crews in action.

"The aftermath of the actual 1910 fires is quite well documented in still photographs," Sibley said, "and although that was a bit early for movie coverage, I did find films from the early 1920s which show the kind of techniques and equipment those people had to work with. Fires were fought in much the same way until after World War II."

A famous Idaho component of the Big Burn is the story of how Ranger Ed Pulaski of Wallace saved most of his crew from being overrun by the fires by keeping them in a mine tunnel on the West Fork of Placer Creek. This is one of the highlights of Sibley's film, which he recreated with local folks standing in for Pulaski's crew.

The fires themselves are represented most often by footage from a number of recent fires, including some shots taken by cameras in protective housings, which vividly show what it must be like to be caught in such a firestorm.

Screenings of the one-hour film are scheduled:

• Aug. 15 at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library 2 and 7 p.m.

• Aug. 16 Clark Fork, at the Senior Center 7 p.m.

• Aug. 17 Sagle, at the Senior Center 7 p.m.

• Aug. 20 Wallace, at the Elks Lodge 7 p.m.

• Aug. 22 Avery, 10 a.m.

• Aug. 26 Bonners Ferry, at the Boundary County Museum 7 p.m.