Vashon Wildfires
- John Cornelison
- September 11, 2010
Table of Contents
Historically Vashon has had a few major wildfires:
1893: in August 1893 a fire began in the logged off area near the present high school where the first saw mill was located. The fire rages for two days and nights, “nearly a hundred” volunteers “fought desperately against apparently hopeless odds, with shovels and hoes and rakes, to save the new Baptist Church and the Presbyterian Church at Center, and the Fuller store across the street. With the flames within two hundred yards of Center, the wind shifted to the north on the evening of the second day, allowing fire fighters finally gain control of the fire.
1922: South end forest fire, burn for 3 months – Tahlequah to Camp Sealth, Colvos to Quartermaster
1933: Major forest fire – Paradise Valley to Lisabuela
1939: Forest fires burn on island – 2 days at Heights, 2 days at Rosehilla, 1 month at Pt. Robinson
1945: 100 acre fire in Paradise Valley
1958: 500 acre wildfire on Maury – 3 day battle to contain blaze
- Bruce Haulman’s www.vashonhistory.com/vashontimeline.htm
