This page will be devoted to a review of Monster Fire at Minong: Wisconsin's Five Mile Tower Fire of 1977. These pages recall a forgotten nugget of Wisconsin history as told by Bill Matthias, who was superintendent of Northwood School Districts in Minong, and a charter member of the Wascott Volunteer Fire Department at the time. Thirty years after the Five Mile Tower Fire, Bill started to research the event, interviewing over 135 people to recall the events.
I chose to review this book for a few reasons. Being a volunteer fireman at my hometown of Withee, which is a few hours away from Minong, is one. There are the expected old timers at the department who always harp on about the yesteryear, and I thought this book review would be a good way for me to get one up on them. Additionally, I have had the interest in wildfires. An area of interest for me is mapping fuel loads using large footstep LiDAR wavelengths. And also, methods discussed in the second half of the book led to great improvements in Wisconsin firefighting laws and practices.
The book thoroughly chronicles the events of the fire noted to have been in its prime during April 30th and May 1st in 1977. This marks the climax of an extreme Wisconsin year long drought and as the authors describes- the worst since the late 1930s. The fire started from a guy named John Schultz (the author put his name in because John wanted to be held responsible- it was a different time back then). Apparently John started a campfire to make some hot dogs for lunch when a gust of wind passed some burning leaves into dry grass (everything was dry. 24% humidity, 79 degrees and windy). It took off from there. Citizens from all around the area came to help as the importance of putting it out was evident in the weather. I thought the author outlined the progression of events pretty well. How the fire started small and the brigade rolls in. After hundreds of volunteers try to help the local department, then they establish connections with the DNR. They send plains to appraise the fire and eventually dozers to enclose the fire. Then finally staging a nice sized fire headquarters to battle with the fire for three days. Throughout the book Bill also talks about relationships with the Gordon Volunteer Fire Department and his direct effort in the fire. While superintendent of Northwood School district, Bill worked with the fire department to recruit teenagers right out of his own highschool to fight the blazes. I found that to be really interesting just for the fact that there wasn't hoops to jump through or qualifications you had to have, in order for insurance to cover costs, or just to satisfy a liability.
I was pretty intrigued with the book. The author is not a Cormac McCarthy, but he as a writing style like an old school conversationalist. I really did not mind it. And at times, when I may have been losing my capacity to continue reading, Bill brought me back by simply writing about a close town which I am familiar with. Call me a shallow reader, but that sure doesn't hurt. However, if I wasn't a shallow reader, then I wouldn't have a problem saying that much of the content in the book was written not for the story, but to make sure credit is due to everyone involved. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is done to the point where you finally say- ok, I'm sure the operation wasn't that smooth.
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| Bill Matthias back at the barn. Volunteer firefighter at Wascott FD |
The author also brought geography into his analysis of the events describing that the Hudson Bay High primed the fire. From his writings, you can see that the man has experience and knows the variables that play a part in fire growth. I would say the book is worth the read for any local fireman or anyone interested in wildfire mechanics. I hope to give the book another read in time.
