In letter 3 Jim mentions fires shutting down the school and in letter 4 having to go off and fight them.
From letter 3: ” Then I had classes until 1 o’clock. After that all classes were cancelled to fight a forest fire about 1/4 mile away which was (such yelling) threatening the campus. We came G.D. near being burned out of this place. What a time, carrying fire extinguishers and hoses into the woods. They had bulldozers and everything else out there digging up the woods to stop the fire. It’s still burning now (7:45) but it’s under control, unless the wind comes up again. We may not have classes tomorrow if the fires get bad enough around here. I guess it’s very bad around Kennebunkport. The radio just said the town is all ablaze.”
From letter 4: “I went out fighting fires Tuesday. We had to get up at 3 A.M. and we were out all day and didn’t get back until after midnight. What a long day, 21 hours work.”
It turns out these were the worst fires in Maine’s history.
According to the New England Historical Society, “from October 13 to October 27, firefighters tried to fight 200 Maine fires, consuming a quarter of a million acres of forest and wiping out nine entire towns. The Maine fires destroyed 851 homes and 397 seasonal cottages, leaving 2,500 people homeless.”
More from the same article: ” When the alarm went out, men and boys dropped what they were doing and rushed off to fight the fires. Men who went to work in small towns didn’t know if they’d be called on to fight the Maine fires that day. Volunteers came from all over Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.”
Students from several schools fought the fires. At right is a photo of Bates student volunteers who fought the fire, apparently using brooms.
“At Bates, nearly 300 male students, about 40 percent of the student body of 767, volunteered for firefighting duty and were dispatched to various communities by a state disaster committee. “Since last Monday [Oct. 20], from 50 to 100 men have left Bates campus every day for various danger sections in the state,” The Bates Student reported on Oct. 29, including Kennebunk, Bowdoinham, Cornish, Kezar Falls, and Richmond.
Students from multiple campuses of the University of Maine also responded.
It certainly was a different time. By all accounts, Maine’s firefighting resources were inadequate at the time. The idea of taking kids out of their college classes today to go fight a fire wouldn’t even be considered.
I also found it strange that it’s barely mentioned in the letters. Going off an fighting fires, the state burning all around them, and other than a few sentences, it’s about classes and this weekend’s football game.
More info on the fires:
• A series of stories from the Portland Press Herald
• 70 year anniversary story from Boston.com