The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America

In two days the fire consumes swaths of land and destroys entire towns. The town of Taft burns quickly, but Koch’s rangers are able to evacuate everyone to Saltese, a safe harbor about 10 miles away. When they arrive though, the forests around Saltese are burning. The rangers set out to protect the town. Egan adds, “Why they let Taft crumble while making an effort to save Saltese was never explained, but virtue—or the lack of it—certainly had something to do with it” (191). Half the crew hoses buildings while the other half sets backfires. The rangers must calculate the backfires so the flames blow away from town. They save Saltese.

Koch is on horseback in the burning forest trying to reach Saltese. He reaches DeBorgia and evacuates the town onto a Northern Pacific train retreating toward Missoula.

In her homestead in the Bitterroots, Ione Adair hears a knock at her door. It is a forest ranger, Ashley Roche. She agrees to feed his crew for a dollar per day. The men camp at her ranch while she cooks for them. On August 20, when “windborne smoke circled in on them, ready for the kill” (199), Roche orders everyone to retreat to a stream for protection from the fire.