Acadia National Park Fire Extinguished
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Maine Seacoast Mission.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK—A fire that was likely set by lightning strikes and was initially reported by a local man riding his bike in Acadia National Park (ANP) has been extinguished.
One local firefighter said that two lightning strikes were the likely cause.
Peter Beckett said that he spotted the white smoke in the area of Gilmore Meadow at approximately 7:30 p.m., Friday, August 15, while he was riding on the carriage roads and called ANP to report it.
”I was riding on the carriage roads from Shady Hill. About a mile before Gilmore Meadow, I started to smell smoke, so I was scanning the woods both sides, didn't see anything,” he said.
When Beckett reached a small bridge where the water flows toward Aunt Betty’s Pond, which is near Eagle Lake, there were two other bicyclists that had stopped. They all discussed the smoke and Beckett called Acadia National Park Headquarters, reporting it.
At 9:50 p.m., radio traffic indicated that fire crews had found an approximate 20-feet by 30-feet area that was mostly smoldering.
The area was close to intersection 11 on the National Park Service’s Carriage Road Map.
Multiple island and park agencies responded to the area west of Eagle Lake. They were looking for a fire, staging resources at the Eagle Lake boat ramp, or providing station coverage.
For the park rangers, trying to initially find the fire, they smelled smoke first, and then they saw it, but in the darkness of night, it was hard to locate the smoke’s source, which—like Beckett’s report—seemed to be located somewhere near Gilmore Meadow, which is to the west of Eagle Lake and close to Aunt Betty’s Pond and Chasm Brook.
The carriage trails in the area made the site of the fire slightly more accessible for fire response, however, the darkness, the wild terrain, lack of cell phone coverage in the area, and the dry conditions made night-time woodland response a bit challenging. Some fire crews were shuttled from the Eagle Lake Boat Ramp as was some gear. The smaller fire engine could not turn around on the carriage road, according to firefighter Andrew Flanagan and had to drive through, coming back to the regular roads near Parkman Mountain.
According to scanner traffic, the Maine Air National Guard FLIR (forward looking infrared) was originally thought available and may have been sent in to get a better understanding of the situation.
However, there was no air support from the Maine Forest Service or National Guard available.
Instead, Ellsworth Police Department offered to fly its drone in the area. This air asset helped the responders understand the situation.
Shortly after 10 p.m., firefighters began laying forestry house (approximately 700-feet) from Bar Harbor’s Engine 3 to reach the smoldering area.
According to radio traffic at 10:19 p.m., the EPD drone operator reported that all of the hot spots were in the general area that had already been identified.
At 11:02 p.m., according to radio traffic, the fire crews were getting water on the fire/smoldering area, but will be digging it up and wetting it down for some time.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the entire coast of Maine is in a moderate drought, which accounts for approximately one-third of the state.
This is the second fire in the park this year. A small fire on Acadia National Park property July 1 in the Cleftstone Road area of Bar Harbor was believed to be “human-caused,” Acadia National Park Management Assistant John T. Kelly said at the time.
Five other fires in the park’s woodlands that occurred in a span of approximately 18 months were arson, according to federal court records. The St. Sauveur Mountain fires were allegedly started by one man, according to a search warrant. That case is still in the courts.
NOTE: We’ve reached out to both Acadia National Park and the Bar Harbor Fire Department for comment and we’ll update the story when we hear from those agencies.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Rick Osann Art.
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