CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR GREG LUSK
A man who helped to fight a large 1976 fire inside the Seney National Wildlife Refuge is remembering that firefight nearly a half-century later.
Greg Lusk has since retired from the Michigan DNR, but the experience of leading the fight against that fire led him to write and self-publish the book that he titled “The Great Seney Fire”.
He tells RRN News that he remembers the fire like it happened yesterday, and he explains why he continues to tell that story.
“We have short memories, so I guess the affirmation of not wanting to repeat history was in my mind. I wanted my family, my grandsons in particular, too know what their grandfather did,” Lusk said. “I felt there would be a need for maintaining this history for the future.”
Lusk recalled that the fire started on July 30, 1976, by a dry lightning storm. He said it took quite some time for any firefighters to get to the scene, and Lusk says he was dispatched there as the Assistant Fire Boss for the DNR a couple of days later.
“It spread about nine miles before we got there,” Lusk said. “High winds, and the humidity was so low. That pushed the fire and fueled the fire.”
That fire ended up burning more than 72,000 acres of land, and there were more than 1,200 people from 29 states working on the fire fight at one point or another.
“It actually burned all the way until the winter,” Lusk said. “And I stayed there until the snows came.”
Luckily, due to the remote location of the “Walsh Ditch Fire of 1976”, no structures were destroyed, and no people lost their lives. And he says that there was a silver lining, in that the fire caused an improvement in habitat for many wildlife species in the fire zone.
Lusk, who has won a state literary award for his book, will give a presentation on September 12. It will be hosted by the Crystal Falls Library, but it will be offered in an online Zoom format, sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Publisher’s & Authors Association.
Find out more by calling (906) 875-3344 or E-Mailing egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org.
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