The Big Burn | Fight Fire with Fire | 4

0:00Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Against the Odds ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. A listener note. Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research. This episode contains scenes that depict racist attitudes and language. Please be advised.

0:31Sergeant John James of the Buffalo Soldiers steps into the caboose of the evacuation train and holds up his hands to quiet the women and children. Excuse me? I need everyone to take their seats and remain calm. There was a little delay on the bridge ahead, but we'll be moving again in a few moments. James keeps his face calm, hoping to convince them the situation is under control. In reality, though, he's terrified. The wooden bridge ahead spans a hundred-foot-deep gorge, and the bridge is on fire. There's no way of knowing whether it will collapse when they're halfway across, but it's their only route to safety.

1:08It's the morning of August 21, 1910, in Idaho's Coeur d 'Alene National Forest. Massive wildfires are ravaging the region, and James and his soldiers are evacuating the women and children from the small town of Avery. They're 10 miles outside of town now. After discussing their options, James and the train engineer decided to risk a run across the burning bridge. James scans the faces in the caboose and wonders if his words were convincing. A woman fanning herself with a newspaper stands up. Well, if there was a delay because of the bridge, there must be something wrong with it, right? For a moment, James considers telling them the truth.

1:47But what if they panic and stampede out the doors? They'll be in even more danger than they are on the train. But before he can decide what to do, he feels the train jerk forward. The woman fanning herself tumbles back onto her seat. James hurries to his own seat and flings himself down, calling out one final command. Stay seated, all of you! He feels the train accelerating. The engineer has clearly decided to race across the bridge as fast as possible. The engine sounds like it's really straining. They race forward for 90 seconds. James grips the seat beneath him. Then they reach the bridge. In a flash, they're engulfed by fire on all sides.

2:29Flames rush past the windows, casting a lurid orange glow over the terrified passengers. James flashes back to his childhood in Alabama, when the preachers would rail about the fire and brimstone that awaited sinners. This is exactly what he imagined. hell would look like. There's no point trying to quiet the screaming women and children now. Even James' soldiers are wailing. The train rattles and shimmies, as if the bridge beneath it is breaking apart. James feels himself being tossed side to side. He closes his eyes and he mouths a prayer. But then he feels the train slowing down. He opens his eyes and gasps.

3:10The eerie orange light of the flames is gone, replaced by the soft glow of early morning sunlight. They've made it across. He can hardly believe it. He stands up again. We're safe, everyone. Keep drinking water and just try to relax. Still, as James slumps down in his seat, he can't relax himself. He knows they've still got many miles to go before they're safely out of the fire's reach, and he can't help but think of his fellow soldiers back in Avery. The wildfire will soon be bearing down on them, and as James just learned, the only way to escape hell is to go through it.

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4:42Subject to availability. I heard a rumor that the CIA poisoned my granddad. Gordon Banks, the world's number one goalkeeper. It happened in Mexico, supposedly, at the World Cup in 1970. Sounds crazy? I'm an investigative journalist on the hunt for evidence. We needed to do some extraordinary things to counter the Soviets. This is Foul Play, an unbelievable tale of sports, spies and family secrets. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts or early and ad-free on Audible.

5:22From Wondery, I'm Mike Corey and this is Against the Odds.

5:36In August of 1910, the largest known fire in American history swept through the Idaho panhandle. It overran teams of firefighters in the Coeur d 'Alene National Forest and forced multiple towns to evacuate. A large swath of the town of Wallace burned to the ground. But the fire was hardly done wreaking havoc. As the second day of the so-called Big Burn dawned, the town of Avery stood directly in its path. There, Forest Rangers and an all-black company from the U.S. Army known as the Buffalo Soldiers would make one final stand to save the town. This is Episode 4, Fight Fire with Fire.

6:26Forest Ranger Ed Pulaski leans against the wall of the mining tunnel and coughs violently. His lungs feel like they're convulsing. He gasps for air, only to start hacking again. Finally, the spasms pass. He draws himself upright and turns to the men standing near the tunnel entrance.

6:48Is everyone alive? His men drop their eyes. One of them, a local logger named George, steps forward. We count five dead, sir. Your horse didn't make it either, I'm sorry to say. And also, Percy Stewart is missing. Missing? Yeah. Do you think we should search for him? No. We need to get the rest of the men back to Wallace. On foot? A few of these men can barely stand. Why not wait for a rescue crew? For all we know, there is no rescue crew. We could be on our own. I just don't think some of the men can handle it. And Ed, your eyes, can you even see? Pulaski can see, but barely, and only through one eye.

7:34When he tries to open his other eye, the pain is so intense that he squeezes it shut again. Through his one good eye, he can see that his hands are covered in burns. He must look awful. No wonder George thinks he can't make it back. Honestly, Pulaski's not sure he can either, but he knows they have to at least try. Cautiously, Pulaski steps forward. He shakes off George's arm when he reaches out to help. He keeps walking out of the tunnel, without using the walls for support. He's got to set an example for his men. For all he knows, though, Wallace could have been wiped completely off the map, along with his home and his family.

8:16But he can't dwell on that now. Better to focus on the march to safety, one painful step at a time.

8:31Ed Pulaski grimaces as he plants his feet on the scorched floor of the forest. It was so hot in the tunnel last night that it burned the soles off his boots, and the ground underfoot is covered with smoldering branches and hot ashes. So, every step is agony. He glances up toward the sun and guesses it's just after 8am. Since leaving the tunnel a few hours ago, they've probably covered about two miles toward Wallace. That means three more to go. Pulaski can still only see a little through one eye. The smoke and ash have damaged his vision. Just temporarily, though, he hopes. One of his men mixed salt and water and flushed his eyes.

9:14The treatment helped, but only some. His vision is still blurry and sensitive to light. It's been a bewildering journey. All of the trails and landmarks he knew so well from 20 years in the mountains have vanished, burned away, or buried. He feels disoriented. Then someone calls out that there's a creek nearby. That's good news. It must be the creek at the bottom of the ravine that leads back to Wallace, and all the men are parched and desperate for water. The creek is full of dead fish and partially covered by a scum of ash, but the men are so thirsty that they dip their hats into the cloudy water and raise the brims to their lips to drink.

9:58Pulaski is about to join them, but before he can, he hears someone vomit. Then a second man wretches a moment later. Another spits and shakes his head. The water tastes bitter, and it stings when it goes down. Pulaski realizes the problem. It's the ash. Everyone stop! Don't drink the water! It's likely toxic! His men groan, but as thirsty as they are, they can't risk getting sicker. The only option is to keep going, and now at least, they can try to follow the creek.

10:36Emma Pulaski hurries through the streets of downtown Wallace. She's headed to the hospital to find her husband, if he's still alive. It's just past 10 a.m. on August 21st. After their miserable night in the old mining dump, Emma and her daughter Elsie return to their home to find it, miraculously, undamaged. But then her neighbor Mary Henderson relayed some devastating news. A firefighter from Ed's crew had stumbled down from the mountains, and he said that everyone else in the crew had likely perished. Emma was heartbroken. How could she face life without Ed? But before long, new contradictory rumors started trickling in as other survivors reached town.

11:21A few of them claimed to have seen Ed's men alive, but others said his crew was blinded or horribly burned. Emma didn't know what to believe. Finally, she decided to leave Elsie with some neighbors and go to the hospital herself, praying that her husband might be there. Walking through Wallace is like walking through a war zone. On almost every block, Emma sees homes and businesses reduced to rubble. Fire victims stagger past her, some already covered in white bandages streaked with soot. There must be so many of them that the hospital can't keep them. Then Emma stops in her tracks. Coming towards her is another victim, this one with bandages covering his eyes and half of his face.

12:05His hands are bandaged too. A second man is helping him walk. It's impossible to tell for sure because of all the bandages, but Emma thinks she knows who it is. Ed, Ed, is that you? Emma? She rushes up to him and throws her arms around her husband. Oh, Ed, I thought I'd lost you. Not yet. What about Elsie? She's fine. And the house is still standing too. But Ed, what's wrong with your eyes? Are you blind? There might be some eye damage. The doctor doesn't know yet. Hearing this stings Emma's heart. She can't imagine Ed blinded. But she pushes the thought away. All that matters is that he's alive.

12:49She squeezes him so hard that he starts coughing. But despite his protests, she clutches him even tighter.

13:00Lieutenant Edson Lewis, commanding officer of the Buffalo Soldiers, tosses a nickel ante onto the small pile of coins in front of him. He shuffles a deck of cards, then deals five poker hands to the soldiers sitting on the ground with him. They're outside the Avery train station. A church bell just rang five in the afternoon. Other troops under Lewis's command lie slumped on the ground nearby, taking advantage of a rare afternoon off to catch up on some sleep. Lewis glances down at his cards. He's feeling good about his hand. A pair of sevens and a pair of nines. He drops another nickel in and two players fold.

13:41But Private Roy Green matches him. Then the men reveal their cards. Green has three jacks and wins the hand. The Private rakes in the pile of coins toward him. Still, Green doesn't look especially pleased. There's a grim mood hanging over them. The troops have been sitting here since this morning, when they loaded the evacuation train with women and children. Now they're waiting for orders about what to do next. In the meantime, it feels like they're sitting ducks, waiting for the fire to sweep down from the mountains and destroy the town. The poker game is a weak distraction. After a few more hands, Lewis hears the clomping of a horse.

14:21He looks up to see a local forest ranger riding toward them, Ralph Debit. Lewis stands to greet him. Ranger, any news? Yes, though I'm afraid it's not good. A few telegraph lines in the region still work, and Debit has gotten in touch with some of the other ranger stations. Sure enough, the main body of the fire is now headed toward Avery, and it's moving faster than expected. It'll arrive in town in less than a day, maybe in just a few hours if the wind keeps blowing. Debit levels with Lewis. I think we need to evacuate the whole town. Should we load up another train? The ranger shakes his head no.

15:03I've heard that several bridges in the area have collapsed over the past few hours. I'm afraid we won't get very far. I have a different idea. Debit explains that they can evacuate by way of a nearby river. There's a bend-up river where the water's deeper, and there's a clearing that might be large enough to protect the remaining townspeople and soldiers from falling trees. With luck, they can take refuge there. Lewis agrees to join Debit to scout the area. Lewis orders Roy Green and a few other soldiers to grab their gear as well. With the fires bearing down on them, they have to move quickly.

15:47Private Roy Green trudges along next to the river, coursing through the unburned forest north of Avery. He's been studying every yard of it, trying to gauge whether there's enough water to protect anyone from the coming fire. So far, he is not optimistic. It looks more like a creek than a proper river, barely ankle-deep in places. But the local forest ranger, Ralph Debbitt, keeps saying that there's a deeper bend up ahead. Debit is on horseback, and Green and his men are on foot. They left town an hour ago, and Green is getting nervous that time is running short. The fire could reach Avery at any moment.

16:25After a few more minutes, Debit stops his horse and announces that they've reached the bend. Green removes the pack from his back and wades in to test its depth. But the water barely comes up to his thighs. Behind him, Green hears Lieutenant Lewis talking with Debit. I thought you told me that this was deep. Well, normally it is, but I guess I haven't been up here since the drought started. Private Green, what do you think? Green turns toward Louis and points at the trees that edge the clearing. They're too close, sir. I don't like it. If the fire reaches here, the trees will fall and they'll crush anyone sheltering in the river.

17:01Louis nods. Yeah, I am afraid I agree with Private Green. This won't do. We'll take our chances and evacuate on the railroad. Debit looks unconvinced, but agrees to ride ahead and rally some men to get the rail cars ready. He spurs his horse and he takes off. Lewis whistles at Green and the others and orders them to march out double time. Green sighs. They've wasted valuable time on this wild goose chase. Now they need to get back to town and prepare everyone to evacuate by train, if they're not too late already.

17:50Lieutenant Edson Lewis feels the train lurch beneath him and calls out above the roar of the engine. Everyone, drop to the floor! Cover your heads! It's just past 10 p.m., and Lewis and his soldiers, along with several dozen men from AFRI, are trying to blast through a fire that's blanketing the tracks 10 miles west of town. Even worse, they're doing it with the only three train cars available, an old locomotive engine car, a boxcar, and an open flat car. There's not enough room for everyone in the boxcar, so Lewis is huddled with some of the men on the flat car, praying that they won't burn alive.

18:30Seconds later, Lewis and his men are surrounded by flames. They leap through the trees on either side of the tracks, about 30 feet overhead, too far above to burn them, but close enough for the men to feel the scorching heat. It's terrifying. Then smoke envelops them. The fat flaming embers rain down, peppering the men. One lands on Lewis's neck, and he yelps and slaps it. The heat is unbearable. Lewis feels his clothes steaming, as if he's being ironed. Thankfully, after a minute, they pass through the fire. The smoke clears, and the dark of the night settles on them again. Louis exhales hard and stands up.

19:14I'm proud of all of you for staying calm. Hopefully, we're through the worst of it. But before he can sit down, one of the miners from Avery stands up and glares at him. A grizzled fellow with thick black hair and an eyepatch. What the hell have you gotten us into? We'd be safer back in town. I understand how nerve-wracking that was. I do. But the fire was headed straight for Avery. This is our best chance. The man grumbles something Lewis can't make out. But he sits back down. The train rattles on for another hour. Then Lewis feels the train slowing until it stops altogether. He can practically feel the glare of the miners on him.

19:54He hops down from the flat car to check with the engineer. But before he gets to the locomotive, he sees what the problem is. A half mile ahead, the forest surrounding the tracks is ablaze. Flames lick the towering pines, climbing their trunks. The flames are so huge that they seem to leap thousands of feet into the night sky. Lewis checks their more immediate surroundings. Ultimately, they're trying to find a stretch of burned-over forest, devoid of fuel for the fire. But they've stopped in a dense grove, with pine trees clustered right up to the edge of the tracks. There's no way they can stay here.

20:31It's a tinderbox. Lewis trots up to the locomotive and calls to the engineer. What do you say? Can we make a run through it? The engineer stares back at him, wide-eyed. You're kidding, right? We'd have no chance in a fire that big. We have to go back. Back to where? There's fire behind us, too. Well, there might be a burned-over area from that fire by now. If we can find one, we'll just stop there and wait things out. That's the only safe option. Lewis grunts at the word safe. He doubts there's a truly safe spot anywhere within a hundred miles. But the engineer's right. Lewis thanks him and turns back to relay the news to the men in the boxcar, a task that he's dreading.

21:15Those men already seem ornery and suspicious, and hearing that there's no way forward surely won't improve their mood.

21:31Private Roy Green pushes at the fallen tree in front of him with all of his might. Four of his fellow soldiers do the same, digging their boots into the ground and straining their arms and legs. Its massive trunk is lying across the railroad track, and they've got to get it to roll aside as quickly as possible to keep ahead of the fire. It's close to 2 a.m. on August 22nd, a few miles west of Avery. For the past several hours, the train with Green's men has been playing a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with the various arms of the wildfire. Every hour or so, they shift positions, crisscrossing back and forth across the same 10-mile stretch of track, trying to avoid the most dangerous pockets of fire.

22:14So far, they've succeeded, but then they encountered several trees lying across the track. A gust of wind must have torn them free from the slope above the track after the train passed by earlier. The uprooted trees also cause several boulders and a mound of dirt to tumble onto the track. All this debris has to be cleared for the train to pass. So, Lieutenant Lewis ordered his men outside. A few passengers from Avery volunteered to help as well. The tree proves tough to move, but Green's crew finally heaves the trunk far enough to clear the track. Before starting on the next tree, Green gives his men a moment to rest.

22:54And a moment is all that they get. There's a sudden rumbling, like an avalanche. Green turns in the moonlight to see a rock slide tumbling down the slope.

23:07Two men from Avery are right in its path. Their bodies are swallowed in the tidal wave of dirt and stone. Before the rocks have even settled, Green and his crew sprint over. Using their bare hands, they start digging out the two men. They pull out one of them, a man with an eyepatch. He's battered and wheezing but still conscious. The other isn't responding. A gash on his head oozes blood, and Green can find no sign of a pulse. Green is deeply rattled. It's sheer luck that he's alive and that this man is dead. But there's no time to linger. He orders one soldier to bandage the living man and tells two other soldiers to get the dead body onto the flat car and cover it with a blanket.

23:51A moment later, Green sees his commanding officer, Lieutenant Lewis, hurrying over. Green explains what happened, then turns to the rock slide. This could take us hours to clear. I agree, and we definitely don't have hours. So, what do we do, sir? Lewis looks both ways up and down the track. He finally just shakes his head, like he can't believe what he's about to say. I don't think we're left with much of a choice. We'll have to return to Avery and wait out the fires there. Green feels his shoulders sag. He recalls watching Avery recede behind him a few hours ago and how glad he felt to say good riddance to that town forever.

24:32Now they're being forced to retreat to it, and who knows what they'll find when they get there.