Volunteers suppress a forest fire near French Bay, 1989

Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago — Took place at Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.

Event

Date: 1989-07-13
Kind: Disaster
Where: Beaver Island
Eras: Modern era
Concepts: disasterenvironmentgovernmenttransportationcommunity
Within: Beaver Island

Summary

On July 13, 1989, Island Airways pilot Paul Welke spotted smoke near French Bay. Beaver Island volunteers, aided by aircraft communications and earthmoving equipment, suppressed the fire and returned for flare-ups over the next days.

Evidence limits

The report does not establish the ignition cause, final acreage, or a formal fire-inventory record.

Sources

“FRENCH BAY FORREST FIRE SQUELCHED,” Beaver Beacon, July 28, 1989.
Reports the fire sighted by Island Airways, volunteer firefighting, earthmoving access and fire lanes, and follow-up work through Saturday. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1989-07_Beaver-Beacon
Beaver Beacon, July 1989, held issue PDF, source scan.
Paired held twenty-two-page July issue PDF.
data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1989-07_Beaver-Beacon

Added 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Volunteers suppress a forest fire near French Bay, 1989”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-french-bay-forest-fire-july-13-1989/, accessed [date], citing “FRENCH BAY FORREST FIRE SQUELCHED,” Beaver Beacon, July 28, 1989. (and 1 further source listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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