Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The Northern Rockies were swathed in smoke as an already dangerous fire season grew worse every day.

On this day in 1910, The Spokesman-Review was reporting fires all over the Northwest, including several in the Clearwater region; one near Libby, Mont.; several in the Bitterroots; one near Pine Creek in Idaho’s Shoshone County; a serious one near Culdesac, Idaho; one near Orofino; and several big ones near Rossland, B.C.

It was such a dry summer that fires were breaking out even in normally unheard-of areas on the west side of the state. One fire was raging 25 miles east of Seattle on the usually wet slopes of the Cascades. Several fires were burning in Snohomish County, north of Seattle. Fires were also raging in Lewis and Chelan counties.

So many fires were burning in such a huge area that exhausted crews couldn’t come close to dealing with them all. Beleaguered forest officials were contemplating getting help from the state militia.

The biggest fear? That winds would pick up as the summer progressed, fanning these fires into firestorms.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1940: Bugs Bunny made his “official” debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon “A Wild Hare.”