Wildland fire personnel at Hot Springs National Park southwest of Little Rock, Arkansas have had a couple of unusual fire responses over the last week. On Thursday evening a fire broke out in the historical Majestic Hotel in downtown Hot Springs. The hotel was built in 1882 but has been closed since 2006. Fox16 news reports that municipal fire departments were using 500,000 gallons of water an hour on the massive blaze. National Park Service wildland fire engines do not, of course, fight structure fires, but one of their engines has been assigned to the fire since Thursday night, alternating with a U.S. Forest Service wildland engine.
Teresa Horn, spokesperson for the Park, told Wildfire Today Friday afternoon that the engine crews’ assignment on the fire, which is now in the mopup stage, was to patrol the nearby neighborhood looking for burning embers and spot fires — not unlike what the firefighters might do on a wildland fire, except this time it was in a city.
Back in its glory days, the eight-story 400-room hotel was frequented by Babe Ruth. The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox also stayed at the hotel during their spring training decades ago.
The other unusual fire response was for an actual wildland fire on February 21, but with a twist. From the National Park Service’s Morning Report:
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“Ranger Andy Griggs came upon an unoccupied suspicious vehicle on Blacksnake Road inside the park while on patrol on Friday, February 21st. A routine check on the vehicle’s tag indicated that the registered owner had extensive felony arrests on his record and that he was operating it with a suspended driver’s license.
This area of the park has been a popular area for “scrappers” looking for old bottles and other historic artifacts. Several archaeological sites are in this same area.
Chief Ranger John Hughes, Operations Supervisor Jeff Johnson, Ranger Clint Forte and his canine partner, “Saki,” responded. While waiting for additional park units to arrive, a single gunshot was heard from a distance.
Rangers searched the area for approximately an hour, eventually coming upon the owner of the vehicle and another man, who admitted that they had been looking in the area for items that could be taken to a scrap yard.
While the on-scene interviews were being conducted, a third man was found a short distance away from the truck. As he was being interviewed, a plume of smoke was seen coming from the mountainside in an area where he’d come from. The man admitted to starting the wildfire to draw attention to himself, as he felt that he was lost in the woods and hoped that his two companions would see the smoke and come to his aid.
NPS fire crews, Forest Service firefighters and Hot Springs Fire Department personnel responded to fight the fire. At the time, the area was under a burn ban, as the park had not received any measurable rain for quite some time and winds were gusting to approximately 20 mph with the relative humidity at 16%. By the time the fire was completely extinguished, an acre-and-a-half of park land had burned.
The man who started the fire will be charged in federal court once the case has been turned over to the US attorney. The other two men were both taken into custody, as they were both wanted on outstanding warrants from another jurisdiction.
Forte is the case agent for the arson; Jeff Johnson served as the incident commander for the fire.”
