What is it?

Work is continuing to prepare the discovery Center at Caledonia State for the grand opening. Among the many exhibits is this piece of the ladder attached to the fire tower on Piney Mountain overloking Route 30. Imagine having to climb that all the way up! It would need a strong grip.

Work on the Museum Site

Work on the grounds of the primary museum site has been deferred for some time due to heavy wind storm damage that has left large trees on the ground and dangerous stems and limbs hanging aloft as well.

For some time, years, we have been trying to get forest fire crews to come to the site for training, as a means of solving some of our safety and access issues, including the potential for chain saw training.

This past April 24th, eight members of the Keystone Wildfire Crew, from southern Lancaster County, worked on the site. The crew includes folds who are engaged in timber work. They have access to more and bigger equipment than most. The day included chain saw instruction by a certified U.S. Forest Service chain saw operator who spends his summers on Western fires. Several were heavy equipment operators. By the end of the day, the site was safe for our ground crews to be invited back to work on the site.

A considerable stack of big logs was hauled away following the work day. All arrangements were handled by the crew staff and the state forest fees and permits were paid.

While on site the crew mulched much of the accumulated debris spreading that and much of our piled mulch awaiting spreading.

This is the same crew that installed the current display in the exhibit space we occupy on the second floor of the PA National Fire Museum in Harrisburg.

I am proud to say that I was the first Warden of the Keystone Wildfire Crew. The current warden, Michael Hall, was then one of my crew members.
Steve Cummings

Historic Lantern Slides

After the banquet Mike Kusko, District 1 Forester, presented some lantern slides of forestry scenes in the area that he had recently received. Lantern slides are 3 by 4 inch glass plates with an image either engraved on the plate or film sandwiched between slides. In the days before modern digital projectors or 35 mm slide projectors lantern slides were the most popular way to project images for an audience.

For the evening's show an overhead projector was jury rigged. It wasn't quite bright enough, though. Several people brought old magic lantern projectors. As these were mostly kerosene powered, it was impossible to use them indoors!

Norm Lacasse demonstrates the use of the projector.

Lantern slide shows were commonly used to promote conservation and reforestation in Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century. Both Joseph T. Rothrock and Mira Lloydd Dock have many slide shows over the years. Almost 500 of Dock's slides have been preserved at the Penn State Mont Alto Library. They have been scanned and posted on a website for all to see. Peter Linehan brought several of the slides to show, including this hand-tinted scene taken near the South Mountain Sanitorium overlooking Mont Alto and the Cumberland Valley.

What is it?

Alex Day brought this instrument, that he had rescued from disposal at his office at the Bureau of Forestry Seedling Nursery. He presented it to the group and asked "What is it?"

As it turns it this was the alidade, which would fit onto a plane table, an old surveying instrument that was widely used during surveying and mapping field work. Follow the links for more information.

2009 Annual Meeting

The 2009 Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Forest Fire Museum Association was held Saturday November 21 at Penn State Mont Alto.

President Steve Cummings led the business meeting where the following important topics were discussed:

• Ongoing work on the Discovery Center at Caledonia State Park.
• Membership development including creation of a promotional DVD.
• Publication of the newsletter.
• Renewal of the strategic and marketing plan.
• Creation of a possible northern annex of the museum in Sinnamehoning, PA
• Next year's meeting.

Detailed information will be forthcoming in the newsletter.

Bill Parr was awarded the George H. Wirt award for service and dedication. The award was presented by Joseph T. Rothrock III.

Mr. and Mrs. Brad Bates were presented a special award for their many hours of service in the restoration of the Discovery Center.

The theme of the day's meeting was Partnerships and there were several excellent presentations:

• Brad Bates discussed the establishment and program of the Mont Alto Historical Society. The Society was formed three years ago with the goal to: promote awareness of area history, be a repository for artifacts, preserve local historical resources, and promote community support. Its upcoming events include a tree lighting ceremony on December 4 and a religious service at the historic Emmanual Chapel on December 12.
• Kim Williams presented the South Mountain Partnership which is a cooperative volunteer effort to promote awareness, conservation, and responsible development of the three county South Mountain Area.
• Mike Kern, wildfire operation specialist of the Pa. Bureau of Forestry, presented the efforts of the multi-agency PA Prescribed Fire Council to develop prescribed fire standards applicable to Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth recently passed new legislation, Act 17, that encourages prescribed fire for forest management and provides protection from civil liability of standards are followed. Much work remains to outline operating procedures for prescribed fires during the small burning season in Pennsylvania.
• Larry Luxenburg presented the new Appalachian Trail Museum that will be opening at Pine Grove State Furnace in June. The museum will commemorate the effort to create the trail and celebrate the experiences of the hikers.
• John Graham, "Pennsylvania Jack", detailed his experiences a volunteer researcher for PAFFMA. He established that the State Capitol did serve as a temporary fire lookout tower in the 1920's. He highly recommended the joys of getting involved as a researcher.

Alex Day making a point.

Steve Cummings calls the meeting to order.

Museum Locations

Below is a Google Maps insert showing the location of the soon to be opened Discovery Center, located at the old park headquarters for Caledonia State Park. Also, shown on Route 30 is the location of the permanent home of the Pennsylvania Forest Fire Museum.

View PAFFMA in a larger map

You will notice that the route shown for Rte 233 is in error.
Another view is to look at Bing Maps (formerly Microsoft Live Maps). Follow this link to see the same area in Bing Maps.

Welcome

Welcome to the new blog for the Pennsylvania Forest Fire Museum Association. It will cover news and events of the PFFMA as we move forward to the opening of the new Discovery Center at Caledonia State Park. We also hope to include wildfire fighting news events.