The Fire of 1947’s devastating impact on Biddeford

Local author Susan Graham discusses her book that recounts devastating damage to Fortunes Rocks and other Biddeford neighborhoods

By RANDY SEAVER, Editor

It would become the largest natural disaster in Maine’s history, and it destroyed dozens of homes in many of Biddeford’s coastal neighborhoods.

Overall, the “Great Fire of 1947” caused more than $30 million in damages (roughly $438 million in today’s dollars) destroying entire towns and leaving more than 2,500 Maine people homeless.

Though the fires caused considerable damage in several communities, including Bar Harbor, York County was especially hard hit.

“It was devastating for so many families, especially in Fortunes Rocks,” says local author Susan Graham.

Graham recently published “Lost Fortunes Rocks: A Maine Summer Colony and the Fire of 1947,” a detailed account of how the devastating fires impacted the city of Biddeford, including its major employers and local government.

Graham’s book offers more than 180 pages of historical photos and meticulously researched information about the fire’s impact on local families, including her own parents who had moved to Biddeford from Kennebunkport just before the fire.

“It was a labor of love,” Graham said during a recent interview about her book at the Lincoln Hotel in Biddeford. “I just found it fascinating, and I had this personal connection to the fire because of where my family lived at the time.”

Much of Graham’s research was conducted at the McArthur Library in Biddeford during the COVID pandemic.

“The library was a treasure trove of information,” she recalled. “They are such a wonderful resource for the community.”

Graham said it seemed – at the time – that all of York County was on fire. In fact, the fire caused extensive damage in the western parts of the county, including the small towns of Newfield and Parsonsfield – but its most devastating impact in York County happened along the shoreline from Kennebunkport to Biddeford Pool, including the resort villages of Goose Rocks Beach, Granite Point and Fortunes Rocks.

According to Graham, the weather conditions that fueled the fire were quite similar to last year’s drought conditions in southern Maine.

“The summer of 1947 was exceptionally dry,” Graham explained. “It made heavily wooded rural areas into a virtual tinderbox.”

There are many theories about what ignited the blaze that raged for nearly two weeks in mid-October. Graham and other historians say it could have been a combination of things including human activity such as a tossed cigarette or autumn brush burning.

Graham said bucket brigades worked around the clock near Fortunes Rocks Beach, but those volunteers and the city’s firefighting resources were pulled away from the coast and redirected to protecting the central part of the city.

“There were concerns that the fires would continue up Rte. 111 from Arundel and cross Five Points, threatening the city’s hospitals, “Graham said. “The city’s fathers didn’t want to risk losing both the Webber and Trull hospitals. Who could question that decision?”

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“The city’s fathers didn’t want to risk losing both the Webber and Trull hospitals.”

— Susan Graham

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Graham says the fire raged from treetop to treetop, fueled by 40 mph wind gusts. Though roughly 50 people remained in Fortunes Rocks to fight the blaze, it was not enough to prevent what she describes as devastating damage to that neighborhood.

Large local employers, including the Saco-Lowell shops, shut down production so that their employees could help the city fight the rampaging fires.

About 60 homes were destroyed in Fortunes Rocks, Graham says, pointing out that eastern portions of Biddeford were at the time a “rural bread basket” that included several farms and a major source of food for the region.

Graham says it took her almost two years to compile the research and self-publish her book.

Copies of Graham’s book – in both hardcover and paperback — are available for sale at the Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk and online at grayeaglebooks@gmail.com

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Randy Seaver is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette. He may be reached by email: randy@randyseaver.com

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