It was not until the 1920s that the Red River Lumber Company experienced problems with forest fires. Some time back I wrote about that company’s fire train. On July 27, 1926, a fire started at Butt Valley where Red River was logging. This was one instant that while the fire train was dispatched it was no match for the inferno.
The fire started from sparks of a steam donkey engine which spread rapidly over the recently logged over lands toward the west shore of Lake Almanor. For a time the fire threatened the Lake Almanor Inn at Prattville and the various cottages adjacent to it, requiring the evacuation of seventy-five campers. The fire burned over 16,000 acres, and destroyed three abandoned logging camps and several miles of railroad ties. Red River estimated its loss at $23,000.