It was in mid-August 1926 when a fire on the Plumas National Forest broke out. High winds sent embers and a spot fire erupted in the Last Chance area. As the winds fanned the flames, the fire came over the crest of the Diamond Mountain Range between Milford and Doyle. The fire rapidly spread past Bird Flat (Herlong Junction) on its way to Doyle. After burning through four ranches, it appeared that fire threatened Doyle. Then a strange thing happened. The wind abruptly changed direction blowing the flames back to the area it burnt and it slowly extinguished itself. Bert Downing lost a barn with 150 tons of hay and several other buildings, but his house was saved. However, H.W. Sutton, John Wagner and Paul Zurfluh were not as fortunate and lost there homes. Another causality was the Lucerne Schoolhouse, but it had closed the year before due to a lack of students.
