Old Missoula

 

The death of H. T. Gisborne was first reported in an article in The Daily Missoulian on November 11, 1949. He had been conducting fire research on the Mann Gulch fire at the time of his death. The article is quoted below:

 

H. T. Gisborne – Internationally Known Mann Gulch Fire Scientist

U. S. Forest Service Chief Mourns Loss of Gisborne

Washington, Nov. 10 – (AP)

 

Lyle F. Watts, chief of the U. S. forest service said Thursday American forestry “has lost one of its most distinguished scientists” in the death of H. T. Gisborne near Helena, Mont.

Gisborne, who was chief of the division of forest fire research at the northern Rocky mountain forest and range experiment station, died of a heart attack Wednesday.

He was making a survey of the Mann gulch area in Montana to find out what additional research projects might be undertaken for a better understanding of the behavior of fires.

Describing him as a pioneer in fire control and fire-fighting methods, Watts said Gisborne was “internationally known for his method of calculating fire hazards in forests.”

“He had a wealth of specialized knowledge that few, if any, men can duplicate,” Watts added.

 

H. T. Gisborne’s obituary, quoted below, appeared in another Daily Missoulian article on November 11, 1949:

 

Gisborne Dies; Services Will Be Today

 

H. T. Gisborne for 27 years chief of fire control research at the northern Rocky mountain forest and range experiment station, succumbed to a heart attack Wednesday. In company with Forest Ranger Robert Johnson of the Helena national forest, he was studying the tragic Mann Gulch fire with a view to determining the cause of its unexpected blow-up.

The 56-year-old research chief, holder of a government silver medal in recognition of his work and recognized as the nation’s leading authority on fire control, dropped dead while trying to ascertain the facts and develop ways of recognizing dangerous situations in fire fighting which might help to prevent future loss of life.

Funeral services for Mr. Gisborne will be conducted at the University Congregational church of which he was a member, at 1:30 o’clock Friday afternoon. Rev. Guy L. Barnes will officiate. The body will be sent to Spokane by the Lucy mortuary for cremation.

Mr. Gisborne was born at Montpelier, Vt., September 11, 1893. He attended the University of Michigan, receiving his degree in forestry in 1917. During the First World war he served in France with the army engineers.

His first duty with the forest service was as a fire lookout on the Wenatchee national forest in Washington. In 1920 he was appointed a forest ranger on the Whitman national forest in Oregon. Two years later he transferred to the northern Rocky mountain forest and range experiment station as silviculturist in charge of the division of forest protection. He became fire research chief about 1931.

As fire research chief, Mr. Gisborne originated the system of measurement and rating of weather factors which influence the behavior of forest fires. He developed a fire danger index system under which humidity, fuel moisture, precipitation and wind velocity are measured under forest conditions and readings obtained are translated into numerical terms of fire danger by means of a meter.

He directed work which resulted in the design and manufacture of low-cost weather instruments now widely used at forest fire weather stations throughout the United States.

In recent years he had been working to perfect fire fighting methods. He helped direct the experiments conducted in 1947 in co-operation with the air force, in attacking small, inaccessible fires with bombs filled with water and fire retarding chemicals. He had conferred with Vincent Schaefer, discoverer of the technique of treating clouds with dry ice to induce rain, in an effort to develop ways to disperse thunder heads with dry ice. Since 90 percent or more of the fires in this region are caused by lightning, Gisborne believed this idea might be applied.

A silver medal emblematic of superior service to the government in the past quarter century was awarded Mr. Gisborne two years ago this month in Washington D. C., one of the highest honors attainable by a government civilian employe.

Mr. Gisborne had resided in Missoula for 28 years. He is survived by his widow, Alice; one son, Thomas U., of Billings; one daughter, Virginia Jacobson, of Parker, Wash.; one brother, Frank, of Randolph, Vt., and one sister, Mabel Gisborne, of Montpelier.

He was a senior member and past councilman of the Society of American Foresters, past president and trustee of the Northwest Scientific association, a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical union and the American Meterological society.

 

Further information about Gisborne can be found at the sites below:

 

Harry Thomas Gisborne Papers – University of Montana Archives

http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv13341

The Gisborne Era for Forest Fire Research

https://forestservicemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/1F72000A-F5D3-4BD7-9465-651466607760

The Principles of Measuring Forest Fire Danger by H. T. Gisborne

Journal of Forestry, Volume 34, Issue 8, August 1936, Pages 786-793.

https://academic.oup.com/jof/article-abstract/34/8/786/4720815?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Gisborne