A headline in the Aug. 31, 2019, edition of the Medford, Ore., Mail Tribune declared, “Jackson County dodges lightning strikes.” An adjacent headline read, “Homing Pigeons To Aid Planes Fighting Fires.”
The story about the pigeons was drawn from the Mail-Tribune’s archives from 100 years ago.
The juxtapositioning of the two stories emphasized that summer wildfires have always plagued Southern Oregon and Northern California, but that firefighting techniques have changed with the times.
The archive story said some birds from a flock of 50 homing pigeons attached to the Eugene base of the federal airplane forest fire patrol would be moved to Medford for carrying messages from aviators reporting forest fires and fire-related airplane accidents or pilot injury.
The City of Bend, Ore., reported it was assigning a pigeon to each of its wildfire crews, noting the birds’ high rate of speed would “make it possible to send messages by air with very little loss of time.”
Even today, pigeons in competitive racing have covered 1,100 miles in a single flight. Their average speed is 60 mph at more moderate distances and 100 mph over short distances.
Sources: "March 1919: Homing pigeons used to send messages from fire fighters to base." The Bulletin, 10 Mar. 2019 [Bend, Ore.], www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/6981138-151/march-1919-homing-pigeons-used-to-send-messages. Accessed 4 Sept. 2019; "Mail Tribune 100: Aug. 31, 1919 HOMING PIGEONS TO AID PLANES FIGHTING FIRES.” Mail Tribune, 31 Aug. 2019 [Medford, Ore.], local/State, p. A2.
