CCC: The Lumber Heritage Region of Pennsylvania (LHR) has a blog where they share stories on the history of the region. This month, they are featuring the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the 1938 Pepper Hill fire in Cameron County.

The CCC was a public welfare program begun in 1933, designed to put young men and veterans to work revitalizing the country’s natural resources. It lasted until 1942.

Participants cut trees for healthy forest growth, did soil erosion projects and were called for disasters, like fighting wildfires — without any training.

“In 1938, Hunts Run Camp of Cameron County, had crews that had been on scene of a wildfire near Jerry Run until 5:30 a.m. Oct. 19th. By noon that same day, these crews were dispatched to the scene of another group of fires that had started near Sinnemahoning.

“The crews split up to address the fires, and the crew under forestry foreman Mohney was directed by Camp Forester Houpt to climb to the top of the mountain in order to construct a line downhill. Due to the steepness of the hill and their exhaustion, it was not long before the young men were overtaken by the fire. Seven of the teenaged crew perished as did Mohney who was still a young man himself and the first casualty of the Pepper Hill Fire. Three survivors were able to narrowly avoid the same fate as the rest of their crew members by finding refuge on a large rock, now known as Survivor’s Rock.”

The site of Survivor’s Rock and the Pepper Hill Fire now contains a trail and a nearby historic marker. From the tragedy came a firefighting training still used today, which has helped provide life saving information to many firefighters over the years.