Fire No. 41 was reported by our look-out on Haeckel Hill at about 11:30 a.m., June 19, 1958. The report was not investigated immediately because a fire was being fought near Whitehorse at the time and because the Airforce bomb disposal operations had been causing smoke to rise from this area. By 1:00 p.m. the smoke having persisted and grown in volume Chief Warden Shattuck proceeded to the scene of the fire with a crew and arrived there about 1:30 P.m. He found the Airforce bomb disposal crew and Airforce fire fighters fighting a forest fire of considerable size. Chief Warden Shattuck and the crew assisted the Airforce with personnel and equipment until midnight of June 19, 1958.

On the morning of June 20th the Airforce had a fireguard around the fire but during the day very high southerly winds rose sweeping the fire across their guards and enlarging it to un-manageable size. By the night of June 20th it was about seven miles long by two to three miles wide. Complete control of the fire now seemed impossible, other fires more dangerous to settlements were burning and equipment and manpower was becoming scarce, so no further commitments of equipment and manpower were made by the Forestry Division until June 28th when the Airforce withdrew their crews. At this time the fire was about fifty square miles in size but had not spread southward appreciably. This had been more due to sustaining strong southerly winds than the strength of the firelines on the south side, and the fire was creeping southward along the hill west of the road beyond the bulldozed firelines.

Chief Wardens Syme and Ross of Banff and Jasper National Parks had been assigned to give technical direction to the Airforce crews June 25th and were now given charge of the Northern Affairs crews. Approximately 20 men and one D-8 tractor were put to work. On Sunday, June 29th their camp location became untenable and they were forced to move back to Mile 8 on the Mayo Road.

The situation appeared fairly hopeful until June 30th at 6:30 p.m. when the fire broke out at the base of the hill west of the Mayo Road and swept eastward for about a mile and crossed the Mayo Road on a mile and a half front. One D-8 tractor was on its way to the fire when this outbreak occurred and the two tractors worked all the night of July 1st building a guard on the east side of the Mayo Road. They were joined at 4:30 a.m. on July 1st by two Territorial Government D-7 tractors and the work on the east side of the Mayo Road was soon completed. They next attempted to guard the south side of the fire west of the Mayo Road.

This work was continued with fair success for the next two weeks. P.A. Ferguson, Forest Fire Control Officer from Fort Smith, N.W.T., took over direction of the fire fighting on July 4th. During this period some line was lost but it was promptly replaced and the front did not move significantly. The fire was moving northward however, with no control being attempted at this end. Eastward it's spread was limited by Lake Laberge and westward by high mountains.

On July 10th some of the crew and equipment was taken from Fire #41 to work on Fire #61, north of the Takhini River. On July 14th, Fire #61 made a great advance and appeared to threaten the settled area around Whitehorse. The crew of Fire #41 was further reduced. On July 18th, Fire #61 made another advance, which joined it with Fire #41, and the crew had to be removed to a point of safety. Much of the work thus far accomplished at Fire #41 was now of no value and the crew was set to work protecting the buildings at Knott's farm and controlling the outbreak resulting from spot fires eastward across the Yukon River.

Later in August when the situation had eased somewhat, a crew and two D-8 tractors were put to work constructing a line across the north end of the fire. This work was completed by August 23rd.