SPOKANE, Wash. — Wednesday marks the 115th anniversary of The Great 1910 Fire, “The Big Burn”, the largest forest fire in American history.
The fire burned 3 million acres of timber in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. 87 people lost their lives, and the survivors were forever changed by what they lived through.
A combination of drought, lightning storms, and cinders from railroad locomotives ignited thousands of small wildfires from Western Montana across Idaho and into Northeast Washington that summer. The weather provided the final blow on August 20, when winds howled out of Eastern Washington at over 70 miles per hour, merging the small fires into several massive firestorms.
The Coeur d’Alene mining district, what we call Shoshone County today, was hit especially hard. One-third of the town of Wallace, Idaho was destroyed by the flames. Many other communities only survived by luck and bravery from local firefighters.
By the time the autumn rains arrived in September, at least three million acres had burned, or over 4500 square miles. That’s close to the size of Puerto Rico or the state of Connecticut. Most of that burned in just a few hours from August 20 to 21.
The impact of the fires continues today. The fire is an integral part of the history of Wallace and the Silver Valley. The U.S. Forest Service would aggressively work to eliminate fire from the landscape of the West for many decades as a result of the disaster. This strategy is criticized today because it allows fuels to build up over time, leading to larger, more dangerous fires in the future.
We even have something to learn from the Big Burn today. In November 2024, research from the University of Exeter in England revealed a significant rise in childhood deaths in the areas exposed to smoke from the Big Burn. You can learn more about this research here.
Resources for further reading:
1910 fire informationUS Forest Service historyThe Forest History SocietyThe Big Burn Collection: University of Idaho
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