DEVASTATING FIRES

THE MOUNT CARMEL FOREST FIRE

The 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire, also known as “The Carmel Disaster,”

was a deadly forest fire that started on Mount Carmel in northern Israel,

just south of Haifa. More than seventeen thousand people were evacuated,

including those from several villages in the vicinity, and there was

considerable property and environmental damage. After raging for four

days, the fire was contained on December 5, having burned thousands

of acres and killed forty-four locals.

THE GREAT MATHESON FIRE

The Great Matheson Fire was a deadly forest fire that passed through

the region surrounding the communities of Black River-Matheson and

Iroquois Falls in Ontario, Canada, on July 29, 1916. According to official

estimations by the local police departments and hospitals more than

273 people died in the catastrophic fire that burned half a million acres

in one of the most disastrous wildfires in Canadian history.

THE 2007 GREEK FOREST FIRES

The 2007 Greek Forest Fires lasted on and off for three months

(from June to September) and were the worst in southern Europe

for the past fifty years. A total of 670,000 acres of forest, olive groves

and farmland were destroyed—an incredibly high number if one takes

into account the small size of the country - along with one thousand

houses and 1,100 other buildings and ruins. Ninety-one people

including many firefighters lost their lives to this catastrophe.

THE GREAT HINCKLEY FIRE OF 1894

On Saturday, September 1, 1894, between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and

4:00 p.m., a great firestorm consumed and destroyed Hinckley and

five smaller communities. An estimated area of at least 200,000

acres was completely wiped out and at least 418 people

lost their lives.

THE 1918 CLOQUET FIRE

This is considered to be the worst natural disaster in Minnesota

history in terms of the number of lives lost in a single day. In total,

453 people died while fifty-two thousand were injured or displaced.

It is estimated that more than $73 million ($1.145 billion in today’s

dollar value) in property was lost.

THE 1947 TEXAS CITY DISASTER

A giant explosion that occurred while fertilizer was being loading onto

the freighter Grandcamp at a pier in Texas City, Texas, on April 16, 1947,

cost the lives of nearly six hundred people while thousands more were

injured. Additionally, the explosion caused $100 million in damage.

THE BIG BURN (1910)

The Great Fire of 1910 also known as the Big Blow up, the Big Burn

and the Devil’s Broom fire, was a wildfire that incinerated an

incredible three million acres and expanded in three different states:

Montana, Idaho, and Washington. The firestorm burned over two days

and killed eighty-seven people, mostly firefighters. Despite not being

the deadliest, it is considered to be the largest forest fire in the history

of the United States.

BLACK SATURDAY BUSHFIRES

The Black Saturday Bushfires is the name given to the fires that

started on February 7, 2009, in Victoria, Australia. Approximately

four hundred fires started that day and killed 173 people, injured

414 more, destroyed 2,100 homes, displaced 7,562 people, and

burned more than 1,100,000 acres in the most catastrophic

natural disaster in modern Australian history.