DESTRUCTIVE FIRES

THE 1921 MARI WILDFIRES

The wildfires in the Mari Autonomous Oblast, in the eastern part of

European Russia, occurred in the summer of 1921 and burned

thousands of acres of pine forest. The wildfires claimed the lives

of thirty-five humans and one thousand cattle.

About sixty small villages were destroyed.

THE WALLOW FIRE

The Wallow Fire took its name from the Bear Wallow Wilderness area

in eastern Arizona where the fire originated. The fire was started by

an abandoned campfire on June 26, 2011. It burned about 841

square miles (2,180 km2) in the Apache, Greenlee, Graham, and Navajo

counties in Arizona and Catron County in New Mexico. Thankfully, and

despite being the biggest fire recorded in Arizona history, no one

died but over six thousand people were evacuated.

THE GREAT PORCUPINE FIRE

The Great Porcupine Fire of 1911 was one of the most devastating

forest fires ever to strike the Ontario Northland, in Canada. Spring

had come early that year, followed by an abnormally hot dry

spell that lasted into the summer. This created ideal conditions

for the ensuing disaster, in which a number of smaller fires

converged. It is estimated that due to the wildfire more than

500,000 acres of forest were completely burned and at least

seventy people died though early reports indicated

hundreds were dead.

THE BLACK DRAGON FIRE

The Black Dragon Fire occurred in 1987 and burned a total of

72,884 square kilometres (28,141 sq mi) of forest along the

Amur River in China. It completely destroyed three million acres of

pristine forest reserves in China (15 million in Russia) and left

behind an astonishing economic disaster.

THE GREAT MIRAMICHI FIRE

The Great Miramichi Fire happened on October 7, 1825, and is

solemnly remembered by the residents of Miramichi, Canada.

The fire was so intense and uncontrollable that it destroyed over

six thousand square miles in less than eight hours.

THE GREAT THUMB FIRE

On September 6, 1881, the skies over Massachusetts turned a burnt

yellow, and obscured enough sunlight to make noontime look like

twilight. Yellow Day was caused by a great forest fire in Michigan

called The Great Thumb Fire that occurred the day before. Drought

and high-speed winds swept over four counties in Michigan and

burned more than one million acres. About twenty villages were

destroyed and at least 282 people were killed.

THE YARNELL HILL FIRE

The Yarnell Hill Fire was one of the most deceptive in history and

that is because even though it was responsible for burning only 

eight thousand acres of land, it killed nineteen City of Prescott

firefighters, members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. This

resulted in the second-highest wild land firefighter death toll in the

United States and was the deadliest wildfire ever in Arizona.

THE HAMBURG FIRE

The Hamburg fire of 1842 was the worst disaster the German city

suffered in the nineteenth century, where about a quarter of the

inner city was destroyed, fifty-one people lost their lives, and an

estimated twenty thousand lost their property.

THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that destroyed a big part of the

downtown area killed more than three hundred people and left

about 100,000 citizens homeless. To this day it is considered one of

the largest US disasters and the only one that destroyed most

of a major city’s central business district.