Historically Significant Wildland Fires |
Date |
Name |
Location |
Acres |
Significance |
October 1804 |
Fire recorded by Lewis and Clark |
North Dakota |
NA |
A prairie was set on fire which resulted in 2 lives lost and 3 injuries.
A mother saved her son by covering him with a green buffalo skin which acted like a fire shelter. |
March 1805 |
Fire recorded by Lewis and Clark |
undetermined |
undetermined |
It was common for the Native Americans to ignite fires on the plains every spring to benefit the horses and buffalo. |
October 1825 |
Miramichi and Maine Fires |
New Brunswick and Maine |
3,000,000 |
160 lives lost
Large amount of acreage burned |
1845 |
Great Fire |
Oregon |
1,500,000 |
Large amount of acreage burned |
1853 |
Yaquina |
Oregon |
450,000 |
Large amount of acreage burned |
1868 |
Coos |
Oregon |
300,000 |
Large amount of acreage burned |
October 1871 |
Peshtigo |
Wisconsin and Michigan |
3,780,000 |
1,500 lives lost in Wisconsin |
1871 |
Great Chicago |
Illinois |
undetermined |
250 lives lost
17,400 structures destroyed |
September 1881 |
Lower Michigan |
Michigan |
2,500,000 |
169 lives lost
3,000 structures destroyed |
September 1894 |
Hinckley |
Minnesota |
160,000 |
418 lives lost |
September 1894 |
Wisconsin |
Wisconsin |
Several Million |
Undetermined, some lives lost |
February 1898 |
Series of South Carolina fires |
South Carolina |
3,000,000 |
Unconfirmed reports indicate 14 lives lost and numerous structures and sawmills destroyed |
September 1902 |
Yacoult |
Washington and Oregon |
1,000,000 + |
38 lives lost |
April 1903 |
Adirondack |
New York |
637,000 |
Large amount of acreage burned |
August 1910 |
Great Idaho |
Idaho and Montana |
3,000,000 |
85 lives lost |
October 1918 |
Cloquet-Moose Lake |
Minnesota |
1,200,000 |
450 lives lost
38 communities destroyed |
September 1923 |
Giant Berkley |
California |
undetermined |
624 structures destroyed and 50 city blocks were leveled |
August 1933 |
Tillamook |
Oregon |
311,000 |
1 life lost
Same area burned again in 1939 |
October 1933 |
Griffith Park |
California |
undetermined |
29 lives lost and 150 injured people |
August 1937 |
Blackwater |
Wyoming |
undetermined |
15 lives lost and 38 injured people |
July 1939 |
Northern Nevada |
Nevada |
undetermined |
5 lives lost
First recorded firefighting fatality in a sage brush fuel type |
October 1943 |
Hauser Creek |
California |
10,000 |
11 US Marines killed and 72 injuries
Fire was started by a gunnery practice |
October 1947 |
Maine |
Maine |
205,678 |
16 lives lost |
1949 |
Mann Gulch |
Montana |
4,339 |
13 smokejumpers killed |
July 1953 |
Rattlesnake |
California |
undetermined |
15 lives lost |
1956 |
Inaja |
California |
43,000 |
11 lives lost |
November 1966 |
Loop |
California |
undetermined |
13 El Cariso Hotshots lost their lives |
1967 |
Sundance |
Idaho |
56,000 |
Burned 50,000 acres in just nine hours |
September 1970 |
Laguna |
California |
175,425 |
382 structures destroyed |
July 1972 |
Moccasin Mesa |
New Mexico |
2,680 |
Fire suppression activities destroyed many archeological sites, which resulted in a national policy to include cultural resource oversight in wildland fires on federal lands |
July 1976 |
Battlement Creek |
Colorado |
undetermined |
5 lives lost |
July 1977 |
Sycamore |
California |
805 |
234 structures destroyed |
November 1980 |
Panorama |
California |
23,600 |
325 structures destroyed |
1985 |
Butte |
Idaho |
undetermined |
72 firefighters deployed fire shelters for 1 to 2 hours |
1987 |
Siege of 87' |
California |
640,000 |
Valuable timber lost on the Klamath and Stanislaus National Forests |
1988 |
Yellowstone |
Montana and Idaho |
1,585,000 |
Large amount of acreage burned |
September 1988 |
Canyon Creek |
Montana |
250,000 |
Large amount of acreage burned |
June 1990 |
Painted Cave |
California |
4,900 |
641 structures destroyed |
June 1990 |
Dude Fire |
Arizona |
24,174 |
6 lives lost
63 homes destroyed |
October 1991 |
Oakland Hills |
California |
1,500 |
25 lives lost and 2,900 structures destroyed |
August 1992 |
Foothills Fire |
Idaho |
257,000 |
1 life lost |
1993 |
Laguna Hills |
California |
17,000 |
366 structures destroyed in 6 hours |
July 1994 |
South Canyon Fire |
Colorado |
1,856 |
14 lives lost |
July 1994 |
Idaho City Complex |
Idaho |
154,000 |
1 life lost |
August 1995 |
Sunrise |
Long Island |
5,000 |
This fire woke up many to the fact that the East can have fires similar to the West. |
August 1996 |
Cox Wells |
Idaho |
219,000 |
Largest fire of the year |
June 1996 |
Millers Reach |
Alaska |
37,336 |
344 structures destroyed |
July 1997 |
Inowak |
Alaska |
610,000 |
Threatened 3 villages |
1998 |
Volusia Complex |
Florida |
111,130 |
Thousands of people evacuated from several counties |
1998 |
Flagler/St. John |
Florida |
94,656 |
Forced the evacuation of thousands of residents |
August 1999 |
Dunn Glen Complex |
Nevada |
288,220 |
Largest fire of the year |
August - November 1999 |
Big Bar Complex |
California |
140,947 |
Series of fires caused several evacuations during a 3 1/2 month period |
September - November 1999 |
Kirk Complex |
California |
86,700 |
Hundreds of people were evacuated by this complex of fires that burned for almost 3 months |
May 2000 |
Cerro Grande |
New Mexico |
47,650 |
Originally a prescribed fire, 235 structures destroyed and
Los Alamos National Laboratory damaged |
July 2001 |
Thirtymile |
Washington |
9,300 |
14 fire shelters were deployed
4 lives lost |
June 2002 |
Hayman |
Colorado |
136,000 |
600 structures destroyed |
June 2002 |
Rodeo-Chediski |
Arizona |
462,000 |
426 structures destroyed |
July 2003 |
Cramer |
Idaho |
13,845 |
2 lives lost |
October 2003 |
Cedar |
California |
275,000 |
2,400 structures destroyed
15 lives lost |
2004 |
Taylor Complex |
Alaska |
1,305,592 |
Alaska fires during 2004 burned over 6.38 million acres |
June 2005 |
Cave Creek Complex |
Arizona |
248,310 |
11 structures destroyed
Largest fire ever recorded in the Sonoran Desert |
March 2006 |
East Amarillo Complex |
Texas |
907,245 |
80 structures destroyed
12 lives lost
Largest fire during 2006 fire season |
April 2007 |
Big Turnaround Complex |
Georgia |
388,017 |
Largest fire for the US Fish & Wildlife Service outside of Alaska |
July 2007 |
Murphy Complex |
Idaho |
652,016 |
One of the largest fires in Idaho |