National Interagency Fire Center

This is a list of some of the most serious wildland fires in U.S. history. Some were significant because of their size, others because of the value of the resources lost. Some small, but very intense, fires were important because of the loss of lives and property. There have been larger fires than some of those included on this list, but few or none with greater impact on lives and resources.

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

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Fire Information - Wildland Fire Statistics