Unusually hot and dry conditions during the summer of 1910 led to a potentially catastr...

Unusually hot and dry conditions during the summer of 1910 led to a potentially catastrophic wildfire situation in the western United States. By August of that year, thousands of wildfires burned across Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The National Forest Service, then only five years old and largely understaffed and underfunded, struggled to combat the rapidly escalating fire season. The event culminated on August 20-21, when hurricane-force winds swept across the region and combined the many smaller fires in to one large firestorm complex. Known as The Big Burn of 1910 (also as The Great Burn and The Big Blowup), the fire burned more than 3 million acres of forest in 48 hours, completely destroyed several towns in Idaho and Montana, and claimed the lives of 87 people, including 78 firefighters. The fire was finally controlled when a cold front brought cooler conditions and steady rain to the area. The events surrounding The Big Burn largely shaped the fire management policies of the young Forest Service; many of these policies remain in place today.

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