| Peshtigo fire | |
|---|---|
 Extent of wildfire damage | |
| Date(s) | October 8, 1871; 153 years ago (1871-10-08) |
| Location | Peshtigo, Wisconsin |
| Coordinates | 45°03′N87°45′W / 45.05°N 87.75°W /45.05; -87.75 |
| Statistics | |
| Burned area | 1,200,000 acres (490,000 ha) |
| Land use | Logging Industry |
| Impacts | |
| Deaths | 1,500–2,500 (estimated) |
| Damage | In excess of $5 million (estimated) |
| Ignition | |
| Cause | Small embers from slash and burn agriculture were caught up in drafts from unusually high winds during a period of extremely dry drought-like conditions. |
| Map | |
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ThePeshtigo fire was a largeforest fire on October 8, 1871, in northeasternWisconsin, United States, including much of the southern half of theDoor Peninsula and adjacent parts of theUpper Peninsula of Michigan. The largest community in the affected area wasPeshtigo, Wisconsin, which had a population of approximately 1,700 residents. The fire burned about 1.2 million acres (490,000 ha) and is thedeadliest wildfire in recorded history,[1] with the number of deaths estimated between 1,500[1] and 2,500.[2] The exact number of deaths is debated. Data from mass graves, both those already exhumed and those still being discovered, show that the death toll of the blaze was most likely greater than the1889 Johnstown flood[3] death toll of 2,200 people or more.[4]
Occurring on the same day as the more famousGreat Chicago Fire, the Peshtigo fire has been largely forgotten, even though it killed five times as many people.[5][6]
Nonetheless, several cities in Michigan, includingHolland and Manistee (acrossLake Michigan from Peshtigo) andPort Huron (at the southern end ofLake Huron), also had major fires on the same day. These fires, along with many other fires of the 19th century had the same basic causes: small fires coupled with unusually dry weather.[7][8]
Slash-and-burn land management was a common way to clear forest for farming and railroad construction. On the day of the Peshtigo fire, an eastward-movingcold front increased the wind speed and several slash-and-burn fires merged.[9]
Afirestorm ensued. In the words of Gess and Lutz, in a firestorm "superheated flames of at least 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit ... advance on winds of 110 miles per hour or stronger. The diameter of such a fire ranges from one thousand to ten thousand feet ... When a firestorm erupts in a forest, it is a blowup, nature's nuclear explosion ... "[10]: 101
By the time it was over, between 1.2 and 1.5 million acres of land had been burned.[11] In addition to Peshtigo, 16 other communities were destroyed in the fire.[12]
The value of the property and forest that was destroyed in the fire was estimated to be about $5 million US (about $131 million[13] in 2025 dollars).[12] Additionally, 2,000,000 trees, saplings, and animals perished in the fire; this had a devastating economic impact on the area as well.[14]
An accurate death toll has never been determined because all local records were destroyed in the fire. Estimates vary from 1,200 to 2,400 deaths.[15]
The 1873 Report to theWisconsin Legislature listed 1,182 names of dead or missing residents.[16] In 1870, the Town of Peshtigo had 1,749 residents.[17] More than 350 bodies were buried in amass grave, as there was no one left to identify them.[7]
TheRev. Peter Pernin, in his eyewitness account, states that the prolonged drought at that time combined with the factor of human carelessness were omens of the horrible disaster. He also notes how the fire seemed to jump across thePeshtigo River using the bridges and upward air drafts and burn both sides of the town.[18]
Other survivors reported that thefirestorm generated afire whirl (described as a tornado) that threw rail cars and houses into the air. Many citizens escaped the flames by immersing themselves in the Peshtigo River, wells, or other nearby bodies of water. Some drowned while others succumbed tohypothermia in the frigid river. In one account, a man slit the throats of all his children to spare them from an agonizing death.[9]
At the same time, another fire burned parts of theDoor Peninsula; because of the coincidence, some incorrectly assumed that the Peshtigo fire had jumped across the waters of Green Bay into the Door County regions. However, the fire did not jump across the bay. Most likely, the firestorm spread and created a new ground fire in New Franken which then spread and burned everything northward up until Sturgeon Bay.[19]
Speculation since 1883 has suggested that the start of the Peshtigo and Chicago fires on the same day was not coincidental, but that all the major fires in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin that day were caused by impact of fragments fromBiela's Comet. This hypothesis was revived in a 1985 book,[20] reviewed in a 1997 documentary,[21] and investigated in a 2004 paper published by theAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.[22]
Certain behaviors of the Chicago and Peshtigo fires were cited to support the idea of an extraterrestrial cause, such as blue flames (thought to be cometary gases burning) in the basements of houses.[20] However, modern fire theory indicates that the blue color was most likely a product of burning carbon monoxide in the poorly ventilated basements.[23] Additionally, scientists with expertise in the field pointed out that there has never been a credible report of a fire being started by ameteorite.[24][25]
In any event, no external source of ignition was needed. There were already numerous small fires burning in the area as part of land-clearing operations and similar activities after a tinder-dry summer.[10][23] All that was necessary to trigger the firestorm, plus the other large fires in the Midwest, was a strong wind from theweather front which had moved in that evening.[9]
The wildfire remains the deadliest in the history of the United States.[26]
William B. Ogden, a politician and owner of the factories in Peshtigo, returned to rebuild the town. However, progress was slow and many buildings, including the woodenware factory, never reopened. Today, Peshtigo has roughly 3,500 residents.[2]
ThePeshtigo Fire Museum, just west ofU.S. Highway 41, has a small collection of fire artifacts, first-person accounts, and agraveyard dedicated to victims of the tragedy.[27] A memorial commemorating the fire was dedicated on October 8, 2012, at the bridge over the Peshtigo River.[28]
The Peshtigo Fire Cemetery was entered into theNational Register of Historic Places.[7]
TheNational Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, aMarian shrine inChampion, was established at the site of a chapel where Sister Adele Brise and others sheltered from the fire and survived. According to Sister Adele, in October 1859, she had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a warning, saying "If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them."[29] Twelve years later, the fire erupted and many people flocked to the church for safety. The people prayed the rosary, and hours later rain came, which put out the fire. Some of the very few things that survived the Peshtigo Fire were the convent, school, and chapel and five acres of land that had been consecrated to the Virgin Mary. The only animals that survived were those that were brought to the chapel grounds. Following the fire, people had great faith in the chapel and the Virgin Mary because they believe that she had saved them. In the following years, it was claimed that miracles occurred at the chapel. In one account, a blind girl went to the chapel to pray and came out able to see; however, none of these stories have ever been reliably documented.[30]
Tornado Memorial County Park is located on the site of the former community of Williamsonville, a small village in Door County, and is named for thefire whirl which occurred there. Out of 76 residents, only 19 survived, and Williamsonville was never rebuilt.[31][32][33]
The combination oftopography,geography, wind conditions,and ignition sources that led to the fire is known as the "Peshtigo paradigm".[3] The American and British militaries studied the fire duringWorld War II to learn how to recreatefirestorms during bombing campaigns against cities in Germany and Japan.[3] Denise Gess, co-author ofFirestorm at Peshtigo, said, "They actually made a 'demo' first, a little scale model of wooden buildings, and studied how you would drop bombs until it created a firestorm. Something that devastating and that hot."[9]
Rutkow (2012) writes that the event prompted almost no change to the practices of the lumber industry or the way settlers approached life in forests. He notes that in the following decades, the rate of industrial logging increased and the amount of forest fires increased throughout the country, with Wisconsin itself experiencing major fires in 1880, 1891, 1894, 1897, 1908, 1910, 1923, 1931, and 1936. The loss of half a million acres a year was not uncommon.[34]
The Peshtigo Fire is discussed in Season 1, Episode 8, of the television seriesThe Gilded Age when downstairs character Jack is discovered putting flowers on the grave of his mother, who died in the tragedy.[35]
