150 years after the great fires: Everyone is responsible for fire safety

One day in October of 1871, flames consumed millions of acres of city and country as fires swept through Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Today, 150 years later, the deadly, but coincidental events of the first week of October 1871 are remembered during Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 3-9, 2021.

The tragic history of the fires reminds us that everyone must take responsibility for fire prevention.

The most famous of these fires is the Great Chicago Fire — not the deadliest or the most extensive of the fires that week, but notorious after it left 100,000 homeless, 300 dead, and leveled the near north side. The fire started Oct. 8 and raged two more days, fueled by the wooden structures and roads and intensified by the dry conditions after a long summer drought.

The fire was widely believed to have started in a barn belonging to Catherine O’Leary when, as the lyrics of a famous ditty say, her cow kicked over a lantern. She was exonerated by an investigation in 1997 but the popular belief in her guilt ruined her life.

Less well-known was the Peshtigo, Wis. fire that started the same day and burned more than a million acres, including 12 towns. Still the deadliest wildfire in history, the Peshtigo fire is estimated to have killed from 1,500 to 2,500 people.

Small fires for land clearing in the area were common, but on the day of the Peshtigo fire, a cold front moved in from the west and produced strong winds that fanned the small fires and created a firestorm.

Meanwhile, in Holland, Manistee, and Port Huron, Mich., about 200 fires raged, consuming vast swaths of dry forest and reducing towns to ash. At least part of the cause was the severe drought that plagued the Midwest that summer.