| 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. |
| ***** |
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 |
***** |
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 |
