In two terrifying days in August 1910,

—nearly the whole of the Bitterroot Mountain Range was consumed in a fiery holocaust —

Walls of flame pushed by hurricane-force winds raced through the region, trapping fire crews, destroying mines, homesteads, and igniting towns.
Much of the town of Wallace, Idaho was left in ashes.

In the end, over 1,700 fires ravaged three million acres throughout the western U.S. and killed at least eighty-five people in the summer of 1910.
August 20th and 21st were the two most grueling and deadly days of that searing hell.

Amidst the political haggling over the newly formed U.S. Forest Service, not only its mission, but is very existence was in question.
With abnormally low amounts of precipitation and soaring, high temperatures, disaster was inevitable.
The heroic efforts of the Forest Service's overwhelmed rangers, who lost 78 firefighters in the firestorm, touched the hearts of the public and prompted legislative action.

The Great Fire of that summer 1910, led to significant changes in the nation's forest fire fighting policy and continues to influence forest management to this day.

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Show me all markers in:  Wallace, ID  |  Shoshone County  |  83873  |  Idaho  |  United States of America

"The Big Blowup"
Wallace
Hercules Mill
Wallace World War Memorial, a War Memorial
Historic Wallace South Hill Stairs
Rossi Insurance Building
The Great Fire of 1910
The Pulaski Tunnel Trail
Pulaski's Trail
"Big Ed" Pulaski

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