The aftermath of January’s devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area has left Californians searching for answers and looking to affix blame. The blaze destroyed more than 12,000 homes and businesses and claimed more than two dozen lives. It left a scar on not just the landscape but the psyche of a region that has long wrestled with the grim reality of wildfire.
America has been here before. It was called the Big Burn.
In 1910, a combination of record-low precipitation, severe lightning storms, and train sparks ignited several small fires in Montana and Idaho. The situation generated enough concern to mobilize 9,000 firefighters, including U.S. Army troops. Then a dry cold front swept through, bringing 70-mile-per-hour winds that merged the fires into a single, unstoppable inferno that overwhelmed firefighting resources. The epic wildfire that became known as the Big Burn consumed 3 million acres of forests. Eighty-five lives were lost. Towns were wiped from the map. And while the economic loss was not as severe as what California just experienced, the national outcry to “do something” was similarly loud.
