THE PESHTIGO FIRESTORM
On 8 October 1871, a vast inferno swept through the community of Peshtigo in Wisconsin. The fire burned around 1,200,000 acres of land and killed between 1,500 and 2,500 people. But despite it being America’s deadliest wildfire in recorded history, many people have never heard of the Peshtigo Fire. It has been largely overshadowed by the more famous Great Chicago Fire, which occurred on the same day.
An unusually dry summer season had triggered a few smaller and manageable wildfires in the area. But then strong winds from the west fanned their flames, blowing the fires out of control into a devastatingly destructive firestorm.