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Wildfires in Maui are among the deadliest in US history. These are the other fires atop the list

Wildfires in Maui are among the deadliest in US history. These are the other fires atop the list
Paradise. California, Louisville, Colorado and now Lahaina Hawaii. All three were wind driven. Catastrophic events took victims by total surprise flames swallowing everything in their way without much warning to leave family behind. We had to leave our vehicles behind. Some people had to leave their animals to the apocalyptic scenes are shocking but the idea that *** fire like this could destroy *** town like Lahaina is no surprise to many fire scientists and experts who have been trying to sound this broader alarm for years like this warning from *** hot shot superintendent nearly two years ago and everywhere burns, everywhere burns. If you're in the forest, sooner or later it will burn. Now, will it be your life? I don't know, but everywhere will burn. You think it will never happen to you until it does. And fire experts say this could happen anywhere unless you're living in the middle of *** parking lot or something with no vegetation around you. Or maybe if you're in *** boat far offshore. But even then you're going to be affected by wildfire, smoke Scripps news first reported on what's known as the fire Paradox last year. It's the counter intuitive idea that you need controlled fire to prevent uncontrollable fire for nearly 100 years. It was forest service policy to suppress fire, but that led to *** build up of ground fuel like brush branches and grasses. We've all been trying to call for bigger investment in managing these fuels, reducing the fuels doing fire breaks, things like this fuel breaks around these communities which are actions that need to be taken months in advance of these kind of bad fire weather conditions that we're seeing. It's why the forest service included more prescribed burns in its latest wildfire crisis strategy. In the case of Hawaii, *** wet season can cause plants like guinea grass to grow quickly as six inches *** day, hot conditions dry it out and essentially turn it into kindling in the past several decades as agriculture kind of declined. This is across the state. These spaces fill in with tons, literally tons of fuel. Um and these grassy fuels are highly sensitive to uh quick, quick drying out. And, and when the, you know, really easy to ignite dense, overgrown fuels combined with *** changing climate, create *** tinder box and *** recipe for more disaster in more unexpected places. Those anomalous events keep adding up and adding up and adding up to where eventually anomalies are no longer anomalies. Now, then they start becoming normal and unless something changes that that's where we're headed, Marita Georgio Sri News
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Wildfires in Maui are among the deadliest in US history. These are the other fires atop the list
Wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui killed at least 106 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.Emergency management officials say the death toll is expected to rise as cadaver dogs and searchers make their way through the ashes of Lahaina, a historical town of 13,000 where almost every building was destroyed in the blaze.Video above: Experts say the risk of seeing wildfire is getting worseThe Maui wildfires are currently the nation's fifth-deadliest on record, according to research by the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit that publishes fire codes and standards used in the U.S. and around the world. Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the three separate wildfires that were fueled by dry weather and the winds of a nearby hurricane.A look at the other deadliest fires in U.S. history:The Peshtigo fireThe deadliest U.S. wildfire on record claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people and decimated the logging town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, about 50 miles north of Green Bay.The Peshtigo Fire began on Oct. 8, 1871, and consumed roughly 1,875 square miles of land, destroying all but one of the town's mostly wooden buildings. The exact death toll remains unknown, but most historians estimate that between 1,200 and 2,400 people were killed, according to the National Weather Service. The Peshtigo Fire began the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, which killed roughly 300 people and destroyed thousands of buildings in the Midwest's largest city. In the days that followed, several other wildfires fed by a summer drought and dry winds consumed parts of Michigan and Illinois.The Cloquet and Moose Lake fires Sparks from passing trains ignited brush along rail lines in northern Minnesota on Oct. 10, 1918. The summer was one of the driest the state had seen in years, and within two days gusting winds of up to 76 mph stoked the flames into the most destructive wildfire in Minnesota history. Several fires killed a combined 453 people and destroyed a total of 38 communities, including the towns of Moose Lake and Cloquet, according to the National Weather Service.The Great Hinckley fire Twenty-four years before the Moose Lake and Cloquet Fires, another Minnesota wildfire claimed the lives of 418 people, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.Three years of steadily drying soil, high temperatures and a covering of dead pine branches left behind by loggers created the perfect conditions for a deadly blaze, and on Sept. 1, 1894, the Great Hinckley Fire roared to life.Video below: Who pays for the cost of climate change?The fire wiped out several small communities on its way to Hinckley. When it arrived, a wall of flames surrounded the town on three sides. The lumber mill that drove the town's economy was piled high with logs and sawdust and sent flames and debris soaring hundreds of feet in the air, according to the Department of Natural Resources.The Thumb fireNamed for its location in Michigan's Thumb region north of Detroit, the Thumb Fire took place a decade after some of the many fires of 1871 devastated the same area. Those earlier wildfires didn't fully consume the trees they killed and left stretches of dry, dead timber standing in Sanilac, Lapeer, Tuscola and Huron Counties.Video below: Artificial intelligence is helping California prevent wildfiresOn Sept. 5, 1881, multiple fires in the Thumb area were strengthened by windy weather and raged across more than 1,560 square miles, killing 282 people, according to the National Fire Protection Association. In the town of Bad Axe, some 400 people sought shelter in a courthouse, where they survived by dousing the building with water from a nearby well, even as they were blinded by smoke, the Huron Daily Tribune reported.Recent wildfires In addition to the Maui fires, three wildfires that took place in recent years were listed among the 10 deadliest in U.S. history.The Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 killed 85 people and forced tens of thousands of others to flee their homes as flames destroyed 19,000 buildings in Northern California.Video below: In 2022, a home in Paradise, California, became the first in the U.S. to be designated a "wildfire-prepared home"The 2017 October Fire Siege and 2020 Fire Siege, also in California, killed 44 and 31 people respectively, according to the National Fire Protection Association.Scientists predict that the conditions that lead to massive, deadly wildfires like those in Maui will become more common as climate change worsens. Climate change has led to higher temperatures, increased dry and dead vegetation, low soil moistures and stronger storms.

Wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui killed at least 106 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.

Emergency management officials say the death toll is expected to rise as cadaver dogs and searchers make their way through the ashes of Lahaina, a historical town of 13,000 where almost every building was destroyed in the blaze.

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Video above: Experts say the risk of seeing wildfire is getting worse

The Maui wildfires are currently the nation's fifth-deadliest on record, according to research by the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit that publishes fire codes and standards used in the U.S. and around the world.

Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the three separate wildfires that were fueled by dry weather and the winds of a nearby hurricane.

A look at the other deadliest fires in U.S. history:

The Peshtigo fire

The deadliest U.S. wildfire on record claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people and decimated the logging town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, about 50 miles north of Green Bay.

(Original Caption) 1871-Peshtigo, WI: An illustration of The Great Fire of Peshtigo in Wisconsin. People are shown trying to run and flee the fire in a chaotic scene.
Bettmann
(Original Caption) 1871-Peshtigo, WI: An illustration of The Great Fire of Peshtigo in Wisconsin. People are shown trying to run and flee the fire in a chaotic scene. (Bettmann via Getty Images)

The Peshtigo Fire began on Oct. 8, 1871, and consumed roughly 1,875 square miles of land, destroying all but one of the town's mostly wooden buildings.

The exact death toll remains unknown, but most historians estimate that between 1,200 and 2,400 people were killed, according to the National Weather Service.

The Peshtigo Fire began the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, which killed roughly 300 people and destroyed thousands of buildings in the Midwest's largest city. In the days that followed, several other wildfires fed by a summer drought and dry winds consumed parts of Michigan and Illinois.

The Cloquet and Moose Lake fires

Sparks from passing trains ignited brush along rail lines in northern Minnesota on Oct. 10, 1918. The summer was one of the driest the state had seen in years, and within two days gusting winds of up to 76 mph stoked the flames into the most destructive wildfire in Minnesota history. Several fires killed a combined 453 people and destroyed a total of 38 communities, including the towns of Moose Lake and Cloquet, according to the National Weather Service.

The Great Hinckley fire

Twenty-four years before the Moose Lake and Cloquet Fires, another Minnesota wildfire claimed the lives of 418 people, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

Three years of steadily drying soil, high temperatures and a covering of dead pine branches left behind by loggers created the perfect conditions for a deadly blaze, and on Sept. 1, 1894, the Great Hinckley Fire roared to life.

Video below: Who pays for the cost of climate change?

The fire wiped out several small communities on its way to Hinckley. When it arrived, a wall of flames surrounded the town on three sides. The lumber mill that drove the town's economy was piled high with logs and sawdust and sent flames and debris soaring hundreds of feet in the air, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

The Thumb fire

Named for its location in Michigan's Thumb region north of Detroit, the Thumb Fire took place a decade after some of the many fires of 1871 devastated the same area. Those earlier wildfires didn't fully consume the trees they killed and left stretches of dry, dead timber standing in Sanilac, Lapeer, Tuscola and Huron Counties.

Video below: Artificial intelligence is helping California prevent wildfires

On Sept. 5, 1881, multiple fires in the Thumb area were strengthened by windy weather and raged across more than 1,560 square miles, killing 282 people, according to the National Fire Protection Association. In the town of Bad Axe, some 400 people sought shelter in a courthouse, where they survived by dousing the building with water from a nearby well, even as they were blinded by smoke, the Huron Daily Tribune reported.

Recent wildfires

In addition to the Maui fires, three wildfires that took place in recent years were listed among the 10 deadliest in U.S. history.

The Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 killed 85 people and forced tens of thousands of others to flee their homes as flames destroyed 19,000 buildings in Northern California.

Video below: In 2022, a home in Paradise, California, became the first in the U.S. to be designated a "wildfire-prepared home"

The 2017 October Fire Siege and 2020 Fire Siege, also in California, killed 44 and 31 people respectively, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

Scientists predict that the conditions that lead to massive, deadly wildfires like those in Maui will become more common as climate change worsens. Climate change has led to higher temperatures, increased dry and dead vegetation, low soil moistures and stronger storms.