The U.S. state of Michigan has been the site of several major wildfires. The worst of these were in the lumbering era of the late-1800s when lumbering practices permitted the buildup of large slash piles and altered forest growth patterns which may have contributed to size of the wildfires. The scattered nature of settlements, lumber camps and Indian tribes during this time lead to large uncertainties in determining the number of deaths and property losses. More recent fires have been much smaller and contained by modern firefighting methods with better records of the destruction they caused. Almost all of the thousands of yearly fires in the state are only a few acres, although 100-200 homes are damaged each year by these small fires. [1]
Fire | Date | Location | Size (acres) | Size (km2) | Damage | Deaths | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Great Michigan Fires | 1871 October 8 | multiple locations | over 1,500,000 | over 6,000 | thousands | hundreds | fires across Wisconsin, Michigan, and the cities of Holland, Manistee and Chicago |
Port Huron Fire of 1871 | 1871 October 8 | The Thumb | 1,200,000 | 4,850 | thousands | 50+ | same day as Great Michigan fire |
Peshtigo Fire | 1871 October 8 | Menominee County, Michigan | hundreds of thousands | hundreds | thousands | dozens [2] | same day as The Great Chicago fire |
Thumb Fire | 1881 September 5 | The Thumb | 1,000,000 | 4,000 | over 2,000 structures | 282 | |
Ontonagon Fire | 1896 August | Ontonagon | 228,000 | 923 | hundreds | 1 | [3] |
Ishpeming fire | 1896 October | Ishpeming | 64,000 | 259 | unknown | unknown | [4] |
Metz Fire | 1908 October 15 | Metz | 300,000 | 1,200 | hundreds of structures | 37 [5] | 15 deaths occurred when the rescue train derailed in a burning lumber siding |
Au Sable-Oscoda Fire | 1911 July 11 | Iosco County | thousands | dozens | hundreds | 5+ | Acreage burned unclear because of numerous fires burning the area that year [6] |
Seney Fire | 1976 August - October | Seney National Wildlife Refuge | 78,000 | 316 | 0 | 0 | burned for months underground in peat |
Mack Lake fire | 1980 May 5 | Mio | 25,000 | 101 | 44 homes | 1 | [7] |
Meridian Boundary Fire | 2010 May | Crawford County | 8,586 | 34.7 | 12 homes, 39 structures | 0 | Caused by a man burning leaves, the man had a permit to burn. |
Duck Lake fire | 2012 May–June | Luce County | 21,000 | 85 | 136 structures | 0 | |
Sleeper Lake Fire | 2007 August | Luce County | 18,000 | 73 | 0 | 0 | |
Horne Fire | 2021 August | Isle Royale | 300 | 0 | 0 | Primarily burned the area surrounding Monument Rock | |
Blue Lakes Fire | 2022 May | Montmorency, Cheboygan Counties | 2,516 | >10 | 0 | This wildfire started from a lightning strike on May 11 which smoldered for several days before igniting nearby fuels (leaves, grass, bushes). [8] | |
Wilderness Trail Fire | 2023 June | Crawford County | 2,442 | 12.1 | $100,000 | 0 | Caused by a campfire, 85% contained as of June 4. [9] |
Oats Fire | 2023 June | Iosco County | 200 | $500,000 | 0 | Another fire which started during the beginning of June, was contained June 3. [10] |
Iosco County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan; its eastern border is formed by Lake Huron. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,237. The county seat is Tawas City.
Crawford County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. Its population was 12,988 as of the 2020 census. The county seat of Crawford County is Grayling, the county's only incorporated community.
The Huron–Manistee National Forests are two separate national forests, the Huron National Forest and the Manistee National Forest, combined in 1945 for administration purposes and which comprise 978,906 acres (3,960 km2) of public lands, including 5,786 acres (23 km2) of wetlands, extending across the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. The Huron–Manistee National Forests provide recreation opportunities for visitors, habitat for fish and wildlife, and resources for local industry. The headquarters for the forests is in Cadillac, Michigan.
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan, is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popular tourist destination, it is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and a large portion of Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as their main industry. Northern Lower Michigan is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which are also located in "northern" Michigan. In the northernmost 21 counties in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the total population of the region is 506,658 people.
The Old Fire was a large complex wildfire that started on October 25, 2003, near Old Waterman Canyon Road and California State Route 18 in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County, Southern California, United States. The Old Fire caused at least $1.2 billion in damages.
Interlochen State Park is a public recreation area covering 187 acres (76 ha) between Green Lake and Duck Lake in Grand Traverse County, Michigan. It was the State of Michigan's first officially recognized state park. It was established by the Michigan Legislature in 1917; $60,000 was paid for the land. Originally named Pine Park, the park was created to preserve for future generations the virgin pine (Pinus strobus) stand. It is one of the few easily reached places in Michigan where old-growth red pine can be found.
The Angora Fire was a 2007 wind-driven wildfire in El Dorado County, California. It started near North Upper Truckee Road subdivision near Angora Lakes, Fallen Leaf Lake, Echo Lake and South Lake Tahoe, California around 2:15 PM on Sunday, June 24, 2007, as a result of an illegal campfire. As of July 2, 2007, the fire was 100% contained, and 100% control was achieved on July 10. The fire burned 3,100 acres (12.5 km2), destroyed 242 residences and 67 commercial structures, and damaged 35 other homes. At the peak of the fire, there were as many as 2,180 firefighters involved in battling the blaze. The fire cost $13.5 million to fight and caused at least $150 million in property damage.
The Great Michigan Fire was a series of simultaneous forest fires in the state of Michigan in the United States in 1871. They were possibly caused by the same winds that fanned the Great Chicago Fire, the Peshtigo Fire and the Port Huron Fire; some believe lightning or even meteor showers may have started the fires. Several cities, towns and villages, including Alpena, Holland, Manistee, and Port Huron, suffered serious damage or were lost. The concurrent Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin also destroyed several towns in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In 1881, much more than half of "the Thumb" region was burned over by the Thumb Fire, which followed part of the same path as the 1871 fires.
Tower is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Cheboygan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population of the CDP was 248 at the 2020 census. It is located along the concurrency of M-33 and M-68 within Forest Township. As an unincorporated community, Tower has no legal autonomy of its own.
The Duck Lake Fire occurred north of the Village of Newberry in Luce County, Michigan in the eastern half of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The fire started with a lightning strike on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 near Duck Lake. The Duck Lake Fire was reported 100% contained by the Michigan DNR on 15 June 2012 with 21,135 acres burned. The Duck Lake Fire was reported as the third worst fire in Michigan since 1881. It was the second major fire in Luce County within five years. On May 25, 2012, Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of disaster in Luce and Schoolcraft counties, which included a ban of fireworks and an outdoor burning ban in 49 counties, including all counties located in the Upper Peninsula and much of the northern half of the Lower Peninsula as a result of abnormally dry conditions. The fire caused the closure of Tahquamenon Falls State Park during the Memorial Day weekend.
The Lake Fire was a wildfire that burned in the San Bernardino National Forest. The fire started on June 17, 2015, and burned over 31,359 acres before it was fully contained on July 21, 2015.
The Shirley Fire was a wildfire that started on June 13, 2014 at 5:00 PM PDT, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Shirley Meadows, Kern County, California, in the southern part of the Sequoia National Forest. The fire rapidly spread, due to dry weather and drought conditions.
The Okanogan Complex Fire was a wildfire affecting Okanogan County in north-central Washington state. It was composed of five fires that were caused by lightning strikes on August 15, 2015, with two of the fires near Conconully merging days later on August 19. At its peak, it burned over 304,782 acres (123,341 ha) of land and forced the evacuations of numerous towns, including Conconully, Twisp and Winthrop. Over 1,250 firefighters were deployed to the Okanogan Complex. Three United States Forest Service firefighters were killed in an accident near Twisp on August 19. Traditional methods of containing such wildfires, such as creating bulldozer lines, were not readily available due to the irregular terrain and because an inversion layer trapped smoke in the valley, making it difficult to fly in water by helicopter.
The 2018 Washington wildfire season officially began June 1, 2018. A statewide state of emergency was declared by Governor Jay Inslee on July 31.
The Tinder Fire was a wildfire that burned 16,309 acres (6,600 ha) of the Coconino National Forest in the U.S. state of Arizona during April and May 2018. The fire was detected by a United States Forest Service (USFS) lookout tower on April 27, 2018, and firefighters began working to contain its spread within the day. Benefiting from strong winds, low humidity, and high temperatures, the fire grew rapidly over late April, prompting the closure of Arizona State Route 87 and evacuation orders for 1,000 houses in Coconino County. These orders remained until May 4. Almost 700 firefighters were involved in combating the fire, which was fully contained on May 24. The investigation into the fire determined that the Tinder Fire was caused by a prohibited campfire.
The Rattlesnake Fire was a wildfire that burned 26,072 acres (10,551 ha) in Navajo and Greenlee Counties, in Arizona. The fire was detected on April 11, 2018, on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation and spread onto the San Carlos Indian Reservation and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests over the following four days. Fanned by high winds, the Rattlesnake Fire spread rapidly until it was contained on May 1. The fire continued to burn within containment until May 27. No structures were damaged or destroyed by the fire, but 15 firefighters were injured. Investigators suspected the cause of the fire was human activity, but it was never determined with certainty.
The Goodwin Fire was a wildfire that burned 28,516 acres (11,540 ha) in the U.S. state of Arizona over 16 days, from June 24 to July 10, 2017. The fire destroyed 17 homes and damaged another 19 structures, but no firefighters or civilians were injured or died in the fire. Investigators did not determine any particular cause for the fire.
The Mill Fire was a fast-moving, deadly and destructive wildfire that burned during the 2022 California wildfire season, destroying parts of the communities of Weed, Lake Shastina and Edgewood in Siskiyou County in the U.S. state of California. Igniting during hot, dry & windy conditions on September 2, 2022, amid a record-breaking heat wave that spanned much of the state, the Mill Fire moved rapidly to the north. Most of the fire's acreage burned and structures destroyed occurred on the first day, due to its predominantly wind-driven nature. The Mill Fire burned 3,935 acres, destroyed 118 structures, and damaged 26 more. The fire also caused 2 fatalities when two residents of Weed were unable to escape the quick-moving blaze in its first hours. The fire was fully contained on September 13, 2022.
The 2023 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2023 in the US state of Washington.
A second major wildfire in Iosco County's Oscoda Township burned more than 100 acres of land in the area of River and Oates roads. Two firefighting airplanes, a helicopter and ground units brought the fire under control by 9 p.m.