Peshtigo Fire Monument
The most devastating forest fire in American history swept through northeast Wisconsin on this date 152 years ago.
The Peshtigo fire on October 8th of 1871 claimed more than 1200 lives and scorched between 1.2 and 1.5 million acres, although it skipped over the waters of Green Bay to burn parts of Kewaunee and Door Counties.
The anniversary usually receives little notice outside the region because of the great Chicago fire the same night.
It had been an unusually dry summer and the flames moved fast across northeast Wisconsin.
According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the story of the fire gleaned from survivor accounts and “conjecture”, is that railroad workers clearing land for tracks started a brush fire which somehow became an inferno.
It was reported the fire produced many stories of heroics and tragedy, which are collected at the Peshtigo Fire Museum.
