List of Michigan wildfires
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]
The Meridian Boundary Fire burned 8,586 acres near Grayling, Michigan in 2010.
Wildfires
| 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] |
Gallery
Oscoda Fire of 1945.jpg.webp)
Areal photo of the Blue Lakes Fire on May 14, 2022
References
- Wildfires and Firewise, Michigan State University, 02/03/2012
- 21 dead listed by name from Birch Creek, near Menominee, JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Session, 1873, MADISON, WIS.
- The Forests of Michigan, Donald I. Dickmann, Larry A. Leefers, University of Michigan Press, 2003, p. 164
- The Forests of Michigan, Donald I. Dickmann, Larry A. Leefers, University of Michigan Press, 2003, p. 165
- Metz Remembers, The Alpena News, Mike Modrzynski, October 12, 2008
- The Forests of Michigan, Donald I. Dickmann, Larry A. Leefers, University of Michigan Press, 2003, p. 168
- Wildfire History, Michigan State University, 10/17/2011, accessed July 14, 2012
- "Blue Lakes Fire 98 percent contained". www.michigan.gov. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
- Washington, Elizabeth (June 4, 2023). "DNR: 85% of 3,000-acre wildfire trail caused by campfire in Northern Michigan is contained". ClickOnDetroit. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
- Jeltema, Ryan (June 3, 2023). "2,400-acre wildfire closes I-75, leads to evacuations near Grayling". WJRT. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
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.
Bibliography
- Hanines, D. A.; Sando, R. W. (1969), Climatic Conditions Preceding Historically Great Fires in the North Central Region (PDF), U.S.D.A. Forest Service Research Paper NC-34; see Figure 1., archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-08, retrieved 2012-07-14
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