The Fire This Time · Episode 5 of 8 · 16 min
The Big Burn of 1910 and the War on All Wildfire
In 1910, three million acres burned across Idaho and Montana in two days, and the five-year-old Forest Service nearly died with them. Instead it was reborn with a mission of putting out every fire, everywhere. From the 10 a.m. policy to the CCC, Smokey Bear and aerial attack, America got very good at suppression and, without realizing it, began building an enormous fire deficit.
Who's who
- Gifford Pinchot+12 more episodesFirst Chief of the Forest Service and opponent of light burning
- Henry S. Graves+1 more episodePinchot's successor, chief during the 1910 fire
- Ferdinand Silcox+3 more episodesChief who issued the 1935 10 a.m. policy
- Edward PulaskiRanger who led his crew into the War Eagle mine tunnel
- Theodore Roosevelt+14 more episodesPresident whose conservation drive created the Forest Service
- William B. GreeleyFuture chief who attacked light burning as 'Piute Forestry'
Where it happens
- Northern Rockies, Idaho and MontanaWhere the 1910 Big Blowup burned
- War Eagle mine, near Wallace, IdahoTunnel where Pulaski sheltered his crew
- Coeur d'Alene National Forest, IdahoPulaski's district
Timeline
- 1905Forest Service created under Pinchot
- August 1910Big Blowup burns about 3 million acres in roughly two days
- 1911Weeks Act authorizes cooperative firefighting with the states
- 1935Silcox issues the 10 a.m. policy
- 1939-1940Experimental smokejumper attacks begin
- 1944Smokey Bear campaign launches
Still debated
Historians disagree whether total suppression was a reasonable choice given what was known in 1910 or whether it actively displaced the light-burning alternative, and how much was honest error versus institutional self-interest.
← PreviousPeshtigo, 1871: The Deadliest Wildfire in U.S. HistoryNext →The Fire Deficit: How a Century of Suppression Built Megafires
Connected episodes in other series
The Suppression BargainFire Returns to My Backyard · Episode 4Also features Ferdinand Silcox, Theodore Roosevelt
The Greatest Good? How the Forest Service Promised to Manage Public LandThe Long Run · Episode 1Also features Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt
How the CCC Planted 3 Billion TreesRoosevelt's Forest Army · Episode 4Also features Ferdinand Silcox
How One Arizona Hillside Built Modern ForestryGround Truth: Forest Service Research · Episode 1Also features Gifford Pinchot