Peshtigo Wildfire 1871

The Great Chicago Fire may be famous, but it wasn't even the deadliest blaze in the Midwest that day. On October 8, 1871, the Peshtigo Wildfire in Wisconsin roared through 1.2 million acres, killing anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 people, five times more than Chicago's tragedy.

The inferno consumed everything in just two hours, leaving little time for escape. Yet history largely forgot it because it shared the spotlight with other massive fires the same day: the Great Chicago Fire, the Great Michigan Fire, and the Port Huron Fire. To this day, the Peshtigo fire remains America's deadliest wildfire.

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