What Caused the Deadliest Fire in U.S. History?

On the night of October 8, 1871, the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, vanished in less than an hour. A sudden firestorm ripped through the community, killing more than 800 people and burning an area the size of Delaware. Though it remains the deadliest fire in U.S. history, the Peshtigo Fire was largely forgotten. It was overshadowed by the Great Chicago Fire that erupted on the very same night.

When dawn broke over northeastern Wisconsin, almost nothing was left. Entire families were gone, homes turned to ash, and the once-bustling lumber town had been reduced to a wasteland. Among the few objects to survive the inferno was a Bible petrified by heat, yet miraculously intact, opened to Psalms 106 and 107. Its message, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”, stood as a haunting echo over a landscape of loss.

A Firestorm Born from Weather Extremes

The Peshtigo Fire did not erupt without warning. In the months leading up to October 1871, the region endured an extended drought. For weeks, dry winds swept through the Midwest, carrying haze from ongoing fires in the western Plains. By early October, much of Wisconsin’s dense forests and farmland were dangerously parched.