Forest fires are common in northeastern Washington. But in the summer of 1910, extended drought, unusually high temperatures, and powerful winds came together to trigger a firestorm of unprecedented scale. The “Big Burn” torched some 3 million acres of forest throughout the Northwest, including 85 square miles in Stevens County, Washington, which included today’s Pend Oreille County.

A number of small fires burning in the region’s forests took on a life of their own on August 20th when powerful winds sent the blazes running. The Newport Miner reported that fire burned eastward and extended as much as ten miles wide by the time it jumped the Pend Oreille River. Pend Oreille County resident Fred L. Wolf described the scene:

“Those who saw the onward sweep of the fire have not yet recovered from the awe inspired by the spectacle. As the fire reached the Pend Oreille river, great black clouds puffed out and leaping ahead formed the advance guard. Thick with burning embers they scattered the fire before them. Closer to the earth, all things took on a ghastly orange tinge, the clear and sparkling Pend Oreille assumed the hue of the turbid Missouri and was scarcely recognizable. It looked like the end of all things, that no living creature could come through the disaster fast approaching.”

Local residents scrambled for their lives and then many of them worked tirelessly in an attempt to protect their homes and property. In the end, timely rain and snow brought relief. Reports indicate that most of the houses on the east side of the river were destroyed; many people lost everything. Three Pend Oreille County residents were among the 85 people who died in the Big Burn, with firefighters accounting for the majority of those who perished.

Credits and Sources:

Chance, David H. The Lumber Industry of Washington’s Pend Oreille Valley, 1888-1941. Moscow, Idaho: David & Jennifer Chance & Associates, 1991.

Pend Oreille County Historical Society. Resource Files—Fires.

Soenke, Karen and Faith McClenny. “Raging Inferno—The 1910 Fire. Big Smoke, 2010.

Photographs courtesy of Pend Oreille County Historical Society.