Great Michigan Fire

The Great Michigan Fire was a series of simultaneous forest fires in the state of Michigan in the United States in 1871.[1] They were possibly caused (or at least reinforced) by the same winds that fanned the Great Chicago Fire, the Peshtigo Fire and the Port Huron Fire; some believe lightning or even meteor showers may have started the fires.[2] Several cities, towns and villages, including Alpena, Holland, Manistee, and Port Huron, suffered serious damage or were lost. The concurrent Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin also destroyed several towns in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In 1881, much more than half of "the Thumb" region was burned over by the Thumb Fire, which followed part of the same path as the 1871 fires.

  1. ^ Hanines, D. A.; Sando, R. W. (1969). "Climatic Conditions Preceding Historically Great Fires in the North Central Region" (PDF). United States Forest Service. Research Paper NC-34, Figure 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  2. ^ Sodders, Betty (1997). Michigan on Fire. Thunder Bay Press. pp. 8–9. ISBN 9781882376520. OCLC 12343999.