My daughter wrote an interesting paper for one of her college classes. The ‘big blowup’ of 1910 burned 3 million acres of forest in western Montana and northern Idaho, and shaped much of the modern fire suppression effort. Stacy’s paper dealt with the changes that have been made since that date; changes to our nation’s policy on fire fighting and fire prevention.

Thousands of firefighters and townspeople were caught in the path of the fire. Those who survived by taking refuge in mine tunnels and creeks were - more times than not - burned during the front’s passage. Many people died.

There were many causes of the fire. From careless use of fire to sparks from trains that used coal to fuel their engines, different reasons were given for one of the worse fires in US history.