Known also as the Big Blow Up, the Big Burn and the Devil's Broom, the August 1910 fire burned three million acres in North Idaho and Western Montana. Eighty-seven people were killed, 78 of them firefighters. Several small towns were completely destroyed. Smoke from the fires reached New England. And soot from the blazes was said to have landed in Greenland.
In the aftermath of the fire, the Forest Service doubled down on its policy to remove fire from the national forests, adopting a 10am policy, that aimed to extinguish all fires by the morning after their initial report. This policy remained in effect until the 1970s.
National Photo Company, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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| Lookouts were built to adhere to the 10 a.m. policy | The Forest Service came to rely on surplus military equipment and a variety of air tankers to realize its “10 a.m. policy.” |
