When: August 20-21st, 1910
Where: Northern Idaho and western Montana
Duration: Two days and nights
Deaths: 86 people died
Most of what was destroyed fell to hurricane force winds that turned the fire into a blowtorch. The flames shot hundreds of feet in the air, fanned by a tornadic wind so violent that the flames flattened out ahead, swooping to earth in great curves. There were exploding trees and waves of flame that arced across the night sky.
Among the 86 who died, 28 or 29 were men. Two men too terrified to face death took their own lives. One jumped from a burning train and the other shot himself when he feared an approaching fire would get him. Two fire fighters fled into flames, fellow fighters huddled in a nearby stream. There were 1,736 fires burning in northern Idaho and western Montana on August 20th.
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