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“It came in great sheeted flames from heaven,” said one witness of America’s worst forest fire - a flaming wall that swept along Lake Michigan’s shores on October 8, 1871, destroying 1,280,000 acres. “The atmosphere was all afire.”

Apparently, a gale force wind sprang up near evening. Around 9 p.m., residents in the area heard a terrible approaching roar. The sky became red with clouds of flame. Survivors remembered not a gradual advancing fire, but a whirlwind of blazing, towering flames that rose high above the treetops. People who breathed in the air died immediately. Recovered bodies were often piles of charred bones, nothing more.

Usually, forest fires occur in tropical rain forests and coniferous forests after dry spells. The resinous needles of coniferous trees provide ideal fuel for wildfires, as well as the leaves of evergreen broad-leaved trees like holly, evergreen oak, and eucalyptus. In Australia, where eucalyptus grows in the bush (open forest land), bush fires are a common threat.

Forest fires are fought very differently from structural fires. Organizations like the U.S. Forest Service has to protect thousands of acres of wilderness, sometimes putting out huge blazes that cover miles. Smoke jumpers are specially trained firefighters who begin extinguishing flames by jumping from airplanes because it’s the fastest, and sometimes easiest, way to get to the scene of the fire. The hotshots are the other half of the service, following close behind the first jumpers. These people clear makeshift roads and launch the main attack on the blaze. They keep fighting fires for days at a time, grabbing meals or short rests in between work.

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