The Great Fire of 1910 (also commonly referred to as the Big Blowup, the Big Burn, or the Devil's Broom fire) was a wildfire in the Inland Northwest region of the United States which burned three million acres (4,700 sq mi; 12,100 km2) in Northern Idahoand Western Montana in the summer of 1910, with extensions into Eastern Washingtonand Southeast British Columbia.[1] The area burned included large parts of the Bitterroot, Cabinet, Clearwater, Coeur d'Alene, Flathead, Kaniksu, Kootenai, Lewis and Clark, Lolo, and St. Joe national forests.[2] The fire burned over two days on the weekend of August 20–21,[3][4] after strong winds caused numerous smaller fires to combine into a firestorm of unprecedented size. It killed 87 people,[5] mostly firefighters,[6][7] destroyed numerous manmade structures, including several entire towns, and burned more than three million acres of forest with an estimated one billion dollars' worth of timber lost.[2] While the exact cause of the fire is often debated, according to various U.S. Forest Service sources, the primary cause of the Big Burn was a combination of severe drought and a series of lightning storms that ignited hundreds of small fires across the Northern Rockies. Ignition sources also likely included human activity such as from railroads, homesteaders, and loggers.[8] It is believed to be the largest, although not the deadliest, forest fire in U.S. history.[9][10]

The first fire started in a ravine at the headwaters of Gales Creek on August 14, 1933. The exact cause of the first fire is unknown; however, the common narrative states that as logging crews were wrapping up operations early due to fire hazard restrictions, a steel cable dragging a fallen Douglas fir rubbed against the dry bark of a wind-fallen snag. (While the "common narrative" claims that two large trees were rubbed together, thus causing ignition, it is more likely that hot embers, escaped from the firebox on the steam donkey and ignited nearby combustibles.) The snag burst into flame, and the wildfire that grew out of this burned 350,000 acres (140,000 ha) before it was extinguished by seasonal rains on September 5.[1] An oppressive, acrid smoke filled the neighboring valleys; ashes, and cinders, and the charred needles of trees fell in the streets of Tillamook; and debris from the fire reached ships 500 miles (800 km) at sea. A Civilian Conservation Corps member was the only known human casualty of fighting the fire.[1] The loss in processed lumber was estimated to have been $442.4 million in contemporary (1933) dollars—a serious loss not only to the timber industry at the time, but also to a nation struggling with the Great Depression. A massive salvage operation was immediately begun to harvest usable portions of the burned wilderness.

The Silver Fire was a 1987 wildfire in the Siskiyou National Forest (now part of the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest) in Oregon. It burned 96,240 acres (389 km2), of which 42,350 acres (171 km2) was located in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Parts of its burned area were re-burned in the Biscuit Fire and the Chetco Bar Fire. It was started by a lightning strike near Silver Creek on August 30, and was contained on November 2 after a dry summer in the area, with relative humidity as low as 4% at times in certain places[2]: 21  (very low for the area), was ended by heavy rain.[3] Firefighters from across the country, as far away as Virginia, went to Oregon to fight the fire. Nearly 4,000 people were involved in the effort.[2]: 36, 39 

The Biscuit Fire was a massive wildfire in 2002 that burned nearly 500,000 acres (780 sq mi; 2,000 km2) in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, in southern Oregon and northern California, in the Western United States. The fire was named after Biscuit Creek in southern Oregon.[3] The Biscuit Fire was the second-largest wildfire in the modern post-1900 history of Oregon.[3][4] Oregon's largest fires are actually believed to have taken place in the 1800s. The Silverton Fire[5] of 1865 is listed as Oregon's largest at over 900,000 acres.[citation needed] The Biscuit Fire area is subject to warm, dry winds known as the Brookings effect (also known as Chetco effect), driven by high pressure over the Great Basin. The fire re-burned portions of the 1987 Silver Fire, and much of its area was re-burned in the 2017 Chetco Bar Fire.

The Chetco Bar Fire was a wildfire in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, Oregon, United States. The fire, which was caused by a lightning strike and first reported on July 12, 2017. It burned 191,125 acres (773 km2) as of November 4, when it was declared 100% contained. The Chetco Bar Fire area is subject to warm, dry winds known as the Brookings effect (also known as Chetco Effect), driven by high pressure over the Great Basin. The fire re-burned portions of the 2002 Biscuit Fire and the 1987 Silver Fire. The fire directly impacted communities surrounding it, causing mandatory evacuations.