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World's worst forest fires
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Miramichi Fire
The largest and deadliest fire in Canadian history raged across an estimated three million acres of New Brunswick and Maine beginning on Oct. 7, 1825. At least 160 people were killed, though an official death toll has never been reached because an unconfirmed number of loggers were working in the area. -
The Great Peshtigo Fire
Believed to be the worst wild fire in U.S. history, the Great Peshtigo Fire grew out of unattended logging camp fires, eventually destroying 3.8 million acres in Wisconsin and Michigan and killing at least 1,500 people during the week of Oct. 8-14, 1871. -
The Great Fire of 1910
The blaze also known as The Big Blowup swelled out of control on Aug. 20, 1910 when high winds fuelled a convergence of smaller fires into an inferno that burned across an estimated three million acres in Washington, Idaho and Montana. Of the 87 people killed, most were firefighters - including a 28-member crew in Idaho. -
The Black Saturday Fire
From February to March 2009, numerous bush fires killed 173 people -- many of whom died in their cars as they tried to flee the flames -- and destroyed thousands of buildings as they swept across 1.1 million acres of Australia's Victoria state. While an exact cause has never been determined, officials suspect several fires began with arson. -
Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona, USA
The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by lightning on June 28, 2013. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 firefighters with the Prescott Fire Department's interagency Granite Mountain Hotshots. The wildfire was fully contained by July 10, 2013.
