[RooRoobird14]

Thank you, SGCOS--I thought I had forgotten/screwed up my conversions----LOL:

1 acre = 43,560 s.f.

1 sq mile= 5280 x 5280 sf = 27, 883, 680 sf

Therefore, there are 640 acres per square mile

Therefore, the Hinckley fire burnt approx 256,000 acres.

To have that much burn in 4 hours is pretty scary.

[AnAmericanMother]

Another little-known major wildfire was the Peshtigo blaze in Wisconsin, in October 1871. Oddly enough, it happened the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, so there was very little in the press (then or now).

It was the largest forest fire in American history. It burned the entire north shore of Green Bay from just north of the city of Green Bay up over the Michigan border. Estimated 1300-1500 dead. At least 800 dead in the town of Peshtigo ALONE.

The Peshtigo Fire