The Big Burn | Full Documentary | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS
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Published 2023-08-30
Inspired by Timothy Egan’s best-selling book, THE BIG BURN is the dramatic story of the massive wildfire that swept across the Northern Rockies in the summer of 1910.
In the spring of 1905, the first group of fresh-faced graduates of Yale’s Forestry School began to arrive in the bawdy frontier towns of the West. These first employees of the Forest Service were given the monumental task of managing the newly created national forests in the Northern Rockies. Nothing could have prepared them for the severity of the drought there in 1910. Fires broke out continually and were fought by the rookie rangers as best they could. In mid-August, the particularly destructive fire season hit its peak: in just 36 hours, a firestorm burned more than three million acres and killed at least 78 firefighters, confronting the fledgling U.S. Forest Service with a catastrophe that would define the agency and the nation’s fire policy for much of the twentieth century.
As America tries to manage its fire-prone landscapes in the twenty-first century, THE BIG BURN provides a cautionary tale of heroism and sacrifice, arrogance and greed, hubris and, ultimately, humility, in the face of nature’s frightening power.
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All Comments (21)
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the fact that I have 500 million acres of forest I can explore in my own country is astounding and I am grateful the parks have become an incredible respite for all Americans. In todays world a trip to a park can transform you in a day...
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You guys remember the movie Dante's Peak? Blockbuster movie in the late 90s shot in Wallace Idaho. By pure coincidence I passed through there just a few weeks after I saw the movie, didn't even know the movie was shot there a couple years prior. Stopped in the bar in downtown, ended up talking to a local guy, turns out the whole town was hired as extras, next thing I know we are outside in the middle of main Street with him giving me the rundown. Next thing I know Fred comes walking over wondering what Bill and the FNG are causing all the fuss about. Next thing I know I got both of them excitedly giving me the detailed play-by-play of how it all went down. Obviously it was a HUGE deal for that great, friendly little town 👍 ,
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The great irony about this event was the forest fire policy that came out of it. That policy was the idea and determination to fight any forest fire, anywhere, at any time with absolute zeal. The result of that, over the last 110 years, has been the immense accumulation of forest undergrowth that now fuels the massive fires we are currently having. By suppressing all fires, we've unintentionally loaded the forests with fuels that were typically burned away by random lightning strike fires. Now when a small fire gets going it can rapidly turn into a major fire because of the over abundant, readily available fuels.
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My great grandfather was working in the timber mills of northern Idaho during the fire of 1910. He was preparing for the arrival from Sweden of my pregnant great grandmother and their three daughters, one being my grandmother. I remember her telling me they received a letter from my Great Grandpa Otto telling them "the whole world is on fire!" Of course, they couldn't imagine such a thing and were apprehensive about it a few weeks later when they boarded a ship and sailed to Ellis Island to ride a train across southern Canada and then an electric train into northern Idaho. Great documentary. Thanks PBS/American Experience. One of the best channels on YT.
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I worked for two years in 1980 and 81 for the Forest Service and learned Ed Pulaski's story then. I was then and still am honored to have used a Pulaski, it was my favorite tool cutting fire lines!
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Historical documentaries are my absolute favorite thing to watch on YouTube. Thanks for posting PBS!!
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So glad the tool that Ed Pulaski created was mentioned. The Pulaski has become the first tool for anyone living and working in the woods. Also, keep this video in mind when you hear modern false claims for why we are now having huge fires. Forest ecology is many times more important than what naive activists and politicians will tell us. The lessons from this video were also used by myself in writing forest management prescriptions for 2,000 square miles of forest during that part of my career.
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When I was a kid there were still snags from the 1910 fire all over Mineral County. My great grandmother was taken to her mother's house in Missoula with her children on the Northern Pacific train because they had no idea how far the fire would come down the river. Great grandma B said it was a very scary time & the men stayed to fight fire. Great video in the Big Burn, keep them coming.
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i have always lived with a strong appreciation for the U.S. forest service growing up in southern california due to the fire seasons we endure and i loved learning about the sacrifices made to establish it. thank you!
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My thoughts to anyone not from this area who enjoy a bit of perspective; As someone who has spent innumerable summers in the national forests of Northern Idaho, even for myself, it is simply unimaginable to me how these people could fight off enormous swaths of wildfires, based on the geography of these mountains. It takes forever to get around, even in a 4x4 vehicle. These people must have been absolutely tough as nails!
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One of my favorite documentaries of all time. The firefighters who fought these wildfires were brave beyond compare. And not only were they brave some of them died some of them were injured for life and never ever Given any credit or financial support for the fact that they could no longer work. And many of them who were injured had to go back to work. Edward Pulasski And all those firefighters who gave their lives are patriots an heroes
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I’m 58 and have been around and used a Pulaski all my life. Never wondered why it was named that. History is amazing.
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I have lived several decades literally along the northern boundary of where the fire stopped from the winter. I have worked, hunted, fished, hiked and spent a lot of time in the 1910 burn area. It's changed a lot in the last 6 decades. Timber grew back, and the lodge-pole pine that grew back after the fire has already died of old age, and new crops are now 20-30 feet tall. Change is constant in nature, we can't stop it or even change it much at all.
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THANK YOU TEDDY. for all our national PUBLIC parks and lands. If not fo TR they’d probably all be gone by now ???
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I think we need that. We have a national forest firefighters and wildfire monument in Washington DC. To honor to honor all of the men and women who gave their lives.
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we are still using the pulaski today on the fireline- Ive got one in my personal truck at all times- its the perfect digging/chopping tool...
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Timothy Eagan’s book ‘The Big Burn’ is a fantastic read on this horrific fire. So much more to what happened. Great Documentary though..well done!
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This one hit home. I live in Northern California, and have many friends who have lost loved ones and everything, and personally experienced the terror of of watching fires bear down and take everything, from the viewpoint of a photographers lens.
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I've been a carpenter for 50+ yrs & love our forests and try to salvage as much of the trees as possible after a awhile you run out room to store the lumber you've milled up.
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There should be a documentary like this about the Tillamook Burns in the 1930's through 1951. They devastated the forests, rivers, and the fisheries of the Tillamook region of Oregon. I planted trees in the late 1960's and early 1970's and that forest was still devastated by those fires. Even in the 2000's the Tillamook Forest is still recovering.
