The Big Blowup

Shoshone County · dedicated 2025 · I-90, milepost 71.4

“I was blind, my hands were burned. Shoes burned off our feet.” - Edward Pulaski Devastating fires swept through here in 1910, culminating in August’s Big Blowup. An area the size of Connecticut burned in two days, killing 72 Idaho firefighters. Forest ranger Edward Pulaski saved 40 men, sheltering in a tunnel west of here. He later invented the Pulaski, a tool firefighters still use. America has had larger fires, but none as consequential. After 1910, the Forest Service determined to extinguish every wildfire, resulting in biomass buildup and ever-larger blazes. In the 1970s, that policy changed, allowing some wildfires to burn.

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