The Big Blowup

The Big Blowup is an Idaho historical marker in Shoshone County, dedicated 2025.

I-90, milepost 71.4

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“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.

TodayHistorical map

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USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection

Historical maps covering this location

1901 · Coeur D'Alene District, Idaho (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1903 · Coeur D'Alene District, Idaho (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1906 · Coeur D'Alene District, Idaho (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1909 · Idaho (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1956 · Saltese, Montana (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Idaho, 1909, covering the location of The Big Blowup, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Idaho, 1909, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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