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This fire was started by a woman trying to signal a helicopter for help after becoming stranded in the forest. At the same time, the Rodeo fire , which started on June 18, 2002 was burning to the southwest of the Chediski fire .
On June 13, the Wallow Fire became the largest in Arizona’s history , surpassing the Rodeo Chediski Fire by about 1,000 acres. The Rodeo-Chediski Fire in 2002 burned 468,638 acres (1,897 square kilometers or 732 square miles), but destroyed 491 buildings, including 465 homes.
Deadliest fires or explosions in the world
Rank | Event |
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1 | Earthquakes resulted in fires that caused most deaths [1] Tokyo to Yokohama, Japan |
2 | Earthquake resulted in fires that caused most deaths [1] Tokyo, Japan |
3 | Nuclear power plant chemical explosion led to release of nuclear radiation [2] Kiev, U.S.S.R. |
468,638 acres
The Chinchaga Fire started in logging slash in British Columbia, Canada, on 1 June 1950 that grew out of control and ended five months later on 31 October in Alberta; in that time, it burned approximately 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) of boreal forest.
The Great Fire of 1910 burned through 3 million acres in northern Idaho and western Montana. According to the Forest History Society, the wildfire killed 87 people, mostly firefighters, and is believed to be the largest wildfire in U.S. history.
Approximately1,600 wildfires have burned more than 700,000 acres across Arizona since the beginning of the year — amounting to more land burned than in both 2018 and 2019 combined.
The lightning- cause wildfire , named the Wood Springs 2 Fire , started June 27 in the area east of Wood Springs in Apache County. Officials said the fire was burning through juniper and ponderosa pines, sage and grasslands as conditions remained clear and dry.
Officials with the Tonto National Forest say the human- caused fire began June 20 around 2 p.m., west of SR 87 in the Sugarloaf and Four Peaks Recreation areas. The blaze started due to a vehicle fire on the side of SR 87, officials confirm.
Hundreds of wildfires, of varying size, scorch the state each year. The total area consumed has increased sharply this decade. With fire season still beginning, 2020 has already shattered the all-time record with 3.2 million acres burned so far.
Table ranking “History’s Most Deadly Events”: Influenza pandemic (1918-19) 20-40 million deaths; black death/plague (1348-50), 20-25 million deaths, AIDS pandemic (through 2000) 21.8 million deaths, World War II (1937-45), 15.9 million deaths, and World War I (1914-18) 9.2 million deaths.
Forest animals typically have some ability to escape the heat. Birds may fly away, mammals can run, and amphibians and other small creatures burrow into the ground, hide out in logs, or take cover under rocks. And other animals, including large ones like elk, will take refuge in streams and lakes.
The Wallow Fire , named for the Bear Wallow Wilderness area where the fire originated, was a massive wildfire that started in the White Mountains near Alpine, Arizona on May 29, 2011. The fire eventually spread across the stateline into western New Mexico, United States.
It’s devastating to see the dead trees in and around Greer , and it still hits us when we see the bare mountains.” The fire , which had started May 29, was declared fully contained on July 8.
Rodeo–Chediski Fire | |
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Rodeo–Chediski fires on June 28, 2002, as seen from the Landsat 7 satellite | |
Location | Coconino and Navajo counties, Arizona |
Statistics | |
Date(s) | June 18, 2002-July 7, 2002 |