The great Matheson Fire was a deadly forest fire that passed through region surrounding the communities of Black River-Matheson and Iroquois Falls, Ontario, Canada on July 29, 1916.
As was common practice at the time, settlers cleared land using the slash and burn method. That summer, there was little rain and the forests and underbrush burned easily. In the days leading up to July 29, several smaller fires that had been purposely set merged into...
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The great Matheson Fire was a deadly forest fire that passed through region surrounding the communities of Black River-Matheson and Iroquois Falls, Ontario, Canada on July 29, 1916.
As was common practice at the time, settlers cleared land using the slash and burn method. That summer, there was little rain and the forests and underbrush burned easily. In the days leading up to July 29, several smaller fires that had been purposely set merged into a single large firestorm. It was huge, at times it front measured 64 kilometres (40 mi) across. On that fateful day, the fire moved uncontrollably upon the towns of Porquis Junction, Iroquois Falls, Kelso, Nushka, Matheson, and Ramore - destroying them completely - while causing extensive damage to Homer and Monteith. A separate fire burned in and around Cochrane. In all, the fires burned an area of approximately 2,000 square kilometres (490,000 acres).
Because of forest fire smoke that had covered the region for several weeks and the absence...
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