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In 1910, a wildfire the size of Connecticut engulfed parts of Montana, Idaho and Washington. Ed Pulaski and his crew were among the many people trapped by the enormous blaze. The Big Burn, as it came to be known, helped propel a culture of fire suppression that persists in many forms to this day. What does that massive fire mean for the way our society deals with the wildfires of today? Jim See is the president of the Pulaski Project in Wallace, Idaho. Steve Pyne is a fire historian, and emeritus professor at Arizona State University. Andrew Larson is a forest ecologist, professor at the University of Montana, and director of the Wilderness Institute.

This media record is part of a series:

Fireline

Fireline probes the causes and consequences of the increasingly devastating wildfires burning in the U.S. It taps into the experience of firefighters, tribal land managers, climate scientists and others to understand how we got here and where we're going. Fireline is a six part series about what wildfire means for the West, planet and our way of life.

Media Record Details

Mar 16, 2021
Jim See, Stephen Pyne, Andrew J. Larson

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire History

NRFSN number: 23850
Record updated: