In 1947, Maine suffered its largest forest fire disaster in modern history after more than 90 consecutive days of record-breaking high temperatures and drought. By mid-October, many small wildfires started and spread out of control. Across the state, the fires burned over 220,000 acres, destroyed 1000 homes, left 2500 people homeless, and caused 16 deaths, with damages totaling over 11 million dollars at the time. In the last 70 years, firefighting equipment, communication, training, and fire prevention efforts have improved considerably, but humans still cause over 90% of wildfires in Maine.