In 1947, Maine suffered its largest forest fire disaster in modern history after over 90 consecutive days of record-breaking high temperatures with no rain. By mid-October, many small wildfires had started and spread out of control. Statewide, the fires of October 1947 burned over 220,000 acres, destroyed 1000 homes, left 2500 people homeless, and killed 16 people. The damage totaled over 11 million dollars at the time, and if the same area were burned today, the damage would total approximately 1.1 billion dollars. Fire has long been one of humanity’s most useful tools, but when used unwisely it has also been one of humanity’s greatest threats, and people cause over 90% of all escaped forest fires.