Fires of 1918 - Full Documentary

The horror and hardship of the great Minnesota fires of 1918 are hard to imagine 100-years later. Words alone cannot describe the sheer terror and confusion created by flames that killed nearly 500 in northeastern Minnesota, forcing more than 50-thousand people from their homes. Ten communities were destroyed and dozens more were damaged in an inferno that covered an 1,800-square mile area. From Moose Lake to Cloquet to Duluth, every survivor marked time from that point forward as “before the fire” or “after the fire”. The date October 12, 1918 will forever be remembered in this part of the world as a date that didn’t just make history, but erased history. Now, a century later, WDSE WRPT presents a new documentary on the greatest catastrophe ever in northern Minnesota, "Fires of 1918."

[@stevenbrown6277]

My grandparents told us stories many years ago about the fire. My grandma lived in Cloquet in what was called 'Little Canada'. She said she could see the sky turn orange to the northwest. She and her family went to the train to go to Superior. Her father was a policeman and put people on the train. Her house was burned. She did not elaborate..just got a sad and faraway look on her face. My grandfather lived on a farm near Mahtowa and his family's house survived. He once told me he had gone out with men to find survivors and the dead. Again, he did not elaborate. A few decades ago while in the car with my mother and dad in Cloquet we were driving down a street and my mother pointed out a 'shack' that was behind a house. "Still a few shacks around " she said. People back then seemed just to want to move on and not dwell on the fire too much. Thank you for this documentary.

[@explorinjenkins349]

My buddy had one of those red cross buildings in his back yard. Used it as workshop, still had the bathroom pipes and tacky wallpaper. My house was built in 1920 right after the fire. The folks who helped during and after the fire are heroes. Especially that guy who drove the train through that firestorm.

[@davidschofieldinsf]

I'm here from an article about Paradise Camp Fire that mentioned this MN fire of 1918. Thank you for posting this wonderful documentary. "Hard to imagine 100 years later" written above was true on June 29th, but our fire in Paradise CA. has so many similarities, especially the wind. It moved so fast, and people were caught off-guard. Death toll in CA currently 83, but I've no doubt it will end up being in the hundreds.

[@FlameExecutioner]

Same. Well said.

[@jahjah525]

David Schofield it wiped out a WHOLE CITY. POPULATION 50K.

[@joycebox5869]

My Mom was born in Duluth. She lost her great grandfather " Martinson " in this fire. They lived in a log cabin in Mouse Lake. His wife was treating burn victims when they brought him in. His legs were gone. There family helped save others but he was lost doing so. She kept on helping others but he was gone.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

Massive wildfires burning in the middle of a deadly pandemic has a whole new relevance now.

[@derekrwatson346]

The old timer at 30:14 has the perfect old timer voice for telling stories.

[@andrewcloherty2852]

This documentary was incredibly interesting for me. Where I live in Australia our big bushfires occur during or at the very end of of summer (late January and February) instead of autumn (fall). But other than that the stories told by the survivors of Minnesota in 1918 are very similar to the survivors of the worst bushfires here; flames moving at unbelievable speeds, cyclone strength winds and virtually complete destruction. I watched this excellent documentary from start to finish. The narrator had me hooked in from the very beginning.

[@mariekatherine5238]

I recall as a child in the late 1940s/early 50s, every Fall, my Dad would rake leaves into a narrow switchback path in our backyard, and burn them off. Nearly everyone did this rather than have to dispose of huge piles of leaves. Burning them off also nourished the soil for the next year’s grass or plantings. It wasn’t all that uncommon for sections of the pine barrens to burn from lightning strikes, unsupervised burnings, and until it was changed to all diesel power, the LIRR coal to start fires. We sometimes still have pine barrens fires. The summer of 2012 was particularly rough. A few fires were set, but some were natural. They combined on a windy day under drought conditions resulting in several homes being burned with several civilian injuries.

[@Laterose15]

I grew up near Moose Lake. While I've visited the Hinckley Fire Museum, I've never known a lot about the 1918 fire until now. Right next to the Moose Lake library is an arch with information about this fire on it, including an image of the mayor's telegram and a map showing how far the fire spread. It's the only public monument I'm aware of in Moose Lake about that fire, and it was only put up in the last five years or so

[@davidperi2646]

Thank you for posting this documentary. The area and some names mentioned were familiar.

[@kentgoodrich2228]

My relative who was George Johnson .Who with another man was on the last train to get people out of that fire .Still to this day there is no memorial those two men .Nothing at the museum there other then some things I donated some years back .Then I believe the train that is town is the one they used to save everyone .And nothing there mentioned about them .

[@ikeyschultz4969]

The Hinckley fire. Dark and tragic.

[@BlazinRiver1]

So many want to jump on the direct energy weapons ban wagon. Sometimes thing are what they are. Great Video!

[@dabear2438]

Not being from that area, I'd never heard of this tragedy until today. The country was in the throes of the flu epidemic and also involved in WW1. And then this... What a sad time for MN. Heartbreaking. 💔🥀

[@218philip]

Why is there almost no stories about the earlier fire that occurred in and near Baudette Minnesota about 1905. “Grown men pulling women and children off a train to gain passage to International Falls” for most there was no escape.

[@brettpanzer]

The state historians in Saint Paul don’t care about anywhere in the 218 area code that isn’t Park Rapids/Bemidji and Duluth.

[@MinnesotaModelTrains]

Very cool video coming from my area and some nice history to learn. Thanks to Ken for telling us about how the trains would work.

[@ruralhappy2835]

One correction: at 17:22ish she states that 80 MPH wind is not hurricane wind...however NASA states that hurricane force winds start at 74 MPH.

[@explorinjenkins349]

Is that Dennis Anderson narrating?

[@DonnaBrooks]

17:22 Actually, that IS a hurricane force wind. I'm pretty sure that a tropical storm becomes a hurricane when sustained winds reach 75 mph. Someone can look that up & correct me if I'm wrong. Remember, hurricanes, like tornadoes & earthquakes, have categories. IDK the exact mph range of each category, but they go from 1 to 5, so a Category 1 hurricane has winds of 75 mph up to the Category 2 threshold. (IDK if Typhoon Haiyan created a Category 6 or not.)

[@sandybillmeier2796]

I went to the forest history center in Grand Rapids saw a short video of those

[@flyshelfplays8858]

I live there

[@fenixgirl9]

Randall Carelson in his podcast has done many episodes talking about these events, these kinds of fires, including reading personal accounts...and trying to figure out what caused it to happen...it is always due to comet activity adding gas to the atmosphere which then ignited... perhaps inversion in the atmosphere involved as well as the right weather conditions of a period of drought...intense really really fast fires that are hot enough to melt iron, even hot enough to vaporize it...this is what caused the Great Chicago fire as well and at the same exact time in Wisconsin and in Michigan were the same kind of fire...at times of the earlier similar fires small fires to burn undergrowth to prevent large wildfires was being done...fires that could be and were managed...but when there is something dumping gas into the atmosphere, volitile gases, a comet which due to inversion or something else pushed that into the lower atmosphere and then was ignited by a meteor or just electricity in the atmosphere where lightning is created or perhaps the small managed fires...in 2017 there was a fire in California that had the same intense sudden signiture as these others... these fires are so hot and so fast not like a typical wildfire at all.

[@jonanderson4474]

The news hasn't been the same since Dennis Anderson and Collin Ventrella bowed out.

[@whoever6458]

California has similar things happen pretty regularly except we usually get enough notice to at least escape with our lives, likely thanks in part to what they learned from this fire and others.

[@terilefevers6189]

So very sad.

[@sandybillmeier2796]

I know right?😭

[@darknessindalightevilwithi9571]

Today is October 11 2018 and tomorrow is the 100 th anniversary of the 1918 fire. I wander if history will repeat itself?

[@marcusrubio6979]

Paradise

[@fenixgirl9]

comet Enki which also caused the Tunguska event...every 3.2 years so it is possible this fire was caused by that same comet...very possible...

[@mrgamerguy3115]

Is that Dennis Anderson ? Sounds like him As the narrator

[@justinmartini1970]

1918 frie cloquet mn in October 12 over 1000 years old

[@justinmartini1970]

This town is buried alive

[@peteranderson210]

Must have been extra CO2 that year.

[@jaygosev3589]

The Ojibs at FDL all got in their canoes and said "eff this shit" and paddled off

[@UhOK327]

Well…had this happened in 2024, “climate change” would have for sure been invoked 🤡

[@captainmorgan757]

There is no Category 6 hurricane. Those who want to say such things are nothing but sensationalists. Even the Fujita scale, used for measuring tornadoes, has been revised DOWN to lower specifications.

[@wolfpredator5928]

Humans always be responsible for any devastation on earth

[@WG-tt6hk]

50.00 "..allocated more money & in the end about 2 million dollars , which was back then a lot of money" Hey buddy, it's still a lot of money for normal people.🤠

[@craignelson3243]

Toward the beginning of this video they talk about the practice of leaving the branches and everything all over the place when it was logged off. They still do that today. When they clear cut an area it's 30 years before you can walk through the area because of all the wood that still has not rotted away.

[@mcchristenson]

I assume we have better practices for deforestation now. Plant and harvest in sections so it is sustainable. Is that what you mean by not letting people into those areas? Owned by the companies logging?

[@user-wt7ec1pb7u]

1918 virus did not originate in Spain but rather in Kansas in the United States. In January and February of 1918