The Forest History Society webinar series will be looking at the 1825 Maine-New Brunswick Miramichi Fire next week. If you’re already tired of the early summer heat here in the South, consider joining their webinar next week to learn about a major wildfire from nearly 100 years ago. Check out all of their past webinars on their YouTube Channel.
“Firebreak: How the Maine-New Brunswick Border Defined the Miramichi Fire of 1825”
On 7 October 1825, the Miramichi region of New Brunswick, Canada, experienced one of the largest forest fires in recorded history while, across the border, Maine suffered the most extensive fire in its history. The fires burned in the same environmental and climatic conditions, of course – and may well have been connected. Yet these fires, which consumed more than 4.6 million acres total, are largely forgotten today. Depending on which country they lived in, even the survivors remembered them very differently. Historian Alan MacEachern will describe efforts to reconstruct the fire’s history, and discuss how the international border served as a cultural firebreak, diminishing its fame in both the United States and Canada.
Alan MacEachern is the author of The Miramichi Fire: A History (2020). This webinar is approved for 1 hour of CFE credit. Register here. Direct all questions to the Forest History Society.