1916 Matheson fire | |
|---|---|
| Total costs | N/A |
| Deaths | 223 |
The great Matheson Fire was a deadly forest fire that passed through the region surrounding the communities of Black River-Matheson and Iroquois Falls, Ontario, Canada, on July 29, 1916. As was common practice at the time, settlers cleared land using the slash-and-burn method. That summer, there was little rain, and the forests and underbrush burned easily. In the days leading up to July 29, several smaller fires that had been purposely set merged into a single large firestorm. It was huge; at times its front measured 64 kilometres (40 mi) across. The fire moved uncontrollably upon the towns of Porquis Junction, Iroquois Falls, Kelso, Nushka, Matheson, and Ramore, destroying them completely and causing extensive damage to Homer and Monteith. A separate fire burned in and around Cochrane. In all, the fires burned an area of approximately 2,000 square kilometres (490,000 acres). Because of forest fire smoke that had covered the region for several weeks and the absence of a forest fire monitoring service, there was almost no warning that the conflagration was upon the communities. Some people escaped on the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (now the Ontario Northland Railway), while others were saved by wading into the nearby Black River or one of the small lakes in the area. 223 people were killed according to the official estimate.The Matheson Fire led to the creation of the Forest Protection Branch of the Department of Lands, Forests, and Mines (now known as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry) and the Forest Fires Prevention Act in Ontario.The great fires are the subject of the books Killer in the Bush by Michael Barnes, and Il pleuvait des oiseaux by Jocelyne Saucier.
Source: Wikipedia 1861 Makian | |
|---|---|
| Total costs | N/A |
| Deaths | 326 |
Makian (also Machian), known to local people as Mount Kie Besi, is a volcanic island, one of the Maluku Islands within the province of North Maluku in Indonesia. It lies near the southern end of a chain of volcanic islands off the western coast of the province's major island, Halmahera, and lies between the islands of Tidore to the north and Kayoa and the Bacan Group to the south. The island, which forms a district (pulau makian) within South Halmahera Regency of North Maluku Province, covers an area of 84.36 sq.km, and had a population of 12,394 at the 2010 Census, which rose to 14,000 at the 2020 Census.The island is 10 kilometres (6 miles) wide, and its 1,357-metre (4,452-foot) high summit consists of a large 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) wide crater, with a small lake on its Northeast side. There are four parasitic cones on the western slopes of Makian. Makian volcano is also known as Mount Kiebesi (or Kie Besi).
Source: WikipediaThe 1939 Erzincan earthquake struck eastern Turkey at 1:57:23 a.m. on 27 December local time with...
The great Matheson Fire was a deadly forest fire that passed through the region surrounding the...
At 08:29:09 EDT on 14 August 2021, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the Tiburon Peninsula in the...
Typhoon Nina, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Bebeng, was the third-deadliest tropical...
Welcome to 