History Smashers: Wildfires

Myths! Lies! Fire-starting cows? Grab your hoses, beloved author and educator Kate Messner is about to extinguish some common misconceptions and outright myths about wildfires!

On October 8, 1871, Catherine O’Leary’s cow kicked a lantern igniting the Great Chicago Fire, right? WRONG! Turns out the story of this catastrophic cow is pure myth. 

Okay, but it was huge wildfire that did a ton of damage, right? It did destroy much of the city, but it wasn’t a wildfire and it wasn’t even the biggest blaze around. The Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin started the same day and was more than 500 times larger.

We can at least agree that wildfires are dangerous and should be put out immediately, right? Not necessarily. Some fires are important for the ecosystem. And other infernos are so massive that only a change in the weather can put them out.

Grab your helmet and join New York Times bestselling author Kate Messer as she leads the History Smashers to answer your burning questions about wildfires and separate the history from the hype.

Ready to bust new myths? Check out more titles in the History Smashers series: The Mayflower • The Titanic • The American Revolution • Ancient Egypt