How to stop wildfires when human efforts fail? A Lesson From The Peshtigo Fire Miracle

California has not been having a good year with wildfires. In fact, 2017 has set several records. As of December 17, there have been 6,982 fires this year burning 505,910 acres.1 That’s roughly ? of the size of the state of Rhode Island. The Tubbs Fire alone, which happened in October, 2017, is the most destructive fire in California history destroying 5,643 structures.2 It is also the third most lethal fire in California history killing 22 people. If the Thomas Fire continues unabated, it is slated to be the largest wildifre in Californian history burning more 270,500 acres. The map of the 2017 fires show an alarming state of affairs.4 As of December 22, there are 4,404 personnel, 274 fire engines, 26 helicopters, 26 bulldozers and 45 water tenders involved in taming just the Thomas fire alone.5

Despite the great advancement we have had in fire prevention, management and fighting techniques, an effective solution has escaped the state of California. Truly all human efforts have failed in the face of the brutal destructive force of nature.

There is another solution to taming wildfires that Californians have not tried. This lesson was learned in the great Peshtigo fire of 1871 by a group of faithful Catholics. It happened on October 8, the same day that the great Chicago fire happened. The Chicago fire is well know in American history. Yet, the Peshtigo fire killed more people, about 2,500 by some accounts, and destroyed more property, over 1.2 million acres. This will put the Peshtigo fire well above the damage done by 6,982 wildfires in California on its worst year yet. Until today it is considered as the mother of all wildfires. It is a case study of fire management, prevention and fighting until today. Yet there is a lesson that Americans have not learned that should be repeated again. It is a lesson of fire prevention that modern man refuses to learn because it doesn’t rely entirely on science and technology. It relies on divine intervention.

On the eve of October 9, 1871 a group of Catholics gathered in a wooden church dedicated to Our Lady of Good Help and begged God to intervene. It is arguably the greatest intervention of Our Lady during a calamity in American history.

To appreciate how great this miracle was it is necessary to appreciate the destructiveness of the Peshtigo fire. The Peshtigo fire started in the city of Peshtigo, WI about an hour North of Green Bay, WI. Fr. Peter Pernin wrote a gripping first hand account published as a book called, The Great Peshtigo Fire, An Eyewitness Account. It recounts the ferocity of the fire.

The year 1871 had been particularly dry. It is uncertain how the fire started. What was known is that it was compounded by hurricane strength wind. On about October 6, Fr. Pernin saw a stump spontaneously combust. There were no sparks or any fire nearby. Inexplicably, the stump simply burst into flames. It was easy enough to put out with the aid of several people. But, it was a signal of worse things to come.

Days leading to the fateful day, they could see a red glow some distance away. They could hear a loud noise like the sound of numerous carts and trains but also distantly. The closer the noise and the glow came the more alarmed Fr. Pernin became. He decided to prepare for the worst.

He first dug a pit on the ground to bury sacred objects, statues, books, linens and vestments under a foot of dirt thinking this would be enough to spare them. It took him several hours to do this. In the meantime, he took it as a bad omen that his neighbor’s guests, instead of preparing for the impending trouble, laughed at Fr. Pernin’s expense. Apparently, they found the sight of a Catholic priest burying his belongings a ridiculous sight. Meanwhile, men who had recently arrived to work in the area and were staying at a nearby tavern busied themselves in drinking, cajoling, wrestling and even blaspheming. As the fire approached, the same men merely closed the doors to the tavern and bolted them shut as if that would have kept the danger away.

By the time Fr. Pernin finished his pit, he barely had time to release his horse and load the tabernacle into a hand cart, before the wildfire reached Peshtigo. He called for his dog but it refused to budge from under the bed, frozen in fear. He went through the city to head for the river and was promptly blown against the tavern wall, cart and all. Such was the strength of the wind that had suddenly picked up. He forced his way against the wind and came upon his horse which was also frozen in fear. It would not move despite all promptings from the priest. The conflagration was upon the village and everything was chaos. The clang of carts, the neighing of horses, the alarmed cries of beasts, and the roar of the inferno instilled a terror in the hearts of the living. People ran in all directions. Fr. Pernin tripped and fell upon the dead bodies of a mother and her daughter.

Along one side of the river, the flames from the buildings formed an impenetrable canopy of fire. Fr. Pernin went to the other side. He got to the edge of the water and found people “as far as the eye can see” standing, gazing, in stunned amazement and with mouths agape, upon the conflagration above them. He started pushing them in the water thinking that it would be the only safe place. He was right. Immediately people followed suite and everyone around him waded in the water.

The air become impossible to breath. It was a mixture of ash, sparks, smoke, fire and oppressive heat. Right then, a wooden mill burst in flames and the whole structure burned down in under 30 minutes. Normally a structure like that would take hours to burn down. The heat was so intense when Fr. Pernin decided to test the temperature of the air and stood above the water level, his back instantly burst in flames. He quickly squatted down to the water and continued to splash water over his head. They all stayed in the cold water splashing water over themselves for almost five hours. At the peak of the fire, Fr. Pernin described the air above to have looked like a tornado of fire. It became brighter than day and the brightness caused temporary blindness on the good priest. It was a scene of hell on Earth, a true inferno.

During this time, a lady next to the priest asked; “Father, is this the end of the world.” Not knowing what to say, he said perhaps not the whole world but if the surrounding countryside were burning like this then perhaps it’s the end of “our world.”

The fire eventually burned itself out in Peshtigo but the fire didn’t stop there. It somehow jumped across a bay, a distance of about 10 miles at its narrowest point. The fire continued to burn there finding more tinder to feed on. The hurricane like wind acted as a bellow for the fire. The fire created more heat. The heat intensified even more feeding on more trees. The continued on its destructive path to eventually burning 1.2 million acres in a matter of hours.

One of the villages on the path of this untamable inferno was Robinsonville, WI, now called Champion, WI. In this city is the site of the first approved apparition of Our Lady who appeared to Sr. Adele Brise (pronounced with the long i as in rise) in 1859. In honor of the apparition a wooden chapel was built there.

Many locals believed in the apparition owing much to Sr. Adele’s reputation of holiness. So in the early morning of the 9th of December, the locals, instead of fleeing to the safety of the water, fled to the safety of Our Lady of Good Help’s protection. It seems irrational to seek safety in a wooden structure in the middle of the greatest wildfire in American history. But faith sometimes goes against what is rational. This is no longer the realm of reason, abandoned as such by its technological achievements and scientific accomplishments. This is the realm of the great virtue of confidence. The locals had so much confidence in Our Lady’s protection they drove their livestock onto the chapel ground as well believing that even these would be protected.

Sr. Adele led the inhabitants in a procession with the statue while praying the rosary. First they walked outside the chapel in prayerful procession. When the air became so oppressive they were forced to continue inside. The voices of the faithful filled the air with hopeful prayer. Outside the ever hungry inferno was roaring with rage ready to devour even more kindling and victims.

Miraculously, the wooden structure refused to burn. The prayers of the faithful were heard. The heavy winds that drove the conflagration stilled. The fired abated. And soon to follow was the sweet sound of rainfall. It was as immediate as when Jesus raised his hands to calm the storm. The faithful were at awe. Salvation from the fire had finally come.

It is difficult to explain how incredible this miracle was. Fr. Pentin himself, who witnessed first hand the unyielding savagery of the Peshtigo fire went to investigate this alleged miracle with his own eyes.

He recounted what he saw in a manuscript called, The Finger of God.

“[All] the houses and fences in the neighborhood had been burned, with the exception of the school, the chapel and fences surrounding the six acres of land consecrated to the Blessed Virgin. (...) [The property]  sanctified by the visible presence of the Mother of God now shone out like an emerald island amid a sea of ashes.”6

Fr. Pernin described the grounds as an emerald island because even the very grass fenced within the grounds of the chapel was not only spared from the fire but preserved its lush healthy color. All the local inhabitants were spared. All their livestock were spared. The wooden chapel was spared. The wooden fence surrounding the grounds was spared. The very blades of grass were spared. Is there not a lesson to be learned from this?

This very miracle was instrumental in convincing Bishop David Ricken to decree on December 8, 2010 the authenticity of the apparitions of 1859 to Sr Adele Brise. This holy site is now called the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. In the decree, one can find these words that can serve as a lesson to Californians, or to anyone who needs divine help, especially when all human efforts have failed. These words are: “Our Lady has lessened or relieved the burdens of the People of God (...) even through diminishing inclement and tempestuous weather.”

Curiously, the great Peshtigo fire abated on the 12th anniversary of the second and third apparition, October 9.

1 http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_stats?year=2017

2 http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Destruction.pdf

3 http://calfire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Deadliest.pdf

4https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1TOEFA857tOVxtewW1DH6neG1Sm0&hl=en&ll=37.28557739837561%2C-119.39475185546877&z=6

5 http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/1922

6 (pg. 16, Our Lady of Good Help, Mary’s Message and Mission for Adele Brise and the World, by Fr. Edward Looney.)