Despite nearly 150 years separating them, the 19th-century Thumb-area fire and the California fires of January 2025 feature many commonalities, one historian of firefighting points out.

But before that, nearly 150 years ago this month, what may have been an even more deadly fire swept across Michigan’s Thumb, in Huron, Tuscola, Sanilac and Lapeer counties.

One historian says that Michigan’s Great Fire of 1881 in some ways still burns, offering lessons about how to prevent future fires as drought and other conditions make blazes more likely.

How about the great fires of southeastern Michigan? It’s time to take heed and assessment. While It’s been over a century, the “Great Michigan Fire” burned 2.5 million acres in 1871 ...

A decade later, the Thumb Fire of 1881 would kill an estimated 275 people, making it the third deadliest wildfire in U.S. history. Similar to today's California fires, winds and dry tinder are in ...

BAY PORT, MI — During a family trip to a fish festival in Bay Port years ago, Mike Snyder came across a historical marker ...