California wildfires similar to Peshtigo fire of 1871, says Rowan prof

Arson isn't usually the cause of wildfires like the ones burning in California, according to Rowan University professor Denise Gess, co-author of a book focusing on the nation's deadliest fire in Peshtigo, Wis.

"It's highly unusual for an arsonist to start these types of fires," says Gess, co-author of Firestorm at Peshtigo (2002), a detailed history of the devastating 1871 fire that killed more than 2,000 and wiped out an entire town.

"In those dry conditions, with the Santa Ana winds, the heat and the geographic typography, the tiniest little spark can start a firestorm. A little sizzle somewhere is all that it takes."

In looking at maps of the California fires, Gess, a writing arts professor at Rowan, says the fires' path is triangular in nature. The same was true with Peshtigo, which happened on Oct. 8, 1871, and was connected with the Chicago Fire and a fire in Michigan. Moving on tornado-force southwest winds, the fire destroyed more than 2,400 square miles of land, obliterating the town in less than an hour.

"It's very hard for people to think that a fire in one place and 262 miles north are the same fire. But that's what happened with Peshtigo and Chicago," says Gess. "Like California, they were all part of one system. They erupted at the same time.

"Fire is a meteorological event. The wind, dryness, and solar radiation affect it, as does the heat and the landscape," adds Gess, who talked about the Peshtigo fire on the Weather Channel this year as part of its five-part documentary series "The 100 Biggest Weather Moments."