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Farmers were releasing their livestock from their pens in hope that some of them could survive. Others simply shot their animals to keep them from suffering.
Some of the fleeing people thought that they would be safe on the other side of the river that ran through the town. Unfortunately, the people on the other side of the river were also fleeing the fire and a large crowd of pushing, shoving, panic-stricken people met on the bridge. Soon, the bridge itself fell into the river drowning most of the crowd.
A group of about 75 people tried to avoid the fire by going into a large brick boarding house, thinking that it might be "fire-proof". But no building is completely fireproof. All of these people died when the fire reached them.
In another part of town, someone thought they might escape the fire by hiding in a deep well. One or two people might have suvived that way, but soon others had the same idea and 26 people piled into the same well. The ones on the bottom of the well soon drowned while the ones on top died from the heat and lack of air.
The great Chicago fire killed 250 people and became famous. But, because history has a bad memory, the Peshtigo fire, which happened on the same day and killed 1,182 people, has been nearly forgotten.
This is not the end of the story, however, as bad as the Chicago and Peshtigo fires were, and as odd as it might be that they both happened on the same day and started at almost the same time, the amazing thing is that neither of these terrible fires were the worst fires to happen in America on that day.
A few hundred miles east of Chicago and Peshtigo in the state of Michigan, on October 8, 1871, another fire began. It is believed that this fire also began in the evening-perhaps around 8:30pm.
This fire did not involve any large cities or towns, but was a series of forest fires that destroyed small villages and farms over a large area in western Michigan. This fire, destroyed over 40 towns and left nearly 19,000 people homeless. The greatest tragedy of all was around 1,700 men, women, and children were killed.
As you can see, history does have a bad memory. Three of America's largest fires all happened on the exact same day and started at almost the same time. Yet the only one that most people remember is the "great Chicago fire" which was really the smallest of the three.
There are other stories of terrible fires in our history that have killed hundreds or even thousands of people. These stories make interesting reading and can teach valuable lessons, but above it all, you must remember this fact: Thousands of people die by fires every year in America, but most of them do not die in large fires, with all the drama and excitement of a major news event. Nor, do most people die in fire as part of a crowd of other panic-stricken people.
The sad fact is that most fire victims die alone, at night, in their own beds. They went to bed thinking that they were safe and all was well. Then fire strikes.
