The Miramichi Fire, a forest fire, breaks…
May 1825 CE
The preceding summer was a particularity hot one, with bush fires common.
On the evening of October 7, 1825, the firestorm roars through Newcastle, New Brunswick (now part of the City of Miramichi), and in less than three hours reduces the town of one thousand people to ruins—of two hundred and sixty original buildings, only twelve remain.
Only six of seventy buildings survive in the adjacent village of Douglastown.
The fire similarly destroys other communities, including Moorefield, Napan, and Black River Bridge.
Chatham, Nelson, and Doaktown escape the fire.
The cause of the blaze is not known, but is likely of human origin.
About one hundred and sixty people die in and around Newcastle, including prisoners in the Newcastle Jail.
Elsewhere, the totals are likely higher, given the number of lumbermen in the forests at the time (about three thousand).
To escape the blaze many residents take refuge with livestock and wildlife in the Miramichi River.
In total the fire(s) consume almost sixteen thousand square kilometers (about one fifth of New Brunswick's forests).
The blaze will be partly attributed to unusually hot weather in the fall and summer of 1825, coupled with outdoor fires by settlers and loggers.
The communities will soon be rebuilt, but many of those affected will move to communities bordering the Bay of Chaleur, including Campbellton, Dalhousie, Belledune, and the southern Gaspé coast.
It is also probable that some of the displaced persons established a community in the Ottawa Valley formerly known as Miramichi, now known as Pembroke, Ontario.
Although the lumber industry will recover, the fire is considered responsible for the end of the mast-making industry on the Miramichi River.
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