Father Pernin was a priest in Peshtigo, Wisconsin in 1871.  On the same night at the Great Chicago Fire (October 8, 1871) an even more deadly fire occurred in this lumber town along the northwest shores of Green Bay.  No one knows the exact number who died in the fire—and as a consequence of its aftermath, but 2,500 is a good guess. It was the deadliest single fire in the history of the United States.  Peter Pernin, local priest, barely survived the fire and later wrote an account of the event.

Pernin’s account is a graphic description of foreboding prior to the fire, experiences of fire rumbling through wooded areas in the weeks prior to the October 8 event, absolute panic during the fire, destruction of human lives, animal lives, and property during the fire, intense physical pain and exhaustion immediately after the fire, and the start of his own physical and emotional recovery.

The book includes a forward on modern day wildfires, and calls for an assessment of the human folly that contributes to such disasters.  A quick read—64 pages.