Episode description

In 1910, a wildfire the size of Connecticut engulfed parts of Montana, Idaho and Washington. Ed Pulaski and his crew were among the many people trapped by the enormous blaze. The Big Burn, as it came to be known, helped propel a culture of fire suppression that persists in many forms  to this day. What does that massive fire mean for the way our society deals with the wildfires of today? 

• Jim See is the president of the Pulaski Project in Wallace, Idaho.
• Steve Pyne is a fire historian, and emeritus professor at Arizona State University. 
• Andrew Larson is a forest ecologist, professor at the University of Montana, and director of the Wilderness Institute.