Presenter: Alan MacEachern

On 7 October 1825, the Miramichi region of New Brunswick experienced one of the largest forest fires in recorded history while, next door, Maine suffered the most extensive fire in its history. The fires burned in the same environmental and climatic conditions, of course – and may well have been connected. Alan MacEachern will describe reconstructing the fire's history, and discuss how the international border served as a cultural firebreak, diminishing its fame in both the United States and Canada. Alan MacEachern teaches History at the University of Western Ontario. He was the founder of NiCHE: Network in Canadian History & Environment, and has written extensively on environmental history, most recently The Miramichi Fire: A History (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020).