Wildfires — and what to do to prevent them –have been in the news a lot in the last few years. One of the largest blazes in U.S. history started on this date in 1881 in the upper peninsula of Michigan. After a long, dry summer, gale force winds turned several small fires into an inferno that blackened a million acres in just three days. The death toll reached 125 and thousands more were left homeless. Helping the victims of this disaster became the first mission of the American Red Cross, founded only months before — in Michigan — by Clara Barton. Today, there are more than 356 million acres of privately owned forest land across the country and close to 113 million acres of federally owned forest. Profile America is in its 16th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.