Wait what?
With all due respect Glacier, it appears you've compiled a list of the top 5 largest fires recorded during the BC Liberal government tenure.
Every now and then, I stand on a soap box and talk down the utility of the fire triangle as a public policy/wildfire discussion tool. In the words of George Box; “all models are wrong, but some models are useful.” One of the biggest weaknesses of viewing wildfire through the fire triangle is the limited number of outputs it stimulates. When the only elements we're discussing are heat, oxygen and fuel, the only output we're considering is burnt fuel . Personally I think the fire triangle is best left as an introductory model to very basic fire physics. Often times, in support of my argument I'll ask; which fire was larger, the OMP fire of 2003, or the Eg Fire of 1982? At 182,725 hectares burned, near the Liard River, the answer is obviously the Eg Fire, but was it?
Let's discuss the 1950's for a minute. The Chinchaga River (Wisp) Fire burned a total of 1,400,000 hectares. 90,000 hectares burned on the BC side of the border. That's a big fire - right? The Kech Fire burned 225,920 hectares in a tributary of the Liard River. That's a big fire too. But no-one, beyond us wildfire geeks, is even remotely aware of the fact they occurred, and they sure don't influence anyone's lives today. Yet, I can point to a fire in 1938 that only burned 30,406 hectares, in an epic 44 day battle, that is still influencing us and spawning heated conversations to this day.
That fire would be the Bloedel Fire between Campbell River and Sayward. (Often called the Sayward Fire, but the actual Sayward fire was a mere 834 hectares and burned in 1922) It was estimated the Bloedel Fire consumed 50,000 years of employment, based on 2,000 men working for 25 years. A stunning 5 billion board feet of timber forfeited. It was the first large scale use of the Canadian Military in wildfire suppression activities in BC, with three naval warships dispatched and over 1200 military personal utilized. Premier Pattullo, through Lands Minister Hon. A. Wells Gray, issued a number of orders closing the woods to both logging and recreational activities; issuing a further ban prohibiting all campfires.
Personally, I think the Bloedel fire is one of the five largest fires in BC history, due to the human elements that it shaped going forward. Premier Pattullo and Lands Minister Wells Gray, laid a framework that is still largely used to this day. They later created a new amendment to the Forest Act, that bound people engaged in logging operations to "dispose of slash to the satisfaction of the Chief Forester". Of course, the largest, most emotionally driven legacy we're still dealing with to this day; came in the form of an idea. An idea that took flight many years later with a conglomerate of forest companies lead by Bloedel - The Martin Mars as a water bomber.
When I look at wildfire, I see it through a model that includes two additional elements: the chemical chain reaction and the human element. I see outputs and outcomes, and I consider how it influences our lives, how it was catalyst for change, and how it shaped the way we govern ourselves.
Off the top of my head, and without any explanation, my list of the top 5 would be:
Vancouver Fire 1886
Fernie Fire 1908
Bloedel Fire 1938
Tat (Clowholm) Fire 1991
OMP 2003
Of course if you're strictly a size matters kind of person, you might want to look at the three I mentioned above and; Tee Fire (1971) 110,419 hectares, Lava Canyon (2009) 66,719.
ETA: This day in history was dubbed "Black Friday" - Friday July 22, 1938. Day 18 of the Bloedel Fire. Northwest winds gusting to 45 miles a hour caused the fire to double in size in eight hours.
Mrs. Fred White wrote: "We put in a night of terror... A great shroud of black smoke swept down upon us in a high wind and it became so dark that we turned on the lights at 6 o'clock in the evening."
Premier Pattullo sent out this radio message from Victoria to the Province: "The conflagration is the most serious in the history of the Province. Yesterday all logging operations in the area and all campfire permits were cancelled. The Government has taken every step for safety that can be devised to cope with the emergency, beyond this, we can only appeal to the co-operation of the public"