[2] Several cities, towns and villages, including Alpena, Holland, Manistee, and Port Huron, suffered serious damage or were lost.
Most areas had had no rain in months, making the dried-up vegetation and logging debris, known as "slash", fuel for the fires.
Some estimates put the loss of life at fewer than 500, but they were largely based on families reporting their members missing.
In 1871 in Michigan there were hundreds to thousands of lumberjacks and salesmen spread out across the state, along with settlers in remote areas, making it impossible to know the total death toll.
[8][9] Various aspects of the behaviors of the Chicago and Peshtigo fires attributed to extraterrestrial intervention have more mundane explanations.