The fire traveled 30 miles (48 km) in 36 hours and destroyed 238,920 acres (967 km2) of timber, about 12 billion board feet (28,000,000 m3), in Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania counties.

The smoke was so dense that street lights glowed at noon in Seattle 160 miles (258 km) away and ships on the Columbia River were forced to navigate only by compass.

[7] Yacolt, Washington was approached by the inferno close enough to blister paint on the town's 15 buildings, but the wind changed, causing the fire to veer north toward the Lewis River, where it burned itself out.

[8] The timber industry on the Columbia River garnered 13,590,599 board feet of shipments in October, 1902, setting a new record for production in a single month.

The area's wet winters cause rapid growth of lush timber, but this is followed by the intrusion of hot, dry weather in the summer from the arid Cascade Mountain rainshadow.