The Miramichi Fire of 1825 National Historic Event
© Provincial Archives of New Brunswick / P61-277
The Miramichi Fire of 1825 was designated as a national historic event in 2025.
Historical importance: massive forest fire that had extensive environmental impacts and profond lasting changes to the ecosystem, impacting on settlers and Mi’kmaq; one of the largest relief effort in pre-Confederation history.
Commemorative plaque: no plaque installedFootnote 1
The Miramichi Fire of 1825
In October 1825, the Miramichi Fire burned an estimated 15,500 km2 in northeastern New Brunswick, devastating communities, killing hundreds of people, and leaving thousands more homeless. Roughly £50,000 was raised to provide assistance to the entire colony, and this is thought to have been the largest disaster relief effort in pre-Confederation Canadian history. The relief effort strengthened ties between the colony of New Brunswick and Great Britain, the United States, and the colonies of Upper and Lower Canada. This massive forest fire had extensive environmental impacts in New Brunswick, changing the composition of the forest, destroying habitats, and killing wildlife. These profound and lasting changes to the ecosystem had an impact on settlers and Mi’kmaq whose lives and livelihoods depended on the lands and waters of the Miramichi region. The colony of New Brunswick, and especially the Miramichi region, was the largest supplier of timber to Great Britain up until its record year of 1825. In the aftermath of the fire, timber exploitation moved to new frontiers while the Miramichi region’s industry shifted to the processed lumber trade. Meanwhile, there was a reinvigorated, but largely unsuccessful, drive towards settler agriculture as a more stable economic practice.
After several uncharacteristically hot and dry months, the Miramichi Fire burned across roughly one-fifth of New Brunswick. On October 7, it swept through the main settlements along the Miramichi River. It is estimated that up to 500 people died out of a population of about 8,500 people. As messages describing the event spread, individuals and organizations from other Maritime colonies, Upper and Lower Canada, the United States, and Great Britain sent donations to help the victims. A relief committee provided funds and provisions to more than 3,000 people over the next six months. No aid was reported as being distributed to local Mi’kmaw communities, illustrating the discriminatory attitudes of the time.
The fire dramatically changed the ecosystem and Mi’kmaw and settler ways of life in the region. Salmon, an important food source for local residents, and other fish populations in the Miramichi River were severely reduced for several years. Observers noted that in some areas the soil was rendered barren. In most of the affected area nature recovered relatively quickly, though the fire had noticeably altered the forest composition. Species such as white pine, beech, and spruce declined, while balsam fir, poplar, and yellow birch reportedly flourished.
The Miramichi region would never fully return to its 1825 rates of timber exportation. That year, New Brunswick exported about 417,000 tons of timber, but exports fell to two-thirds of this figure in 1826 and remained that way for more than a decade. The northwest Miramichi region experienced the colony’s largest drop in timber production from 42,560 to 7,930 tons. With the decline in large trees such as white pine, the industry moved away from producing ship masts and square timber. Instead, smaller trees were processed in local sawmills into lumber such as planks and boards. The timber frontier moved to the northernmost part of the colony and to Upper and Lower Canada where large trees were abundant. Critics of the timber trade used the disaster to emphasize the vulnerable nature of the industry while others saw agricultural opportunity in land that was newly cleared by the fire. However, the Miramichi region would continue to prioritize the forest industry, producing lumber in sawmills, and by the end of the century, shifting to pulp and paper production.
This press backgrounder was prepared at the time of the Ministerial announcement in 2025.
The National Program of Historical Commemoration relies on the participation of Canadians in the identification of places, events and persons of national historic significance. Any member of the public can nominate a topic for consideration by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
- Date modified :