This is a list of major urban
conflagration
A conflagration is a large fire. Conflagrations often damage human life, animal life, health, and/or property. A conflagration can begin accidentally, be naturally caused (wildfire), or intentionally created (arson). A very large fire can produc ...
s. Before the 20th century, fires were a major hazard to urban areas and the cause of massive amounts of damage to cities.
For notable fires that involved a single structure, see
list of building or structure fires
This is a list of building or structure fires where a building or structure has caught fire. For major urban conflagrations, see List of town and city fires.
__NOTOC__
Antiquity through Middle Ages
* 586 BCFirst Temple in Jerusalem burned b ...
. Other lists record
wildfires
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...
(including forest fires) and
transportation fires, though those that caused significant urban damage also appear on that list.
Antiquity to Middle Ages
* 587 BC
The destruction of the Temple and city of Jerusalem
* 330 BC
Persepolis
, native_name_lang =
, alternate_name =
, image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg
, image_size =
, alt =
, caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.
, map =
, map_type ...
destroyed by fire after its capture by
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
.
* 146 BC
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
was systematically burned down over 17 days by the Romans at the end of the
Third Punic War
The Third Punic War (149–146 BC) was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between Carthage and Rome. The war was fought entirely within Carthaginian territory, in modern northern Tunisia. When the Second Punic War ended in 201 ...
* 64
Great Fire of Rome
The Great Fire of Rome ( la, incendium magnum Romae) occurred in July AD 64. The fire began in the merchant shops around Rome's chariot stadium, Circus Maximus, on the night of 19 July. After six days, the fire was brought under control, but before ...
, Italy
* 79
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
burned to ashes.
[ This source lists many more city fires of varying severity.]
* 406A great fire burns down much of
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
.
* 532The
Nika riots
The Nika riots ( el, Στάσις τοῦ Νίκα, translit=Stásis toû Níka), Nika revolt or Nika sedition took place against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople over the course of a week in 532 AD. They are often regarded as the ...
result in the destruction of much of
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
by fire.
* 798
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
nearly destroyed.
* 847
Borgo
Borgo may refer to the following places:
Finland
* Borgå
France
* Borgo, Haute-Corse
Italy
* Borgo (rione of Rome), a ''rione'' in the City of Rome.
*Borgo a Mozzano, in the province of Lucca
*Borgo d'Ale, in the province of Vercelli
*Borgo di ...
, Italy, the area around
Saint Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...
in Rome, was devastated by fire.
* 1041Fire destroys most of the old city of
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
, Germany, including the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
.
* 1046A fire in
Hildesheim
Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...
, Germany, destroys parts of the city, including the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
.
* 1132In June, a huge fire in
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
, China, destroyed 13,000 houses.
[Daily Life in China by Jacques Gernet, 34–35]
* 1135
Great Medieval London Fire of 1135. The first of the two Great Medieval Fires of London. This blaze was so severe that it destroyed most of the city between St Paul's and
St Clement Danes
St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current ...
in
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
.
* 1137A Great Fire in
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
, China, destroyed 10,000 houses.
* 1157First Fire of
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
, Germany, destroys the city.
* 1204
Sack of Constantinople (1204)
The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, then the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the c ...
.
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
was burned three times during the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
.
* 1212
the Great Fire of Suthwark London 1212. The second of the two Great Medieval Fires of London. As many as 3,000 people died on the
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...
while trying to flee the city.
* 1251Second Fire of
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
, Germany, triggers the use of stone as a fire-safe building material.
* 1253Great Fire of
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
, the Netherlands, lasted for 9 days and destroyed much of the city.
* 1276Third Fire of
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
, Germany, results in a comprehensive fire safety system. This was the last major fire in the city before
bombing of WW II.
* 1327Fire of
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, Germany, destroys one-third of the city, 30 deaths.
* 1405Fire of
Bern
german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese
, neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen
, website ...
, Switzerland, destroys 600 houses, over 100 deaths.
* 1421First Great Fire of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, the Netherlands.
* 1438Great Fire of
Gouda
Gouda may refer to:
* Gouda, South Holland, a city in the Netherlands
** Gouda (pottery), style of pottery manufactured in Gouda
** Gouda cheese, type of cheese originally made in and around Gouda
** Gouda railway station
* Gouda, Western Cape, a s ...
, the Netherlands, almost destroys the entire city.
* 1452Second Great Fire of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, the Netherlands, destroys three-quarters of the city.
16th century
* 1544
Burning of Edinburgh
The Burning of Edinburgh in 1544 by an English sea-borne army was the first major action of the war of the Rough Wooing. A Scottish army observed the landing on 3 May 1544 but did not engage with the English force. The Provost of Edinburgh wa ...
- An English amphibious raid destroyed portions of the city and many surrounding villages.
* 1547
The 1547 Moscow fire sparked a rebellion.
* 1571
The 1571 Moscow fire occurred when the forces of the
Crimean
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
khan
Khan may refer to:
*Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan
*Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name
*Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...
Devlet I Giray
Devlet I Giray (1512–1577, r. 1551–1577, ; ', ) was a Crimean Khan. His long and eventful reign saw many highly significant historical events: the fall of Kazan to Russia in 1552, the fall of the Astrakhan Khanate to Russia in 1556, th ...
raided the city.
17th century
* 1608First settlement in
Jamestown, New York
Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest pop ...
burnt.
* 1615
Great Fire of Wymondham, Norfolk, England, two simultaneous fires destroyed 300 properties.
* 1624
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, Norway, destroyed by fire.
* 1625
First Great Stockholm Fire, Sweden, burned for three days and destroyed a fifth of the infrastructure.
* 1652
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland, a third of the city destroyed and over 1,000 families left homeless.
* 1653
Great Fire of Marlborough, England, destroyed the Guildhall, St Mary's Church, the County Armoury, and 224 dwellings.
* 1656Fire of
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
destroys 4,664 houses, kills 17.
* 1657
Great Fire of Meireki destroys two-thirds of the Japanese capital
Edo
Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo.
Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...
(modern-day Tokyo).
* 1660Fire in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, Turkey, destroys two-thirds of the city and kills an estimated 40,000 people.
* 1663Great Fire of Nagasaki destroys the port of
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
in Japan.
![Great Fire London](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Great_Fire_London.jpg)
* 1666
Great Fire of London of 1666, which originated in a baker's shop on
Pudding Lane
Pudding Lane is a small street in London, widely known as the location of Thomas Farriner's bakery, where the Great Fire of London started in 1666. It runs between Eastcheap and Thames Street in the historic City of London, and intersects Monum ...
and destroyed much of London.
* 1675
Great Fire of Northampton
The Great Fire of Northampton occurred in September 1675 in Northampton in Northamptonshire, England. The blaze was caused by sparks from an open fire on St. Mary’s Street, near Northampton Castle. The fire devastated the town centre, destroying ...
, England. The blaze was caused by sparks from an open fire in St. Mary's Street near Northampton castle. In 6 hours it devastated the town centre, destroying about 600 buildings (three-quarters of the town) including All Saints church. 11 people died and about 700 families were made homeless.
* 1676
Jamestown, Virginia
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James (Powhatan) River about southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. It was ...
was burned by
Nathaniel Bacon and his followers during
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion held by Colony of Virginia, Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon (Virginia colonist), Nathaniel Bacon against List of colonial governors of Virginia, Colon ...
to prevent Governor Berkley from using it as a base.
* 1677Fire of
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
, Germany, destroys 700 houses and accelerates the city's economic decline at the end of the
Hanseatic period.
* 1678
Hardegsen
Hardegsen () is a town in the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km southwest of Northeim, and 15 km northwest of Göttingen.
Burg Hardeg is a medieval castle in Hardegsen. The castle was fo ...
. Germany, experienced a fire during the Christmas fair that destroyed most of the town centre. There were no injuries as people were in church.
* 1684
Toompea
Toompea (from german: Domberg, "Cathedral Hill") is a limestone hill in the central part of the city of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The hill is an oblong tableland, which measures about 400 by 250 metres, has an area of and is about 20–30 ...
(part of modern
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
), a fire destroyed most of the hilltop-town.
* 1689
Fire of Skopje of 1689, present-day capital of North Macedonia is burned.
* 1692Two-thirds of
Usingen
Usingen is a small town in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hessen, Germany. Until 1972, this residential and school town was the seat of the former district of Usingen.
Coat of arms
The earliest seal whose appearance is known – there had been earlier on ...
, Germany, is razed, later replaced by a baroque town centre.
* 1694
Great Fire of Warwick
The Great Fire of Warwick was a major conflagration that swept through the small town of Warwick, England, beginning at 2:00 p.m. on 5 September 1694 and lasting for six hours. The fire started from a stray spark from the blacksmith located in ...
, England
* 1696
St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland.
The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...
, and 35 other settlements were burned by French forces under
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1706) or Sieur d'Iberville was a French soldier, explorer, colonial administrator, and trader. He is noted for founding the colony of Louisiana in New France. He was born in Montreal to French ...
.
18th century
* 1702
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
, Sweden, devastated in large part and the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
and
Uppsala Castle
Uppsala Castle ( sv, Uppsala slott) is a 16th-century royal castle in the city of Uppsala, Sweden. Throughout much of its early existence, the castle played a major role in the history of Sweden. Originally constructed in 1549, the castle has bee ...
severely damaged.
* 1702
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
, at the time the largest city in Norway, seven-eighths destroyed during a storm.
* 1707
Xàtiva
Xàtiva (, es, Játiva ) is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right (western) bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia–Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways. It is located 25 km west ...
, the second most important city in the former
Kingdom of Valencia
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
, was burnt down as an exemplary punishment by the
Bourbon Bourbon may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash
* Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels
* Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit
* A beer produced by Bras ...
king
Philip V of Spain
Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...
after
besieging and conquering it.
* 1711Great Boston Fire of 1711. Destroyed the
First Town-House
* 1726
Reutlingen
Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818.
Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...
, Germany,
Free Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
, 80% of all residential houses and almost all public buildings destroyed, making 1,200 families homeless.
* 1728
Copenhagen Fire of 1728
The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen, Denmark. It began on the evening of 20 October 1728 and continued to burn until the morning of 23 October. It destroyed approximately 28% of the city (measured by coun ...
, Denmark, two-fifths of the city burned down during three days. 3,650 families became homeless.
* 1731
Blandford Forum
Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this ...
, Dorset, England, a large majority of the town was destroyed on 4 June. The aftermath of this fire had an
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
passed stating that rebuilding work must be in brick and tile.
* 1731
Tiverton fire, Devon, England, burned nearly 300 houses.
* 1734
Montreal, New France
* 1752Fire destroys 18,000 houses in Moscow, 5–6 May.
* 1754
The Great Fire of Hindon swept through the village of
Hindon, Wiltshire
Hindon is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of Salisbury and south of Warminster. It is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Hindon was a market town but is now a vill ...
, burning 144 houses and buildings to the ground.
* 1759
The Second Great Stockholm Fire (
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
: ''Mariabranden'' meaning ''brand'' = fire) in Södermalm,
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, Sweden, destroyed about 300 buildings.
* 1760 Fire in the town of
Porvoo
Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...
, Finland (then part of Sweden) burned down most of the settlement on June 11. Propagated by long drought and strong wind.
* 1760
Great Boston Fire of 1760, 349 buildings destroyed
* 1775
Great Fire of Tartu, Estonia, nearly 200 buildings destroyed
![Vue_de_l%27incendie_de_la_ville_du_cap_français_f1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Vue_de_l%27incendie_de_la_ville_du_cap_fran%C3%A7ais_f1.highres.jpg)
* 1776
First Great Fire of New York City of 1776
* 1776Around two-thirds of
Varaždin
)
, image_photo =
, image_skyline =
, image_flag = Flag of Varaždin.svg
, flag_size =
, image_seal =
, seal_size =
, image_shield = Grb_Grad ...
, the capital of
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
at the time, destroyed in a fire of unknown origin.
* 1787Great Boston Fire of 1787. 100 buildings destroyed in the southern part of Boston.
* 1788
First Great New Orleans Fire of 1788, 856 out of 1,100 structures burned.
* 1788
Great Fire of Tenmei, Kyoto, Japan, 150 killed, 37,000 houses burned, on March 6.
* 1793Cap Français (modern-day
Cap-Haïtien
Cap-Haïtien (; ht, Kap Ayisyen; "Haitian Cape"), typically spelled Cape Haitien in English and often locally referred to as or , is a commune of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the department of Nord. Previousl ...
,
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
).
* 1794
Second Great New Orleans Fire of 1794, 212 structures destroyed.
* 1795
Copenhagen fire of 1795
The Copenhagen Fire of 1795 (''Københavns brandes 1795'') started on Friday, 5 June 1795, at or around 3 pm by the Navy's old base south east of Kongens Nytorv on Gammelholm, in the Navy's magazine for coal and timber, the so-called Dellehave. A ...
19th century
1800s
* 1805
Great Fire of 1805
The Great Fire of 1805 occurred on , in the city of Detroit, in the Michigan Territory of the United States. The fire destroyed almost everything in the city.
The motto of the city, ''Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus'' ('We hope for bett ...
:
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, Michigan Territory, then a wooden frontier settlement, burned except for a river warehouse.
[https://archive.today/20210916123341/https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/great-fire-1805]
* 1807The
Second Battle of Copenhagen
The Second Battle of Copenhagen (or the Bombardment of Copenhagen) (16 August – 7 September 1807) was a British bombardment of the Danish capital, Copenhagen, in order to capture or destroy the Dano-Norwegian fleet during the Napoleonic War ...
led to the burning of over a thousand buildings in the city, including the
Church of Our Lady.
1810s
* 1811
Great Fire of Podil in
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. Over 2,000 buildings, 12 churches and 3 abbeys destroyed; about 30 deaths.
* 1812
The Fire of Moscow of 1812 was burned to deny shelter to
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
.
* 1812–1814The
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
involved several major urban fires:
** 1813
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
** 1813
York, Upper Canada
York was a town and second capital of the colony of Upper Canada. It is the predecessor to the Old Toronto, old city of Toronto (1834–1998). It was established in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe as a "temporary" location for th ...
** 1814
Burning of Washington
The Burning of Washington was a British invasion of Washington City (now Washington, D.C.), the capital of the United States, during the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812. It is the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a ...
* 1813
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...
* 1814
Great fire of Tirschenreuth
The Great fire of Tirschenreuth took place on 30 July 1814 and destroyed nearly all of Tirschenreuth, a small town and regional centre in the east of Bavaria, close to the frontier with Bohemia. The great fire was the greatest catastrophe in the ...
in
Tirschenreuth
Tirschenreuth ( Northern Bavarian: ''Dirschnrad'', ''Diascharad'') is the capital city of the district of Tirschenreuth. It is located in the northeast of Bavaria, very close to the Czech-Bavarian border.
Geography
Tirschenreuth is located in the ...
, Bavaria, totally destroys the town apart from the parish church and 3 neighboring buildings.
* 1817
St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland.
The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...
1820s
* 1820
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...
, a Spanish settlement, was almost completely destroyed on February 27.
[''Verdadera y Auténtica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. By Dr. Eduardo Neumann. 1913. (In Spanish) Reprinted by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (1987)Page 194.][Puerto Rico. Cuerpo de Bomberos. Historia. Datos Historicos. (In Spanish)](_blank)
. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
* 1820Great Savannah Fire burned almost 500 structures, with damages of about million.
* 1821
Paramaribo
Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...
,
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
, fire destroyed over 400 houses.
* 1821Great Fire of
Fayetteville destroyed 500 buildings in the city.
* 1827
Great Fire of Turku
The Great Fire of Turku ( fi, Turun palo, sv, Åbo brand and russian: Пожар Або) was a conflagration in the city of Turku in 1827. It is still the largest urban fire in the history of Finland and the Nordic countries. The city had burned ...
, Finland
* 1829Fire destroyed hundreds of buildings in
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...
.
1830s
* 1831A fire in
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city.
Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...
destroyed hundreds of buildings, and almost completely leveled the city.
* 1835
Second Great Fire of New York City of 1835
* 1838
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, over 1,000 buildings damaged.
1840s
* 1842
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
fire, about a quarter of the inner city destroyed, 51 killed, and an estimated 20,000 homeless.
![Pittsburgh after Great Fire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Pittsburgh_after_Great_Fire.jpg)
* 1845
Great New York City Fire of 1845
The Great New York City Fire of 1845 broke out on July 19, 1845, in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The fire started in a whale oil and candle manufacturing establishment and quickly spread to other wooden structures. It reached a warehouse on ...
, 345 buildings destroyed
* 1845
Great Fire of Pittsburgh
The Great Fire of Pittsburgh occurred on April 10, 1845, destroying a third of the city and causing between $6 million and $12 million in damage. While having little effect on the culture of the city except to spur further growth, it would provide ...
destroyed over 1,000 buildings.
* 1845A fire at
La Playa, the city port of
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...
, wiped out most of the Ponce vicinity in March.
* 1846
Great Fire of 1846 The Great Fire of 1846 occurred in St. John's, Newfoundland, a colony of the United Kingdom on 9 June 1846. The fire started at the shop of a cabinetmaker named Hamlin, located on George Street off Queen Street, when a glue pot boiled over. The fir ...
in
St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland.
The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...
, destroyed about 2,000 buildings and left 12,000 homeless.
* 1847
Great Fire of Bucharest
The Great Fire of Bucharest ( ro, Marele incendiu din București or simply ) was the largest conflagration ever to occur in Bucharest, Romania, then the capital of Wallachia. It started on 23 March 1847 and destroyed 1850 buildings, a third of t ...
, Romania.
* 1848Fire in
Medina, Ohio
Medina ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Medina County, Ohio, United States. The population was 26,094 at the 2020 Census. It lies about 33 miles (53 km) south of Cleveland and 23 miles (37 km) west of Akron within the Clevelan ...
, destroyed the entire business district.
* 1849
St. Louis Fire of 1849, saw the first US firefighter killed in the line of duty.
* 1849
First Great Fire of Toronto of 1849
1850s
* 1850
Kraków Fire of 1850
The Kraków Fire of 1850 started on 18 July and lasted several days. It is estimated to have destroyed about 10 percent of the city of Kraków, which was then part of the Austrian Empire's district of the Grand Duchy of Kraków, Grand Duchy.
Back ...
, Poland, affects 10% of the city area.
* 1851
San Francisco Fire of 1851
The San Francisco Fire of 1851 (May 3–4, 1851) was a catastrophic conflagration that destroyed as much as three-quarters of San Francisco, California.
History
During the height of the California Gold Rush, between December 1849 and June 1851, ...
destroys 2,000 buildings.
* 1852
Vaasa
Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas), , Finland
* 1852
Great Montreal Fire of 1852 in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
left 10,000 of the city's 57,000 residents homeless.
* 1854The
Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead
The great fire of Gateshead and Newcastle was a tragic and spectacular series of events starting on Friday 6 October 1854, in which a substantial amount of property in two North East England towns was destroyed in a series of fires and an ex ...
, England, started by a spectacular explosion, killed 53 and leveled substantial property in both towns.
* 1858A large fire in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, New Zealand, destroyed 3 hotels, 20 shops, more than 50 houses, the police station, theater, post office and several other buildings in the centre of town, an entire city block. At the time Auckland had a population of about 6,300.
1860s
* 1862
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...
, 671 buildings destroyed
* 1864
Great Fire of Brisbane in
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, Australia, burned over four city blocks with over 50 houses and dozens of businesses razed
* 1861–1865The
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
involved several major city fires:
** 1861
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
** 1864
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, burned after time given for evacuation of citizens by order of
William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...
** 1865
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
, burned while being occupied by troops commanded by
William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...
** 1865
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
, burned by retreating Confederates.
* 1866
Great Portland Fire of 1866, Maine, destroyed the commercial district and left 10,000 homeless.
* 1868
Auerbach in der Oberpfalz
Auerbach in der Oberpfalz () is a town in the Amberg-Sulzbach district, Bavaria, Germany. It is located 45 km northeast of Nuremberg. In the subdivision Michelfeld there was a Michelfeld Abbey, Benedictine monastery which is now a nursing hom ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. Arson destroyed 107 houses and 146 other buildings; 4 deaths.
* 1869
Great Fire of Whitstable of 1869, Kent, England, fed by strong winds, destroying 71 buildings.
1870s
* 1870Fire in
Medina, Ohio
Medina ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Medina County, Ohio, United States. The population was 26,094 at the 2020 Census. It lies about 33 miles (53 km) south of Cleveland and 23 miles (37 km) west of Akron within the Clevelan ...
, started in a wooden building with a barber shop and consumed all but two blocks of the business district, nearly wiping out the entire town.
* 1871Fires deliberately set during the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
in May destroyed the Royal Palace of the
Tuileries
The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...
, the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
Library, the Palais de Justice, the
Hôtel de Ville, the
Gare de Lyon
The Gare de Lyon, officially Paris-Gare-de-Lyon, is one of the six large mainline railway stations in Paris, France. It handles about 148.1 million passengers annually according to the estimates of the SNCF in 2018, with SNCF railways and RER D ...
, and the Palais d'Orsay.
* 1871Strong winds fed several simultaneous fires in Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois on October 8–9:
** 1871
Great Chicago Fire of 1871
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...
destroyed the downtown on October 8 and died out the following night. About 250 dead.
** 1871
Peshtigo Fire of 1871, several towns destroyed in a firestorm that reached
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, 1,500–2,500 dead. Deadliest wildfire in American history.
** 1871
Great Michigan Fire of 1871 was a series of simultaneous fires, the most prominent of which was the
Port Huron Fire, which killed over 200 people in
Port Huron, Michigan
Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately.
Located along the St. Clair ...
.
** 1871The Urbana fire destroyed central
Urbana, Illinois
Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...
, on October 9.
* 1872
Great Boston Fire of 1872
The Great Boston Fire of 1872 was Boston's largest fire, and still ranks as one of the most costly fire-related property losses in American history. The conflagration began at 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, November 9, 1872, in the basement of a com ...
, destroyed 776 buildings and killed at least 20 people.
* 1874
Chicago Fire of 1874, July 14, was in some respects very similar to the 1871 fire, but was stopped by a new fire-proof wall. It destroyed 812 structures and killed 20 people.
* 1875Great Whiskey Fire, Dublin, 18 June, killed 13 people, and destroyed a malt house, a bonded warehouse, houses and a tannery in Mill Street and Chamber Street.
* 1877 –
Paris, Texas
Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020.
History
Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River Co ...
, the first of three fires that destroyed much of the town.
* 1877
Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...
, fire destroyed 1,600 buildings.
* 1878
The Great Fire of Hong Kong destroyed 350 to 400 buildings across more than of central Hong Kong.
* 1879Hakodate fire,
Hakodate
is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...
,
Hokkaidō
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
, Japan, caused 67 fatalities, 20,000 homeless.
1880s
* 1880On 25 September, another fire took place destroying most of the older civil records (births, baptisms, marriages, etc.) of the
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...
, parish.
* 1881
Thumb Fire The Thumb Fire took place on September 5, 1881, in the Thumb area of Michigan in the United States. The fire, which burned over a million acres (4,000 km²) in less than a day, was the consequence of drought, hurricane-force winds, heat, the af ...
in Michigan burned over a million acres during a drought, 282 killed.
* 1883In mid August, a Great Fire broke out in
Kuala Terengganu
, image_seal = Seal of Kuala Terengganu City Council.png
, image_flag = Flag of Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu.svg
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = From top, left to right:The Crystal Mosq ...
,
Terengganu
Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith"). ...
, destroying the royal palace and 1,600 buildings, many housing gunpowder.
* 1886
Fire in Calgary, Alberta
* 1886
Great Vancouver Fire
The Great Vancouver Fire destroyed most of the newly incorporated city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on June 13, 1886. It started as two land clearing fires to the west of the city. The first fire was further away from the city and wa ...
,
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
* 1888
Sundsvall Fire of 1888, Sweden, left 9,000 homeless.
* 1889
Great Seattle Fire
The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington on June 6, 1889. The conflagration lasted for less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night, and during the same sum ...
, Washington, destroyed the central business district
* 1889
Great Spokane Fire
The Great Spokane Fire—known locally as The Great Fire—was a major fire which affected downtown Spokane, Washington (called "Spokane Falls" at the time) on August 4, 1889. It began just after 6:00 p.m. and destroyed the city's downtown c ...
, Washington, destroyed the downtown commercial district.
* 1889
Great Ellensburg Fire
The Great Ellensburg Fire, also known as the Independence Day Fire, was a fire that destroyed homes and the business district of Ellensburg in 1889, during the same summer that major fires damaged Spokane, Vancouver, and Seattle, all major cities i ...
, Washington, resulted in the city's bid to become the state capital ending in failure.
* 1889
Great Bakersfield Fire of 1889
The Great Bakersfield Fire of 1889 was a conflagration in Bakersfield, California. The fire would burn for three hours and destroyed most of the town (later reincorporated as a city). In total, 196 buildings were destroyed, one man was killed and ...
, California, destroyed 196 buildings and killed 1 person.
* 1889The First Great Fire of
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
, destroyed about 100 buildings and took over 2 weeks to put out.
1890s
* 1892
Great Fire of 1892 in St. John's, Newfoundland
* 1893
Clarksville, Virginia, fire destroyed many of the blocks between the river (now the Kerr Reservoir) and 5th Street in the historic commercial core.
* 1894
Great Hinckley Fire
__NOTOC__
The Great Hinckley Fire was a conflagration in the pine forests of the U.S. state of Minnesota in September 1894, which burned an area of at least (perhaps more than ), including the town of Hinckley, Minnesota, Hinckley. The official ...
, Minnesota was a firestorm that destroyed several towns; over 400 killed.
* 1894Great Fire in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
destroyed over 1,000 buildings.
* 1896 –
Paris, Texas
Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020.
History
Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River Co ...
, the second of three fires that destroyed much of the town.
* 1897The Great Fire of
Windsor, Nova Scotia
Windsor is a community located in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a service centre for the western part of the county and is situated on Highway 101.
The community has a history dating back to its use by the Mi'kmaq Nation for sev ...
, Canada, destroyed 80% of the town.
* 1898Great Fire of
New Westminster
New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
* 1898Great fire of
Park City, Utah
Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...
* 1899
El Polvorin Fire in
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...
, occurred on
January 25
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.
* 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...
. The fire started at the U.S. Munitions Depot (on the lot currently occupied by the
Ponce High School
The Ponce High School is public educational institution in Ponce, Puerto Rico, offering grades nine through twelve. The school's main building is a historic structure located on Cristina Street, in the Ponce Historic Zone. From its beginning t ...
). The heroes in that fire are remembered with monuments and an
obelisk
An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
in
Plaza Las Delicias
Plaza Las Delicias is the main plaza in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas and Ponce Cathedral buildings are located within the plaza, ...
.
20th century
1900s
* 1900
Hull–Ottawa Fire of 1900, Canada. Starting in Hull, Quebec, the fire crossed the river to Ottawa, Ontario, and destroyed large areas of both cities.
* 1900
Sandon, British Columbia
Sandon is in the foothills of the Selkirk Mountains in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The near ghost town lies off BC Highway 31A, and is at the confluence of Sandon Creek into Carpenter Creek. By road, the place is ab ...
, Canada, destroyed by fire.
* 1901
Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901 in
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...
, destroyed the downtown area with flames seen for hundreds of miles.
* 1902The Great Conflagration of 1902, Paterson, New Jersey
* 1904
Great Baltimore Fire of 1904
* 1904
Second Great Fire of Toronto of 1904
* 1904Yazoo City, Mississippi (USA) fire, 25 May, destroyed entire business district of ca. 125 buildings; US$2,000,000 in damages.
* 1904
Ålesund Fire
The Ålesund fire happened on 23 January 1904 in the Norwegian city of Ålesund. It destroyed almost the whole city centre, built mostly of wood, like the majority of Norwegian towns at the time. The town has since been rebuilt and it is now the ...
, 850 buildings destroyed, c. 10,000 made homeless; the fire started during a violent storm.
* 1906
San Francisco earthquake and fire
At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...
* 1906
Dundee Fire of 1906, Scotland, began at a whiskey warehouse with alcohol explosions spreading flames, several blocks burned.
* 1907Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, a fire that broke out in the evening of August 25 burned for six hours, destroying an estimated 60–70% of the city, leaving 60,000+ homeless and causing at least 8,000,000 yen in property damage, including many of the city's historical buildings destroyed.
* 1908First Great Chelsea Fire on April 12. Nearly half the city of
Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. As of the 2020 census, Chelsea had a population of 40,787. With a total area of just 2.46 s ...
, was destroyed.
* 1909
Phoenix, British Columbia
Phoenix is a ghost town in the Boundary Country of British Columbia, Canada, 11 km east of Greenwood. Once called the “highest city in Canada” by its citizens (1,412 metres / 4,633 feet above sea level) it was a booming copper mining com ...
destroyed by fire, then rebuilt.
1910s
* 1911Oscoda/AuSable, Michigan
* 1911
Great Fire of 1911
The Great Fire of 1911 took place in Bangor, Maine, United States, on April 30 and May 1, 1911. A small fire that started in a downtown shed went out of control and destroyed hundreds of commercial and residential buildings.
History
It started ...
in
Bangor, Maine
Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121).
Modern Bangor ...
, destroyed hundreds of buildings.
* 1911
Great Porcupine Fire
The Great Porcupine Fire of 1911 was one of the most devastating forest fires ever to strike the Ontario northland. Spring had come early that year, followed by an abnormally hot dry spell that lasted into the summer. This created ideal condition ...
in
Porcupine, Ontario
The city of Timmins, Ontario, Canada contains many named neighbourhoods. Some former municipalities that were merged into Timmins continue to be treated as distinct postal and telephone exchanges from the city core.
According to Barnes, "With the ...
. Destroyed up to 494,000 acres of forest.
* 1912
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, Texas, 56 city blocks; Houston's largest fire
* 1912
Maryland Agricultural College
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to it ...
, now the University of Maryland.
* 1914
Great Salem Fire of 1914, Massachusetts
* 1916
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
, Norway. About 300 buildings razed.
* 1916
Matheson Fire
The great Matheson Fire was a deadly forest fire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Dep ...
,
Matheson, Ontario. Destroyed approximately 490,000 acres of land.
* 1916
Paris, Texas
Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020.
History
Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River Co ...
Fire of 1916. Largest of 3 historical fires that destroyed most of the central business district and a large residential section.
* 1917The
Halifax Explosion
On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship collided with the Norwegian vessel in the waters of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The ''Mont-Blanc'', laden with high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastating the Richmond ...
, the largest man-made explosion before the atomic bomb, sparked fires throughout
Halifax, Nova Scotia.
* 1917
Great Atlanta fire of 1917
The Great Atlanta Fire of 1917 began just after noon on 21 May 1917 in the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta, Georgia. It is unclear just how the fire started, but it was fueled by hot temperatures and strong winds which propelled the fire. The fire, ...
, during which over 300 acres (1.2 km
2, 73 blocks) were destroyed.
* 1917
Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917
250px, The fire as seen from the quay in 1917.
250px, The fire as seen from the Thermaic Gulf.
The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 ( el, Μεγάλη Πυρκαγιά της Θεσσαλονίκης, 1917) destroyed two thirds of the city of T ...
,
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
, Greece. About 9,500 buildings were destroyed.
* 1917 In
Gyöngyös
Gyöngyös (; german: Gengeß) is a town in Heves county in Hungary, east of Budapest. Situated at the foot of the Sár-hegy and Mátra mountains, it is the home of numerous food production plants, including milk production and sausage factories ...
, Hungary, a fire destroyed a number of buildings, leaving around 8,000 people homeless.
1920s
* 1920The
Burning of Cork
The burning of Cork () by British forces took place on the night of 11–12 December 1920, during the Irish War of Independence. It followed an Irish Republican Army (IRA) ambush of a British Auxiliary patrol in the city, which wounded twelve Au ...
, Ireland, a fire set on December 11by the British
Auxiliaries
Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, u ...
in revenge after an ambush by the IRA destroyed much of the old city centre of
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
.
* 1921
Tulsa Race Riot
The Tulsa race massacre, also known as the Tulsa race riot or the Black Wall Street massacre, was a two-day-long massacre that took place between May 31 – June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, some of whom had been appointed as deput ...
resulted in the destruction of 35 city blocks and 1,256 residences by arson.
*1922 - The
Fire of Manisa
The Fire of Manisa ( tr, Manisa yangını) refers to the burning of the town of Manisa, Turkey, which started on the night of Tuesday, 5 September 1922 and continued until 8 September. It was started and organized by the retreating Hellenic Army ...
, Manisa, Turkey
* 1922The
Great Fire of Smyrna
The burning of Smyrna ( el, Καταστροφή της Σμύρνης, "Smyrna Catastrophe"; tr, 1922 İzmir Yangını, "1922 Izmir Fire"; hy, Զմիւռնիոյ Մեծ Հրդեհ, ''Zmyuṙno Mets Hrdeh'') destroyed much of the port city of ...
, Izmir, Turkey
* 1922Most of downtown
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corne ...
burns
* 1922The
Great Fire of 1922
The Great Fire of 1922 was a wildfire burning through the Lesser Clay Belt in the Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada, from October 4 to 5, 1922. It has been called one of the ten worst natural disasters in Canadian history.
The preceding summer ...
in the
Timiskaming District, Ontario
Timiskaming is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district was created in 1912 from parts of Algoma, Nipissing, and Sudbury districts. In 1921, Cochrane District was created from pa ...
, Canada, killed 43 people and burnt down 18 townships.
* 1923
1923 Tokyo fire following the
Great Kantō earthquake
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
razed half the city with over 100,000 deaths.
* 1923
1923 Berkeley Fire
__NOTOC__
The 1923 Berkeley Fire was a conflagration that consumed some 640 structures, including 584 homes in the densely-built neighborhoods north of the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California on September 17, 1923.
Alth ...
, California, destroyed at least 640 structures.
* 19251925 Decatur St. Fire, Atlanta, Georgia, left 6 firefighters dead, 8 others seriously injured.
* 1928
Great Fall River fire of 1928, Massachusetts
1930s
* 1931
Napier and
Hastings, New Zealand
Hastings (; mi, Heretaunga) is an inland city of New Zealand and is one of the two major urban areas in Hawke's Bay, on the east coast of the North Island. The population of Hastings (including Flaxmere) is (as of with a further people in H ...
. Fire engulfed much of these twin cities in the aftermath of the
1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake
Events
January
* January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
* January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
* January 22 – Si ...
.
* 1931Downtown fire in
Marshfield, Wisconsin
Marshfield is a city in northwest Wood and southwest Marathon counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 10, Highway 13 and Highway 97. The largest city in Wood County, its population was 18,929 at t ...
, killed 6 on March 28.
* 1931Half of downtown
Lillooet, British Columbia
Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On British ...
, Canada, was destroyed by fire.
* 1934
Hakodate, Hokkaido
is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...
, a household fire began on March 21 and spread to the surrounding areas including a local court, department store, school and hospital. Over two days 2,166 people lost their lives, with 9,485 injured, 145,500 people made homeless, and 11,055 buildings lost.
* 1938
1938 Changsha Fire, 56,000 buildings burned by the Chinese army during the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
to prevent the Japanese from getting resources, 3,000 civilians killed.
* 1939
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
Bombing of Warsaw on September 1, 1939, at the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, left an estimated 1,500 killed.
* 1939Great Lagunillas Fire at
Ciudad Ojeda
Ciudad Ojeda is a city located in the northeastern shore of Lake Maracaibo in Zulia State in northwestern Venezuela. Its population as of the 2005 census was listed as 128,941.
History
Ciudad Ojeda was founded on January 19, 1937, by former pr ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, on November 14.
1940s
* 1940–1945
Air raids during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
resulted in many major city fires:
** 1940Bombing of
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
, 14 May, forcing the capitulation of the Dutch government. 800 killed, 24.000 houses destroyed, 80,000 left homeless.
** 1940
The Second Great Fire of London
The Second Great Fire of London in December 1940 was caused by one of the most destructive air raids of the Blitz during World War II. The Luftwaffe raid caused fires over an area greater than that of the Great Fire of London in 1666, leading o ...
, one of the most-destructive air raids of
The Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
. 1,500 were killed.
** 1942German
air bombardment of
Stalingrad
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
,
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, resulting in
firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...
and 955 fatalities (original Soviet estimate).
** 1943
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, 45,000 killed (largest in an air-raid on Germany)
** 1943
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
, 10,000 killed
** 1944
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...
, 2,600 killed but 30,000 rescued
** 1944
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
, 12,000 killed
** 1944
Heilbronn
Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state.
From the late Mid ...
, 6,500 killed
** 1945
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, around 30,000 killed in
firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...
during one of the most-controversial Allied air-raids.
** 1945
Pforzheim
Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany.
It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...
, a quarter of the town's population (17,000) killed.
** 1945
Hildesheim
Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...
, 1,500 killed
** 1945
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, causing the largest urban conflagration in history, with over 100,000 killed.
** 1945
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg is ...
, 5,000 killed
** 1945
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
, 8,800 killed
** 1945
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
, 105,000 to 120,000 killed; large fires in each city.
* 1941The great fire of
Santander, Spain
Santander () is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. It is a port city located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao with a population of 172,000 (2017).
It is believed to ...
, destroyed the greater part of the medieval town centre.
* 1944
Destruction of Warsaw
The destruction of Warsaw was Nazi Germany's substantially effected razing of the city in late 1944, after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising of the Polish resistance. The uprising infuriated German leaders, who decided to destroy the city as retaliation. ...
by the
German army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
and
Waffen SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands.
The grew from th ...
, as a reprisal for the
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...
, included the deliberate burning of many buildings.
* 1946
Bandung
Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...
, a city in
West Java
West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, was burned on March 24 by Indonesians to prevent the Dutch from retaking the city, an event called "Bandung sea of fire".
* 1947
Texas City Disaster, two ships explode, igniting fires throughout the city and chemical works, 460–600 killed.
* 1948
Fukui
is a Japanese name meaning "fortunate" or sometimes "one who is from the Fukui prefecture". It may refer to:
Places
* Fukui Domain, a part of the Japanese han system during the Edo period
* Fukui Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan located in ...
earthquake with fire, 46,000 buildings and houses lost on June 28.
* 1949A fire burned for 18 hours in
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
's waterfront and banking district, on September 2, killed 2,865 people and left more than 100,000 homeless. 7,000 buildings were destroyed.
1950s
* 1953
Shek Kip Mei fire in a squatter area in Hong Kong left 58,000 homeless.
* 1954
1954 Iwanai Fire, an affective strong wind by Typhoon Marie in
Hokkaido
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
on 26 September, according to a Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, 38 persons perished, 551 persons were hurt, total 261.4 acres were lost.
* 1955
The Freeman Pier Fire in
Seaside Heights
Seaside Heights is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 2,887,[Seaside Park, New Jersey
Seaside Park is a borough in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,436, a decrease of 143 (−9.1%) from th ...]
, United States. At least 30 businesses lost, 50 residents evacuated, no major injuries.
* 1956Franklin Street fire in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
, killed 15 on January 25.
1960s
* 1961
Bukit Ho Swee Fire
The Bukit Ho Swee fire was a conflagration that broke out in the squatter settlement of Bukit Ho Swee, Singapore on 25 May 1961. This fire resulted in 4 deaths and injured another 54. It also destroyed more than 2,800 houses around the Bukit Ho ...
, flames erupt in a
squatter
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
settlement in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, making 16,000 homeless.
* 1961
Brentwood-Bel Air fire in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, burned and destroyed 484 homes.
* 1963Fretz Building,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Pennsylvania,
twelve-alarm fire was the largest in city history. 50 homes and multiple businesses destroyed along with original fire building.
* 1964The
Bellflower Street Conflagration in Boston destroyed 19 apartment buildings and damaged 11.
* 1966
Fire in Iloilo City, the Philippines, devastated most of the downtown area.
1970s
* 1973
Second Great Chelsea Fire on October 14 destroyed 18 city blocks.
* 1974Chelsea, Massachusetts, a May 24 fire at the American Barrel Company spread to several other businesses in a two block area.
1980s
* 1981Arson-initiated
firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...
in
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
levelled downtown factory area under redevelopment.
* 1982Keane fire, Alberta, Canada, consumed more than 500,000 hectares of forest
* 1982Village of Lopez, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, United States, entire business district, including two hotels and the fire department leveled by a wind-whipped fire. It also sparked a 100 acre forest fire nearby.
* 1983
1983 Buffalo propane explosion in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
kills five firefighters and two others and destroys millions in property.
* 1983
Dushore, Pennsylvania
Dushore is a borough in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 450 at the 2020 census. Dushore is home to Sullivan County's only traffic light.
History
The first permanent settler in the Dushore area was General Cornwal ...
A fire destroyed two blocks of the historic business district, eight businesses and four homes. The fire was intentionally set.
* 1984Oil spill set fire to the shantytown of Vila Socó,
Cubatão
Cubatão is a city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, 12 kilometers away from Santos seaport, the largest in Latin America. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista. The population is 131,626 (2020 est.) in an area of 142.88 ...
,
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, Brazil, on February 25; official death toll is 93 people although speculation is more than 200.
* 1985
MOVE incident in Philadelphia destroyed 65 houses on Osage Avenue and left 250 homeless.
* 1985Annanar forest fire, Portugal, 1,500 km
2 destroyed, killing 14.
* 1986Chu Ku Tsai village fire,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, left 2,000 homeless on
Lunar New Year holiday.
* 1986
Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter
The Aberdeen Typhoon Shelters of Hong Kong are Aberdeen West Typhoon Shelter () and Aberdeen South Typhoon Shelter (). Both typhoon shelters are located in Southern District, between the southern part of Hong Kong Island and the island Ap Lei ...
fire,
Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Aberdeen () is an area on southwest Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Southern District. While the name "Aberdeen" could be taken in a broad sense to encompass the areas of Aberdeen (town), Wong Chuk Hang, Ap L ...
, 150 vessels destroyed, 1,700 homeless and 2 injured on December 25.
* 1988Great Lashio Fire,
Lashio
Lashio ( ; Shan: ) is the largest town in northern Shan State, Myanmar, about north-east of Mandalay. It is situated on a low mountain spur overlooking the valley of the Yaw River. Loi Leng, the highest mountain of the Shan Hills, is located ...
,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
, killed 134 and destroyed 2,000 buildings.
* 1988A fire in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, Portugal, destroyed 7 blocks of houses (7,500 m
2) on August 25.
* 1988The
Perkasie
Perkasie is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Perkasie is southeast of Allentown and north of Philadelphia.
Establishments in the borough early in the twentieth century included silk mills, brickyards, lumber mills, tile works, a stone c ...
, Pennsylvania, fire destroyed one and a half blocks of its historic downtown.
1990s
* 1991
Oakland Hills firestorm
:
The Oakland firestorm of 1991 was a large suburban wildland–urban interface conflagration that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, California, and southeastern Berkeley over the weekend of October 19–20, 1991, before being ...
kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments.
* 1993 A tsunami and fires occurred at
Okushiri Island
is an island in Hokkaidō, Japan. It has an area of . The town of Okushiri and the Hiyama Prefectural Natural Park encompass the entire island. It has many pastures, beech tree forests, and a rocky coastline. There are two elementary schools, on ...
, Japan, following the July 12
Hokkaidō earthquake, with 645 houses lost and 202 people killed.
*
* 1995
Great Hanshin earthquake
The , or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region known as Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and had ...
with fire,
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
, Japan
21st century
2000s
* 2001
Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
. Of the initial
casualties
A casualty, as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, capture or desertion.
In civilian usa ...
, approximately 2,600 deaths (including 343 firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers) were caused by fires that followed the crashes of jetliners into the World Trade Center towers in New York. At the Pentagon in Washington, DC, 125 people were killed by the plane crash and subsequent fire.
* 2002
Lagos armoury explosion
The Lagos armoury explosion was the accidental detonation of a large stock of high explosives at a military storage facility in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, on 27 January 2002. The fires created by the debris from this explosion burnt down a large ...
caused fires in Northern Lagos, Nigeria, which killed at least 1,100 people.
* 2002
Edinburgh Cowgate fire
The Cowgate ( Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, which lies below the eleva ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, 150 people fled their homes but there were no injuries.
* 2002
Rodeo–Chediski Fire
The Rodeo–Chediski Fire was a wildfire that burned in east-central Arizona beginning on June 18, 2002, and was not controlled until July 7.http://www.floa.org/rodeo_chediski/fire_photos12.htm Rodeo-Chediski fire, Forest lakes owners associatio ...
* 2003
Canberra bushfires killed 4 and destroyed over 500 homes
* 2003
Cedar Fire
The Cedar Fire was a massive, highly-destructive wildfire, which burned of land in San Diego County, California, during October and November 2003. The fire's rapid growth was driven by the Santa Ana wind, causing the fire to spread at a rate o ...
, San Diego, tenth-largest California brush fire that killed 15 and destroyed 2,232 homes.
* 2007
Greek forest fires destroyed 2,100 buildings.
* 2008
Camden Market Fire, which caused severe damage to one of North London's most famous shopping districts.
* 2009
February Black Saturday Bushfires in Victoria, Australia, resulted in 173 deaths
2010s
* 2010
2010 Thai political protests
The 2010 Thai political protests were a series of political protests that were organised by the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) (also known as " Red Shirts") in Bangkok, Thailand from 12 March–19 May 2010 against the D ...
in Bangkok, burned
BEC TV3,
CentralWorld
CentralWorld ( th, เซ็นทรัลเวิลด์, styled as centralwOrld) is a shopping plaza and complex in Bangkok, Thailand. It is the ninth largest shopping complex in the world. The complex, which includes a hotel and office t ...
and many buildings.
* 2010
Dhaka fire kills 117 people in the Nimtali area of Old Dhaka, Bangladesh.
* 2011Devastating fire in
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, leaves about 8,000 people homeless and 9 injured in a
Makati
Makati ( ), officially the City of Makati ( fil, Lungsod ng Makati), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines.
Makati is the financial center of the Philippines; it has the highest concentration ...
squatter community.
* 2012
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
caused a six-alarm fire that destroyed 121 homes in
Breezy Point, Queens
Breezy Point is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, located on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, between Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south. The community is run by ...
, New York.
* 2013
Yarnell Hill Fire
The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by dry lightning on June 28, 2013. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. Just one of the hotshots on the crew survived—he was pos ...
burned over 13 square miles, destroyed over 100 homes, and killed 19 firefighters.
* 2013
Lac-Mégantic derailment caused an explosion and fire in the town centre that destroyed over 30 buildings and killed 46. The event was the deadliest train accident in Canada since 1864.
* 2013
Boardwalk fire in
Seaside Heights
Seaside Heights is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 2,887,[Seaside Park, New Jersey
Seaside Park is a borough in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,436, a decrease of 143 (−9.1%) from th ...]
, US. At least 19 buildings destroyed, 30 businesses lost, no major injuries.
* 2014
Valparaíso wildfire devastated several areas of
Valparaíso, Chile, destroying 2,500 homes and killing at least 15 people.
* 2015
Tianjin Port fire and explosions killed at least 173 people, damaged 300 buildings and over 10,000 vehicles.
* 2016
Fort McMurray wildfire
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
in
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
destroyed approximately 2,400 homes and buildings, and forced a complete evacuation.
* 2016The Gatlinburg Fire began as a wildfire in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and spread into the town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, killing 14.
*2017 October 2017 Iberian wildfires. A fire started in Galicia, a province with high risk of wildfire and spread dangerously quick thanks to Hurricane Ophelia (2017) through Spain and Portugal.
*2017In October, 17 separate fires raged across five counties in Northern California, causing extensive damage in Sonoma and Napa Counties. The fires burned 160,000 acres, destroyed 5,700 buildings, and killed 43. The two largest fires were the Tubbs Fire and Atlas Fire. The city of Santa Rosa, California sustained heavy damage, with over 2,800 buildings destroyed.
*20182018 Kemerovo fire, Kemerovo fire at the Winter Cherry complex mall in Kemerovo, Russia, killed 60 people. The blaze started on the top floor of the four-story complex, and people were seen jumping from windows to escape it.
*2018Camp Fire (2018), Camp Fire. California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire left at least 81 people dead and torched more than 152,000 acres. The fire burned through the towns of Paradise, CA, Paradise and Concow, CA, Concow and other populated areas including Magelia, CenterVille and Butte Creek Canyons, and destroyed the historic Honey Run Covered Bridge, one of the last three-tier bridges that stood in the United States.
*2018 Between July 23 and July 25 Greece experienced a national tragedy when a 2018 Attica wildfires, huge fire near Marathon in Attika killed 100 people. The inefficient fire service is said to have been a major factor for the disastrous outcome. The fire broke out in a nearby forest and quickly expanded to the surrounding towns.
*2019Another February 2019 Dhaka fire, Dhaka fire kills 78 people on February 20 in Churihatta, Chawkbazar area of old Dhaka, Bangladesh.
2020s
*2020 – The Almeda Drive Fire in Jackson County, Oregon burned down the towns of Talent, Oregon, Talent and Phoenix, Oregon, Phoenix.
*2020 – The Beachie Creek Fire in Marion County, Oregon destroyed the towns of Detroit, Oregon, Detroit and Gates, Oregon, Gates. The fire erupted due to historic winds causing downed powerlines throughout the Santiam Canyon on September 8, causing the death of 5 people.
*2020 – List of arson damage during the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Arson damage from 164 structure fires during the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul resulted in one death.
*2021 – The Lytton wildfire, Lytton Creek Wildfire in Lytton, British Columbia burned the town of Lytton.
*2021– The Caldor Fire That burned Grizzly Flats, California and Omo Ranch, California.
*2021 – A 2021 Guanaja fire, fire broke out in the town of El Cayo on the cay of Bonacca which is part of an island named Guanaja. The fire injured 4 residents and destroyed more than 200 structures.
*2021 – 50+ MPH winds blew the West Wind Fire into Denton, MT burning 25 homes and several other outbuildings including the town's grain elevators.
*2021 – Over 1,000 homes burned, and at least one person died in Marshall, Colorado, Marshall, Superior, Colorado, Superior and Louisville, Colorado, Louisville Colorado in the Marshall Fire, Marshall fire.
See also
*List of fires
**List of building or structure fires
**List of transportation fires
**List of forest fires
**List of wildfires
*
*
*Coal seam fire
*Oil well fire
References
{{Disasters
Urban fires, *
Lists of fires, town and city