Top 10 Fires In History

When buildings are made of wood rather than stone, fire becomes part of the equation. In fact, Infernos have been part and parcel of human history and have affected nearly every major city in the world. Here are the most well-known of those fires.

Tokyo, Japan 1923

Again history more of less repeating itself in Japan when the city of Tokyo was leveled by a enormous earthquake and and then destroyed by a fire that swept through the rubble afterwards, resulting in a staggering death toll that some estimates place as high as 142,000 (with the greatest loss of life coming about when approximately 38,000 people packed into an open space in downtown Tokyo were literally incinerated by a tornado of fire.)

Halifax, Nova Scotia 1917

In this one a cargo ship loaded up with ammunition to aid the war in Europe, smashed into a Norwegian freighter in the confines of Halifax harbor. The explosion was so powerful that it created a mini-tsunami in the harbour, that snapped trees, twisted iron rails, demolished buildings and 2,000 dead when all was said and done, with many injured.

Texas City, Texas 1947

This conflagration was said to be felt some 250 miles away in New Orleans as a shock wave, shattering windows forty miles away in Houston. Cause? A fertilizer explosion that it leveled over 1,000 buildings and left almost 600 people dead.

Peshtigo, Wisconsin 1871

At the same time, another fire, less well known, was raging in rural Peshtigo, Wisconsin,where most of whose population of 1,700 perished. It was said that this fire created a great vacuum and this led to a sort of tornado effect, flinging entire rail trains and houses into the air.

San Francisco 1906

The upshot of this conflagration was: 25,000 buildings over 490 city blocks and some 3,000 dead.
It was preceded by an eathquake, not unlike the recent tragedy of earthquake followed by tsumami in Japan. (March 2011).

Chicago 1871

Again, the tale that Mrs. O'Leary's cow started the fire is fiction, but that it did start in the O'Leary barn is true. Like the fire of London in 1666, it forced rebuilding of Chicago.

Rome 64 A.D.

No, Nero did not watch this fire as he fiddled, but he did use the fire as an excuse to persecute the Christians of Rome, blaming them for it's origination.

London 1666

Few deaths, and the fire burned out the slums that had been ravaged by the plague only the previous year. It forced rebuilding and in that, London benefited, ironically.

London 1212

Killed 3,000 and many of those were trying to escape on London Bridge, which was a bad idea--it was made largely of wood.

Boston 1872

This fire was possibly the most expensive by way of property damage.

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