Cities, sometimes they burn down. Last time we talked about fires, it was to discuss crowded buildings that burnt down. Suffice it to say, the article turned into a horrific list of architectural ineptitude. Now, here we have cities. So what was there problem? As usual, cheapskates. Long after brick and mortar was available, builders preferred wood. Sure, there were plenty of other reasons why cities used to go up in flames, but wood was a big one. It was cheaper, and more readily, available, so why not? What’s the worse that could happen? Here are a few examples.
Chicago
Chicago fire via wikipedia
On Sunday, October 8th, 1871 Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in her shed, causing a fire that would burn down Chicago. Actually, that story is complete and utter bunk. Michael Ahern, the reporter who originally wrote about the cow, admitted 22 years later that he made the whole story up to sell more newspapers. Unfortunately, that little fun fact has been forgotten, and the asinine cow story lives on. What we really should all remember is that Michael Ahern was a complete and utter despicable human being for knowingly blaming one of the worst disasters in the history of the United States on an innocent woman who lived the rest of her life scorned by her neighbors. (And you all thought the unscrupulous media was a modern phenomenon.) So what did cause the fire? A man named Cohn admitted later in life that it was probably he and his friends who caused it when they knocked over a lantern in the barn after they were caught gambling by one of their mothers. A more spectacular guess suggests a broken up comet caused the fire, as several wild fires lit up around the great lakes area on the same night.
Washington DC
White House via Wikipedia
Can you imagine it? Enemy troops have invaded the United States. Their armies march along the east coast. The United States government is in a state of panic as they abandon Washington DC. The enemy troops enter the capital and burn it to the ground, including the White House. Hollywood movie? Nope. That was the war of 1812. And who were these invaders? The British of course, who had arrived to punish the Americans for invading Canada. (Yes, the USA invaded Canada.) Fortunately for the Americans it was the British who invaded instead of, say, the Mongolians… or Huns. The British troops followed their commanders orders and burned only the public, government buildings. Privately owned buildings were spared. The United States Patent Office was also spared when its superintendent convinced the British that the patents inside were too important to burn. In the aftermath, there was talk of moving the capital to Cincinnati where it would be less vulnerable to invasion by sea. The businessmen of Washington, however, quickly saw to it that the capital stayed put.
San Francisco
San Francisco Fire via Wikipedia
On April 18th, 1906 an earthquake hit the city of San Francisco that was so devastating its destruction would not be matched until Hurricane Katrina 100 years later. What many don’t realize however is it wasn’t the earthquakes that caused the most damage, it was the proceeding fires. Ruptured gas mains from the earthquake gave birth to over 30 fires. 490 blocks of the city burned over four days and nights. The army would be brought in to assist with dynamiting various buildings to create firebreaks. Unfortunately the explosives would often result in only creating additional fires. All in all, 25,000 buildings were destroyed. The affect of this tragedy still resonates today. At the time of the disaster, San Francisco was the most important city on the west coast of the United States. With its destruction, trade, industry, and a large portion of the population moved south to Los Angeles, which would go on to take over as the West’s largest and most important city.
London
London Fire via Wikipedia
The Great Fire of London. From September 2nd to September 5th in the year 1666, seventy thousand of the cities eighty thousand inhabitants would find themselves homeless as a fire burned central London to the ground. The great fire began simply enough as a small store fire within the bakery of Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane. The fire, though, would quickly spread. Firebreaks were the primary fire-fighting technique of the 17th century, but indecision by the city’s leadership would let the fire spread. The Tower of London is credited with stopping the blaze, when its garrison used gun powder to finally create enough carefully places breaks to stop the blaze.
Tokyo
Tokyo Fire bomb via Wikipedia
The two nukes dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki get all of the attention. Few realize that the incendiary bombs dropped on Tokyo created such a firestorm, that even the nuclear explosions were rivaled. On the night of March 9th, 335 B-29 Superfortress bombers took off en route to Tokyo. The Americans had already fired bombed the city a few weeks previously, but now they were on their way back to show what they had learned from the first run. 1700 tons of bombs were dropped, destroying 16 square miles of the city and killing 100,000 people. Yep, not counting those who died of radiation poisoning later, the firebombing of Tokyo killed more people than the nukes. In fact, it’s plausible that the fires caused by these bombs actually outdid the nukes as both the USA and Japan had reason to underplay the amount of life lost.
When it comes to cities and fire safety, there are three things to keep in mind. Use flame resistant material, plan a sensible layout, and don’t give people a reason to show up and light it all on fire. Fortunately, those concepts are kept in mind today when it comes to modern city planning, which is why we rarely see the devastating city fires of the past.
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