List of historic fires

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This is a list of historic fires. Before the 20th century, fires were a major hazard to urban areas and the cause of massive amounts of damage to cities. It does not include historic wildfires or forest fires. See forest fire for a list of some of the most severe recorded forest fires.

Building or structure fires

• 356 BC - Temple of Artemis at Ephesus burned by arson
• c. 50 BC - Library of Alexandria burned accidentally during siege
• 272 - Library of Alexandria burned during occupation of Alexandria
• 391 - Library of Alexandria burned by order of Roman Emperor Theodosius I
• 640 - Library of Alexandria burned by order of Caliph Umar I (This fire is generally felt by historians to be an apocryphal story from the Middle Ages created as a Christian attack on Muslims^{[[Citing sourcescitations needed]]}).
• 1613 - Globe Theatre burns due to mishap
• 1697 - The medieval "Tre Kronor" Royal Castle in Stockholm burned down and was eventually replaced by the present palace.
• 1814 - The President's House in Washington, D.C., today known as the White House, and U.S. Capitol burned by the British
• 1823 - Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome
• 1834 - Palace of Westminster, home to Parliament of the United Kingdom
• 1846 - Nantucket July 13
• 1876 - Brooklyn Theater Fire, killed 295 in Brooklyn, NY
• 1878 - The Eldkvarn flour mill in Stockholm.
• 1881 - Ring Theater Fire, killed 850 in Vienna
• 1887 - Paris Opera Fire, killed 200 on May 25
• 1887 - Exeter Theater Fire, England
• 1895 - The Rotunda, University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Virginia
• 1897 - Paris Bazaar Fire, killed 150 on May 4
• 1900 - Hoboken Docks Fire, killed 326 on June 30
• 1901 - Great Fire of 1901 (Jacksonville, Fl), 7 killed
• 1902 - Birmingham Church Fire, killed 115 on September 20
• 1903 - Chicago's Iroquois Theater, at least 600 died
• 1908 - Rhoads Theater Fire, Boyerton, PA
• 1908 - Collinwood School Fire, Cleveland, OH
• 1911 - Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, New York City
• 1916 - Centre Block of the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario
• 1918 - Norman State Hospital Fire, Norman, OK
• 1919 - Mayaguez Theater Fire, San Juan, Puerto Rico
• 1929 - Cleveland Clinic Disaster, Cleveland, OH
• 1930 - Ohio State Penitentiary Fire, Columbus, OH
• 1931 - Pittsburgh Nursing Home Fire
• 1933 - Reichstag fire in Berlin, caused by arson
• 1934 - Hotel Kerns Fire in Lansing, MI
• 1937 - Hindenburg disaster near Lakehurst, New Jersey
• 1938 - Terminal Hotel Fire in Atlanta, GA
• 1940 - Rhythm Night Club Fire, Natchez, MS
• 1942 - Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston, Massachusetts
• 1943 - Gulf Hotel Fire in Houston, TX
• 1944 - Hartford Circus Fire in Hartford, Connecticut
• 1946 - LaSalle Hotel Fire in Chicago, IL
• 1946 - Winecoff Hotel Fire in Atlanta, GA
• 1949 - St. Anthony's Hospital Fire in Effingham, IL
• 1953 - Littlefield Nursing Home Fire in Largo, FL
• 1954 - Larkin Building Fire in Buffalo, New York First fire in Buffalo's history to go to a general alarm
• 1957 - Warrenton Nursing Home Fire in Warrenton, MO
• 1958 - Our Lady of the Angels School Fire, Chicago, IL
• 1958 - Vida Store Fire in Bogotá
• 1960 - Guatemala Mental Hospital Fire, killed 225 on July 14
• 1960 - Syrian Movie Theater Fire in Amude (Syria)
• 1961 - Grand North American Circus Fire in Niterói (Brazil) killed 323 on December 17
• 1963 - Surfside Hotel Fire in Atlantic City, NJ on November 18
• 1963 - Golden Age Nursing Home Fire in Fitchville, OH killed 63 on November 23
• 1963 - Hotel Roosevelt fire in Jacksonville, FL killed 22 on December 29
• 1967 - Apollo 1 burned during ground tests at Cape Canaveral
• 1967 - L'Innovation Department Store Fire, in Brussels killed 322 on May 22
• 1967 - Florida State Prison Fire, in Jay, FL killed 37 on July 16
• 1971 - Taeyunkak Hotel Fire in Seoul, South Korea on December 25
• 1973 - 1973 National Archives Fire in St. Louis, Missouri
• 1974 - Joelma Fire kills 188 in São Paulo.
• 1977 - Beverly Hills Supper Club fire kills 165 in Southgate, Kentucky.
• 1980 - MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas, Nevada kills 85
• 1981 - Keansburg Boarding Home fire in Keansburg, New Jersey kills 30
• 1981 - Stardust Disaster, discotheque fire in Dublin kills 44
• 1982 - Salang tunnel fire kills between 150 and 1,000 people in Afghanistan's only road tunnel
• 1982 - Caldecott Tunnel fire kills 6 and severely damages major road tunnel in Oakland, California
• 1983 - Turin Movie Theater fire in Turin kills 64
• 1983 - Madrid Discotheque fire in Madrid kills 83
• 1984 - Summit tunnel fire in West Yorkshire, England
• 1985 - Valley Parade Ground Stadium fire in Bradford, England, 56 die
• 1986 - Dupont Plaza Hotel fire, set by disgruntled employees, kills 97 in San Juan, Puerto Rico
• 1987 - King's Cross fire in the London Underground
• 1988 - Piper Alpha disaster, North Sea
• 1990 - Happy Land Fire (arson) in the Bronx, New York City, kills 87
• 1992 - Windsor Castle, England
• 1993 - Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas, about 80 killed
• 1996 - Teatro La Fenice in Venice
• 1996 - Channel Tunnel fire between France and England
• 1998 - October 29, Macedonian Association Discotheque in Gothenburg, killing 63
• 1999 - Mont Blanc Tunnel fire between France and Italy, 39 killed
• 1999 - The Worcester Cold Storage fire, 6 firefighters killed
• 2001 - September 11 Terrorist Attacks in New York City and Arlington, Virginia
• 2001 - Volendam, fire in a bar/discoteque; killing 14, injuring 180 (many with lasting scars)
• 2001 - Fan Lin school explosion, fire breaks out in firework store, resultant explosion kills 41 children.
• 2003 - Daegu subway fire in Daegu (South Korea)
• 2003 - The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island
• 2003 - Patrice Lumumba People's Friendship University, Moscow
• 2004 - Asunción supermarket fire kills at least 464
• 2004 - República Cromagnon nightclub fire in Buenos Aires kills 194, injures 714.
• 2005 - Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal in Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom, a major explosion injures 43.

City or area fires

• 64 — Great Fire of Rome
• 847 — Borgo, the area around Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome
• 1204 — Constantinople burned three times during the Fourth Crusade
• 1547 — Moscow fire which sparked a rebellion
• 1666 — Great Fire of London
• 1694 — the Great Fire of Warwick
• 1696 — St. John's, Newfoundland and 35 other settlements burned by French forces under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
• 1702 — Uppsala, Sweden, large parts of the city devastated and the cathedral and Uppsala Castle severely damaged.
• 1728 — Copenhagen, two fifths of the city burned down during three days. 3,650 families became homeless.
• 1734 — Montreal, New France
• 1776 — New York City
• 1805 — Detroit
• 1812 — Moscow, to deny shelter to Napoleon
• 1812 — Buffalo, New York burned during the War of 1812
• 1813 — Portsmouth, New Hampshire
• 1813 — York, Upper Canada burned during the War of 1812
• 1814 — Burning of Washington during the War of 1812
• 1817 — St. John's, Newfoundland
• 1821 — Paramaribo (Suriname) over 400 houses destroyed
• 1827 — Great fire of Turku
• 1835 — Great Fire of New York
• 1845 — Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroyed over 1000 buildings
• 1846 — St. John's, Newfoundland
• 1849 — St. Louis Fire, first US firefighter killed in the line of duty
• 1850 — Kraków, Poland, 10% of the city area
• 1862 — Troy, New York, over 500 buildings destroyed
• 1864 — Atlanta burned after time given for evacuation of citizens by order of William Tecumseh Sherman
• 1865 — Columbia, South Carolina burned while being occupied by troops commanded by William Tecumseh Sherman
• 1865 — Richmond, Virginia burned by retreating Confederates.
• 1871 — Great Chicago Fire, destroyed the downtown area and paved the way for new building ideas
• 1871 — Peshtigo, Wisconsin Fire, several towns destroyed in a firestorm, 1500-2500 dead, same day as Chicago Fire
• 1872 — The Great Fire of Boston, Massachusetts, destroyed 776 buildings and killed at least 20 people.
• 1877 — Saint John, New Brunswick Fire destroyed 1600 buildings
• 1883 — Ponce, Puerto Rico
• 1889 — Great Seattle Fire
• 1892 — St. John's, Newfoundland
• 1894 — Great Fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings are destroyed

City of St. John's after the Great Fire of 1892

• 1901 - Great Fire of 1901, Jacksonville, Florida
• 1904 - Great Baltimore Fire
• 1904 - Great Toronto Fire
• 1904 - Ålesund Fire
• 1906 - San Francisco earthquake and fire
• 1910 - The Big Blowup or Great Fire of 1910, Washington, Idaho and Montanna, over 3 million acres, 85 dead. This fire set new policies, and created new organizations for fighting wildfires.
• 1914 - Great Salem Fire of 1914
• 1917 - The Halifax Explosion, largest man-made explosion before the atomic bomb
• 1917 - Over 300 acres (73 blocks) destroyed in Great Atlanta fire of 1917
• 1917 - Great Fire of 1917, Thessaloniki, Greece
• 1921 - Tulsa Race Riot, 35 city blocks; 1,256 residences were destroyed by arson
• 1923 - Tokyo following the Great Kantō earthquake
• 1933 - Tillamook Burn
• 1941 - Santander, Cantabria
• 1945 - Bombing of Dresden in World War II
• 1945 - Bombing of Tokyo in World War II, the largest urban conflargation in history.
• 1945 - Atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II
• 1945 - Atomic bombing of Nagasaki in World War II
• 1947 - Texas City Disaster, two ships explode, igniting chemical works, 460 - 600 killed
• 1949 - Mann Gulch Fire
• 1961 - Bukit Ho Swee Fire, flames erupt in a squatter settlement in Singapore, making 16,000 homeless*
• 1983 - North Division Street explosion in Buffalo, New York kills five firefighters and two civilians and destroys millions in property.
• 1988 - Yellowstone Fire of 1988
• 1991 - Kuwaiti oil fires following the Persian Gulf War
• 1991 - Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3469 homes and apartments

• 2002 - Lagos armoury explosion causes fire which destroys half of Lagos and killed 1,100 people
• 2002 - Edinburgh Cowgate fire
• 2002 - Rodeo-Chediski fire

Ship fires

See also: List of ship and ferry disasters

• 1840 - Steamship Lexington in Long Island Sound — 139 deaths
• 1904 - Steamship General Slocum in New York City — 1,021 deaths
• 1934 - SS Morro Castle off Asbury Park, New Jersey — 137 deaths
• 1941 - SS Normandie in New York City
• 1949 - SS Noronic in Toronto, Canada — 118 to 139 deaths
• 1963 - Lakonia near Madeira — 128 deaths
• 1965 - SS Yarmouth Castle near Nassau, Bahamas — 90 deaths
• 1972 - RMS Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong
• 1987 - Doña Paz in the Philippines — an estimated 4,000 deaths
• 1990 - M/S Scandinavian Star off Norway — 159 deaths
• 1994 - Achille Lauro near Somalia
• 2006 - Star Princess in the Caribbean — 1 death

Other fires

• 1901 - Great fire, Jacksonville
• 1962 - Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire begins
• 1998 - Yaounde train explosion fuel train explosion, kills 120 people.
• 2000 - Ibadan tanker truck explosion multiple car pile-up explodes 100-200 killed.
• 2000 - Kaprun disaster, Austrian funicular train fire, kills 155 people
• 2002 - Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt
• 2003 - Ladhowal train fire, India

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