10 biggest fires that happened in the world

Fires now and then visit some countries. As soon as the man came out of the cave and began to build a dwelling out of wood, he had to fight the fire.

Most often, large fires accompany great wars, but sometimes they can be due to natural features. The government is actively trying to protect forests and especially human settlements. But it is not always possible to quickly cope with the source of fire and it is developing rapidly.

Under greater danger are the nearest settlements to the forests. Much depends on the human factor, which is why it is so important to observe safety precautions.

The article contains the largest fires in the world in history. Some of them happened due to human negligence, some after strong earthquakes.

10 Fire in London (1666), England

This fire lasted from 2 to 5 September 1666. In London, 13 houses burned down these days. It is believed that almost 500 thousand people were left homeless, given that at that time 70 thousand people lived in the city, these are incredible numbers. Among the affected buildings were 80 churches.

The exact number of victims is not known, only a few people are officially registered. But many could simply not be recorded. Most were cremated and it was not possible to determine the identity of the remains.

The event was nicknamed Great Fire of London. The fire threatened the famous wealthy district of Westminster. Now this historical part of the city is called the West End. Despite the fact that many years have already passed, this catastrophe is still remembered in England and every effort is made to ensure that this does not happen again.

9. Fire in Lisbon (1755), Portugal

The fire was caused by an earthquake that struck Lisbon November 1, 1755 at 9:30 am. 90 people died that day.

The earthquake in Portugal led not only to earth tremors, but also to tsunamis. People ran to safe places, but they saw how the water receded from the coast and the ships were on dry land. The areas not captured by the tsunami were engulfed in fire. The fire lasted for five whole days. 85 percent of the buildings collapsed, including famous palaces.

8. Fire in Chicago (1871), USA

Great Chicago Fire lasted from 8 to 10 October 1871. The fire destroyed more than half of the city. Hundreds of people died during those days. The fire in Chicago became one of the largest in the 19th century. But despite all this, the city immediately began to rebuild and it has become a significant place in the United States.

The official version of the fire was not announced. But what is certain is that it began with a small shed at 137 DeKoven Street. Different versions were published in newspapers. Some say that a cow knocked over a kerosene lamp, others that a thief who climbed in for milk set fire to hay. Either way, careless action resulted in a catastrophe of enormous proportions.

7. Boston fire (1872), USA

On November 9, 1872, the Great Boston Fire. Twenty people died in the fire. A total of 776 buildings were affected. An interesting fact is that among them there is no building of the Old South Meeting House. The townspeople managed to save the structure with the help of wet blankets and a steam engine.

As a result of the fire, many residents of the city were on the street. Someone because their home burned down, and someone because many institutions have stopped working. However, in just two years, Boston fully managed to recover. This is one of the largest fires in America.

6. Fire in Tokyo (1923), Japan

Fire in Japan started due to a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 8,3. The earthquake itself was a huge catastrophe, it led to no less devastating consequences. After the tremors, a tsunami immediately formed, which washed away the coastal populations.

To Tokyo A fire started, which quickly spread due to strong winds. In one area, spilled gasoline burned so strongly that the height of the flame reached 60 meters. Everything was complicated by the fact that fire departments and most fire engines suffered during the tremors.

5. Peshtigo Wildfire (1871), USA

In the fall of 1871, there were several serious fires that are listed as America’s largest disasters. There have been a number of serious fires along the shores of Lake Michigan.

The city was completely destroyed Peshtigo, which was located 600 kilometers from Chicago. Then died from 1200 to 2500 people. But there is much less information about this fire than about Chicago, since it was quite far from the main American cities.

4. Forest fire on the island of Kalimantan (1982), Indonesia

The largest forest fire in the history of mankind in September 1982 engulfed the eastern part of the Indonesian kalimantan islands. The fire raged for almost a year (10 months). About 800 thousand hectares of forest burned out and many forest animals suffered.

As a result of the fire, several species of plants and animals completely died out, gibbons, orangutans, macaques, squirrels and birds suffered. This fire was the largest in its century.

3. Marysville fire (2009), Australia

because of wildfire in Marysville 181 people died. 750 buildings were completely destroyed. The fire started on Saturday 7 February 2009. Since then, the inhabitants of Australia call this day “black saturday“.

In the entire history of the Australian fires, this event claimed the most innocent lives. At the time, the city recorded its highest temperature in over a century.

Only 20% of Marysville remained, everything else was destroyed by fire. Nearby towns were also heavily damaged.

2. Forest fires in Siberia (2019), Russia

The largest wildfires in history began in 2019. in Siberia five constituent entities of the Russian Federation were declared in a state of emergency. In just a month, the fire area reached 1,13 million hectares in Yakutia and 1,56 million hectares in other regions. There were no casualties, according to official figures. The reason, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, was insufficient measures to extinguish small fires. But some are sure that there were deliberate arson of the forest. Someone wanted to hide the fact of illegal logging and set fire to trees. But the Minister of Natural Resources called dry thunderstorms the cause of the strongest fires.

In Russia, this fire became a record in terms of the amount of covered area. On social media, this event caused a lot of controversy and controversy. Many published a post with screaming hashtags and demanded to actively put out the fire. But many were surprised by the fact that fires in Siberia are far from uncommon, and in past times there was no such excitement around all this.

1. Bushfires in Australia (2019-2020)

Forest fires in australia have been running since August 2019. The government is sure that it all started because of the air temperature, which became a record, and a severe drought. As of January 2020, over 6,3 million hectares of forests have burned down. 25 people have already died.

More than 7 thousand buildings were damaged by fire. But animals were the hardest hit, estimated to have killed more than a billion individuals (statistics do not include birds, insects, amphibians, etc. only mammals).

It is believed that the fires of 2019-2020 were the largest in history. The smoke spread throughout the country and even into neighboring New Zealand. Many people in the country are forced by nature to leave their homes and move out of their homes. We hope that the problem will be solved soon.