Whether you're talking about forest fires or kitchen fires,
factory explosions or arson, when fires get out of control, the damage can
be devastating.
1666
Sept. 2, England: “Great Fire of London” destroyed
much of the city, including St. Paul's Cathedral.
Damage £10 million.
1835
Dec. 16, New York City: 530 buildings destroyed by
fire.
1871
Oct. 8, Chicago: the “Chicago Fire” burned 17,450
buildings and killed 250 people; $196 million in damage.
1872
Nov. 9, Boston: fire destroyed 800 buildings; $75
million in damage.
1876
Dec. 5, New York City: fire in Brooklyn Theater
killed more than 300.
1881
Dec. 8, Vienna: at least 620 died in fire at Ring
Theatre.
1900
May 1, Scofield, Utah: explosion of blasting powder
in coal mine killed 200.
1900
June 30, Hoboken, N.J.: piers of North German Lloyd
Steamship line burned; 326 dead.
1903
Dec. 30, Chicago: Iroquois Theatre fire killed
602.
1904
Feb. 7, Baltimore, Md.: blaze spread through
downtown Baltimore. More than 1,500 buildings were destroyed. Damages
$150 million, but no lives lost.
1906
March 10, France: explosion in coal mine in
Courrières killed 1,060.
1907
Dec. 6, Monongah, W. Va.: coal mine explosion
killed 362.
Dec. 19, Jacobs Creek, Pa.: explosion in coal mine
left 239 dead.
1908
Jan. 13, Boyertown, Pa.: fire in Rhoads Opera House
killed 170 people who were attending church-sponsored stage
performance.
March 4, Collinwood, Ohio: fire in Collinwood
school killed 176. Led to revision of fire codes for schools.
1909
Nov. 13, Cherry, Ill.: explosion in coal mine
killed 259.
1911
March 25, New York City: fire in Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory fatal to 145.
1913
Oct. 22, Dawson, N.M.: coal mine explosion left 263
dead.
1917
April 10, Eddystone, Pa.: explosion in munitions
plant killed 133.
1917
Dec. 6, Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia: Belgian
steamer collided with ammunition ship Mont Blanc, which was
carrying over 2,500 tons of explosives. Explosion leveled part of Halifax and left about
1,600 people dead.
1921
Sept. 21, Oppau, Germany: ammonium nitrate exploded
destroying the BASF plant and nearby houses, killing 430 people.
1923
May 17, Beulah, S.C.: fire started by a candle
during a Cleveland school play killed 77.
1928
May 19, Mather, Pa.: coal mine explosion left 195
dead.
1930
April 21, Columbus, Ohio: fire in Ohio State
Penitentiary killed 320 convicts.
1937
March 18, New London, Tex.: explosion de-stroyed
schoolhouse; 294 killed.
1940
April 23, Natchez, Mississippi: 209 die when a
packed dance hall erupts in flames during a performance by Walter Barnes
and His Royal Creolians Orchestra. The blaze is fueled by decorative
Spanish moss covering the building's rafters, which generated flammable
methane gas once burned. Among those to perish were Barnes and nine
members of his band.
1942
April 26, Manchuria: explosion in Honkeiko Colliery
killed 1,549.
Nov. 28, Boston, Mass.: Coconut Grove nightclub
fire killed 491.
1944
July 6, Hartford, Conn.: fire and ensuing stampede
in main tent of Ringling Brothers Circus killed 168 and injured
487.
July 17, Port Chicago, Calif.: 322 killed when
ammunition ships exploded.
Oct. 20, Cleveland: spilled liquid natural gas
exploded, killing 130.
1946
Dec. 7, Atlanta: fire in Winecoff Hotel killed
119.
1947
April 16–18, Texas City, Tex.: most of the city
destroyed by a fire and subsequent explosion on the French freighter
Grandcamp, which was carrying a cargo of ammonium nitrate. At
least 516 were killed and over 3,000 injured.
1949
Sept. 2, China: fire on Chongqing (Chungking)
waterfront killed 1,700.
1954
May 26, off Quonset Point, R.I.: explosion and fire
on aircraft carrier Bennington killed 103.
1956
Aug. 7, Colombia: seven army ammunition trucks
exploded at Cali, killing about 1,100.
Aug. 8, Belgium: 262 died in coal mine fire at
Marcinelle.
1958
Dec. 1, Chicago: fire at Our Lady of Angels, a
Roman Catholic grade school, resulted in deaths of 90 students and 3
nuns.
1960
Jan. 21, Coalbrook, South Africa: coal mine
explosion killed 437.
Nov. 13, Syria: 152 children killed in moviehouse
fire.
1961
Dec. 17, Niteroi, Brazil: circus fire fatal to
323.
1962
Feb. 7, Saarland, West Germany: coal mine gas
explosion killed 298.
1963
Nov. 9, Japan: explosion in coal mine at Omuta
killed 447.
1965
May 28, India: coal mine fire in state of Bihar killed 375.
June 1, nr. Fukuoka, Japan: coal mine explosion
killed 236.
1967
May 22, Brussels, Belgium: fire in L'Innovation
department store left 322 dead.
July 29, off North Vietnam: fire on U.S. carrier
Forrestal killed 134.
1969
Jan. 14, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii: nuclear aircraft
carrier Enterprise ripped by explosions; 27 dead, 82
injured.
1970
Nov. 1, Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France: fire in
dance hall killed 146 young people.
1972
May 13, Osaka, Japan: 118 people died in fire in
nightclub on top floor of Sennichi department store.
1972
June 6, Wankie, Rhodesia: explosion in coal mine
killed 427.
1973
Nov. 29, Kumamoto, Japan: fire in Taiyo department
store killed 101.
1974
Feb. 1, São Paulo, Brazil: fire in upper stories of
bank building killed 189 people, many of whom leaped to their
deaths.
1975
Dec. 27, Dhanbad, India: explosion in coal mine
followed by flooding from nearby reservoir left 372 dead.
1977
May 28, Southgate, Ky.: fire in Beverly Hills
Supper Club; 167 dead.
1978
July 11, Tarragona, Spain: 140 killed at coastal
campsite when tank truck carrying liquid gas overturned and
exploded.
1978
Aug. 20, Abadan, Iran: nearly 400 killed when
arsonists set fire to crowded theater.
1982
Dec. 18–21, Caracas, Venezuela: power-plant fire
left 128 dead.
1986
Dec. 31, San Juan, P.R.: fire in Dupont Plaza Hotel
set by three employees, killing 96 people.
1989
June 3, Ural Mountains: liquefied petroleum gas
leaking from a pipeline alongside the Trans-Siberian railway near Uta, 72 mi east of Moscow, exploded and destroyed 2 passing
passenger trains, killing 575 and injuring 723 of an estimated 1,200
passengers on both trains.
Oct. 23, Pasadena, Tex.: an explosion followed by a
series of others and a fire at a Phillips Petroleum Co. plastics
manufacturing plant killed 23 and injured 132 people. A large leak of
ethylene was presumed to be the cause.
1990
March 25, New York City: arson fire in the illegal
Happy Land Social Club, in the Bronx, killed 87 people.
1993
May 10, nr. Bangkok, Thailand: fire in doll factory
killed at least 187 people and injured 500 others. World's deadliest
factory fire.
1999
March 24, Chamonix, France: fire in Belgian truck
carrying margarine and flour in the Mont Blanc tunnel trapped
dozens of cars. Death toll was at least 42.
2000
Oct. 12, Aden, Yemen: U.S. Navy destroyer USS
Cole was heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives
blew up alongside it. Seventeen sailors were killed in what was
apparently a deliberate terrorist attack.
2000
Nov. 11, nr. Kaprun, Austria: cable car
transporting skiers to the Kitzsteinhorn glacier broke into flames in a
mountain tunnel, killing 156. It was Austria's worst Alpine
disaster.
Dec. 25, Luoyang, China: at least 309 people were
killed in fire at shopping center. Most of the victims had been
attending Christmas party at unlicensed disco in building.
2002
Jan. 27, Lagos, Nigeria: explosions at military
depot triggered a stampede from the surrounding neighborhoods. More than
1,000 killed; many of the victims drowned in two muddy canals as they
tried to flee.
June 20, Jixi, Heilongjian province, China: gas
explosion at a coal mine killed 111 people. China's mining industry is
one of the deadliest; it is estimated that more than 5,000
mining-related deaths occurred in 2001.
2003
Feb. 18, Daegu, South Korea: subway fire, started
by an arsonist, raced through two trains, killing 189 people and
injuring more than 140.
Feb. 20, West Warwick, R.I.: fire, caused by a
pyrotechnics display at a rock concert, engulfed a nightclub, The
Station, killing 100 and injuring more than 150.
July and August, Portugal: Fifteen people died
during forest fires, intensified by unusually hot, dry air and strong
winds, burned more than 350,000 hectares of land, and caused soil
erosion that affected water supplies and agriculture. Fire damage costs
added up to approximately one billion euros.
2004
July 16, southern India: thatched roof of a school
caught fire, killing 94 children.
Aug. 1, Asunción, Paraguay: fire, caused by a gas
leak, in a supermarket killed at least 400 people.
Nov. 27, Shaanxi province, China: gas explosion at
Chenjiashan Coal Mine in northwest China killed 166 miners. In October,
another blast killed 148.
Dec. 30, Buenos Aires, Argentina: a lit flare
started a fire at a nightclub, killing 175 people.
2005
Feb. 14, Liaoning province, China: A gas explosion
killed 209 miners at the Sujiawan mine. It was the deadliest reported
mine disaster in China since 1949.
2006
Jan. 1, Sago mine, W. Va.: Thirteen mine workers
were trapped underground for more than 40 hours after a methane
explosion. Only one emerged alive. Subsequent investigation revealed
that lightning was the most likely ignition source of the
explosion.
2007
March 19, Ulyanovskaya, Russia: A methane explosion
in a coal mine killed 110 people, making it the worst mine disaster in
recent Russian history.
May 24, Novokuznetsk, Russia: Two months after the
Ulyanovskaya explosion, another methane blast killed 38 in the nearby
Yubileninaya coal mine.
June 18, Charleston, S.C.: Nine firefighters were
killed when the roof collapsed during a fire in a furniture
warehouse.
August 25–27, Greece: Over 220 separate fires
ravage the Greek countryside and endanger ancient Olympic sites around
Athens. At least 59 people die in the blazes.
Oct. 21–25, southern, Calif.: 16 wildfires from
Simi Valley to the Mexican border are fanned by 50 to 60 mph winds
burning 500,000 acres. Three people die, 25 firefighters and civilians
are injured, and nearly 1,300 homes are destroyed. Over 500,000 people
evacuate their homes while nearly 1,000 firefighters fight the
flames.
