Help: Need information on famous fires
lilandorth
kids each research a famous historical fire...I can think of a few:
The Great Chicago Fire; The Cocoanut Grove Fire; The Triangle Factory
Fire-- but am having trouble coming up with more than that.
Can anyone out there either provide me with list (or a site that will
give me a list) or...if you know of one or two that I haven't thought
of, could you post it??
Thanks a lot...Elizabeth
Kris Baker
"lilandorth" <ec...@edzone.net> wrote in message
news:700aaed.03031...@posting.google.com...
How about the fire that happened on the same day as the Great
Chicago Fire, killed many more people....but was ignored because
it was in a small town? Peshtigo, Wisconsin -
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct08.html.
Kris
Aussie Lurker
> The Great Chicago Fire; The Cocoanut Grove Fire; The Triangle Factory
> Fire-- but am having trouble coming up with more than that.
>
December 1903 - the Iroquois Theatre (Chicago) burnt down - 602 dead
July 1944 - Hartford, Connecticut - fire in the great tent of the Ringling
Brs Circus - 168 dead.
June 1900 - Hoboken, New Jersey - fire on the dock - 326 dead
December 1958 - Chicago, Illinois - fire in a school - 95 dead
April 1940 - Natchez, Mississippi - dance hall fire - 198 dead
December 1946 Atlanta, Georgia - the Winecoff Hotel caught fire 119 dead.
December 1881 - the Ring Theatre in Vienna - 850 dead.
May 1845 - a theatre in China (Canton) burnt - 1,670 dead.
December 1863 the Church of La Compana in Santiago - 2,501 dead.
Hope this helps
Aussie Lurker
Hownow
<ec...@edzone.net> wrote:
Here are some Canadian blazes of the last century, taken from my Canada
Disasters Pages -- you might find some useful.
- hm
1905: April 20: Ten young girls, four elderly women and a Roman
Catholic nun perished in a night blaze that could not be controlled at
a convent in Ste-Genevieve outside Montréal.
1907: February 26: Sixteen kindergarten children and a teacher died in
a fire at the Hochelaga School in Montréal. Public outrcy forced
tougher rules on fire safety in Ouébec schools.
1911: July 11-12: A wind-whipped forest fire raged through South
Porcupine in Northern Ontario, killing at least 70 people and burning
the town to the ground The next day it roared through the nearby town
of Cochrane.
1916: July: The Northern Ontario forest fire of 1916 (generally known as
the Matheson Fire) was the worst in Canadian history. It laid waste to
nearly 800 square miles of forest and razed small communities in its
path. The known death toll reached 282.
1922: Summer: A forest fire swept over the Haileybury area of Northem
Ontario claiming at least 44 lives.
1927: January 9: Seventy-six children were asphyxiated or trampled to
death while trying to flee a fire that was extinguished in minutes at
the Laurier Palace Theatre in Montréal.
1938: January 18: Fire at a residential school in Saint-Hyacinthe,
Québec, killed 41 students and five teachers.
1942: December 12: Ninety-nine people, most of them American service
men and their dates, perished in an arson blaze ignited at a social
club dance in St. John's, Newfoundland.
1949: September 17: The Great Lakes cruise ship Noronic caught fire at
2 a.m. and burned at her berth In Toronto Harbor with 119 elderly
Americans dying in the fire and smoke. An inquiry blamed the high death
toll on an undirected crew and panic. The catastrophe speed the
inevitable end of passenger ships on the Great Lakes.
1956: May 15. An RCAF CF-100 fight er on manoeuvres spiralled down in
the night, hit a convent near Ottawa, and exploded in a ball of flame
that killed 13 residents and both airmen.
1965: March 1: A gas explosion and fire levelled an apartment building
in Lasalle, Québec, killing 28 people.
1969: December 2: A blaze in a nursing home at Notre-Dame-du-Lac, south
of Riviere-du-Loup, Ouébec, killed 54.
1972: September 1: In an act believed to be gang-related, arsonists
torched the Blue Bird Bar in Montréal, killing 13 of the people inside
and injuring 54.
1976: December 26: A nursing home fire at Petty Harbour, outside St.
John's Newfoundland, claimed 21 lives.
1977: January 1: A deadly cell block fire in a jail at Saint John,
N.B., took the lives of 20 doomed prisoners
1978: December 31: A New Year's Eve celebration at a social club in
Chapais, Ouébec, turned into a holocaust when a patron playing with a
cigarette lighter set fire to decorations and ignited a blaze that
claimed 44 lives.
jan
<kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote:
>
>"lilandorth" <ec...@edzone.net> wrote in message
>news:700aaed.03031...@posting.google.com...
>> I'm teaching a science module on fires and thought I would have the
>> kids each research a famous historical fire...I can think of a few:
>> The Great Chicago Fire; The Cocoanut Grove Fire; The Triangle Factory
>> Fire-- but am having trouble coming up with more than that.
>> Can anyone out there either provide me with list (or a site that will
>> give me a list) or...if you know of one or two that I haven't thought
>> of, could you post it??
>> Thanks a lot...Elizabeth
A *huge* fire in 1889 decimated Seattle and led to a two-tiered city.
Few who visit here realize this (hell, some who *live* here know
this), but there's actually an entire "city" underneath Seattle.
Here is some info:
On June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire swept through what was then
downtown Seattle, wiping out sixty-six square blocks and paving the
way for "The Forgotten City" lying beneath the city's modern streets.
In fact, according to "Seattle Underground," by Bill Speidel, the fire
"knocked off about a million rats and cost about $15,000,000."
Because much of the downtown area was on stilts, the sidewalks and
streets were great fire carriers. In one instance, firefighters were
able to stem the fire north of University Street simply by tearing up
the streets and sidewalk and tossing them over the cliff and into the
bay.
To fight the fire, a 200-man bucket brigade was formed along the river
that ran past the Olympic Hotel. Water was hauled up from the river
and sloshed against the buildings. Some difficulity in fighting
occurred at the site of several hardware stores, which had 50 tons of
ammunition stored among their inventories. Firefighters had to wait
about an hour until all the ammunition had finished firing.
The fire began four blocks north of Pioneer Square in a cabinet shop
where someone had overturned a pot of burning glue. The hot glue hit
some shavings and then the roof.
The fire got out of hand because the city's water system relied on the
comings and goings of the tide, and the tide was low when the fire
struck. As a result, little water was available through the water
system's fire hydrants , permitting the fire to burn, aided by winds
from the north, for hours until it could be brought under control.
http://www.firewise.org/pubs/wnn/vol12/no2/pp-07.html
And here's an interesting read on who is/isn't responsible for the
melee:
http://www.magoo.com/hugh/fire.html
--
jan
"During the campaign the president did not express, as you put it,
disdain for nation-building ...."
-- White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, quoted in
Slate Magazine's "Whopper of the Week," lying about
then-candidate George W.Bush's statements regarding
responsibilities of post-war America.
formica63
"Aussie Lurker" <whoc...@lol.com.au> wrote in message
news:MCuda.114$om1....@nnrp1.ozemail.com.au...
April 1998 - JBR flame fest - M*** H***** missing in action.
1999 -- Childless Men Inflagration: Maggie revived after rescusitation.
2000 -- Marnie-Lilypond--usenet.kooks Blaze -- Po, Penny, remains never
recovered, damaged confined to the perimeter.
2003 -- Desi Plastics Factory Inferno & Jesica Santillan's Family B-B-Q --
Vanished in the blaze: Disco Dancing, Malicious and Ignorant Sacks of Lying
Shit, Xenophobes GMS and Desi<hic>lets.
Form.
Robert St. James (el corazon del demonio)
"jan" <spindockter_@_yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:gguc7voadilk48l12...@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 18 Mar 2003 00:58:46 GMT, "Kris Baker"
> <kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >"lilandorth" <ec...@edzone.net> wrote in message
> >news:700aaed.03031...@posting.google.com...
> >> I'm teaching a science module on fires and thought I would have the
> >> kids each research a famous historical fire...I can think of a few:
> >> The Great Chicago Fire; The Cocoanut Grove Fire; The Triangle Factory
> >> Fire-- but am having trouble coming up with more than that.
> >> Can anyone out there either provide me with list (or a site that will
> >> give me a list) or...if you know of one or two that I haven't thought
> >> of, could you post it??
> >> Thanks a lot...Elizabeth
There's always the famous "Nero fiddled while Rome burned" conflagration.
According to Suetonius, however, Nero was too busy actually setting the fires
himself to do much fiddling. Some kind of idea about urban renovation that
took a very wrong turn, it appears. Two-thirds of the city burned to the ground.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_rome/
Tacitus is the source for the "fiddling" legend. Nero claims the Christians
did it. Suetonius, following Tacitus, blames Nero himself and claims he
only fled the city when the fire got completely out of control. No mention
of any fiddle playing, but as I recall, he mentioned something about him
singing some hymn and playing a lyre. Pretty lousy fire marshal, our
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. I personally think he set it. A guy who
idolized his uncle Caligula is pretty much capable of anything.
RstJ
RstJ
Good Earth
says...
Much of San Francisco was in flames following the great 1906 earthquake.
Good Earth
Hownow
<eartha333sl...@hotmail.com> wrote:
And some adds to my earlier post:
The MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The New York City upstairs club fire that killed large number of people
from El Salvador (?)
The hotel fire set in Puerto Rico that killed many was blamed on
disgruntled employees trying to form a union.
The road tunnel fires in Switzerland and Italy killed scores.
A 1930 fire at the Ohio Pententiary in Columbus killed 322 inmates
If one wants to include fire-sparked explosions with ensuing fire death
and damage:
The Halifax Explosion (a ship collision) of 1917 killed 2,000; and the
Texas City, Texas explosion on April 16, 1947, sparked by a ship fire,
took more than 600 lives.
- hm
Gulffritallary
jan
wrote:
>Didn't Dolly Madison rescue White House treasures when it caught fire?
Great call !!!
"When the British raided Washington on Aug. 24, 1814, they torched the
White House, and the blaze gutted the interior and damaged part of the
exterior. Dolly Madison was able to salvage some items, including the
Declaration of Independence and the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of
George Washington."
http://www.theplumber.com/white.html
Barbara Taylor
South Canyon Fire, July 6th 1994, where 14 firefighters died, four of them women.
Written about by John Maclean, son of Norman Maclean who wrote about the
Mann Gulch Fire (1948), a very similar fire, in his book "Young Men and
Fire."
Here's some links:
http://www.esb.act.gov.au/firebreak/southcanyon.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0119184/english/historical_fires_storm_king.shtml
Good luck!
Barbara
annein...@attbi.com
Peshtigo. People ignited in the streets. Do a web search. It happened
at the same time as the chicago Fire with more damage, yet was
completely eclipsed by chicago
anne in chicago
Patty
Hindenburg Airship, 1937
Watts Riots, Los Angeles, 1965
Pearl Harbor, 1941
Dec. 7, 1946 fire at Atlanta's Winecoff Hotel (billed as "fireproof"), 119 killed
Our Lady of the Angels School, Chicago, Dec. 1, 1958, 92 students and 3 nuns killed
Dec. 31, 1986, San Juan, Puerto Rico, hotel, 97 dead
Nov. 21, 1980, Las Vegas hotel, 84 dead.
Feb. 17, 1957, Warrenton, Mo., nursing home, 72 dead.
July 6, 1944, Hartford, Conn., Barnum & Bailey's Big Top circus, 168 dead.
492 Cocoanut Grove, Boston, Nov. 28, 1942
198 Rhythm Night Club, Natchez, Miss., April 23, 1940
164 Beverly Hills Supper Club, Southgate, Ky., May 28, 1977
96 The Station, West Warwick, R.I., Feb. 20, 2003
87 Happy Land Social Club, The Bronx, N.Y., March 25, 1990
40 Dance hall, West Plains, Mo., April 13, 1928 (explosion)
32 Upstairs Bar, New Orleans, June 24, 1973
25 Puerto Rican Social Club, The Bronx, N.Y., Oct. 24, 1976
24 Gulliver's Discoteque, Port Chester, N.Y., June 30, 1974
Gordon Lee
Greetings Ms. Elizabeth.
.
I hope this is not too late for you to use.
.
http://www.cce.edcc.edu/cce/fca/fca195/week1/history.html
.
It prints about ten pages.
.
Respectfully,
Gordon Lee
Great Fritain Royal Memorabilia & Effingham '49 Survivor Emporium
If you go flying back through time & you see someone else flying into the
future, it's probably best if you don't make eye contact.
Coyote
There was the Hartford circus tent fire in 1944, 168 dead....
--
Coyote
To reply by email, it's dexx...@mchsi.com.
Jason Pope
Great fire of London , 1666
FeAudrey
says...
>
>
>
>Great fire of London , 1666
>
Just read a TERRIFIC book about that one.
--
Visit my Iron Age Pages for technical and fun stuff (holiday specials,
too)!
http://pages.prodigy.net/feaudrey
Patty
Oakland/Berkeley Hills fire in Oct 1991; 25 dead, including a police
officer and a fire fighter, injured 150 others, destroyed nearly 2,449
single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units,
burned over 1,600 acres, and did an estimated $1.5 billion in damage.
Painted Cave fire in Santa Barbara County, June 1990. 500 homes were
burned. I think this is the fire that Jane Fonda paid for private
firefighters to save her home. Also Reagan has or had a spread here.
Michael Jackson now lives in this area.
Southern California fires of Oct/Nov 1993. In all, 26 major fires. A
total 152,000 acres burned. 67 firefighters and 17 residents were
injured. Four people died, 1,200 structures were damaged or destroyed,
and the property damage and firefighting costs were estimated at $1
billion that year, started by arson. Malibu and Laguna Beach were hit
hard by these fires.
Scotts Anchor Co
I read about this. It was a Catholic school and the nuns wouldn't allow the
fire alarm to be pulled because only some lead nun was allowed to pull it and
she couldn't be found.
<July 1944 - Hartford, Connecticut - fire in the great tent of the Ringling Brs
Circus - 168 dead.>
I saw this one on the one of the educational cable stations. It was
horrendous. They had bodies laid out in a gym or something like that and some
of them were so hideously burned that they didn't even look like human beings.
One little girl took 50 years to be identified and they're still not 100% sure.
Melted burning stuff was raining down on people as they tried to get out and
they formed a bottleneck of bodies. One boy cut the tent and made a door out;
even with this, many of the people were like wild animals with panic and
couldn't logic a way out.
Scott Peterson Anchor Mfg. Co.
Maker of Laci Anchors
Modesto, CA
Scotts Anchor Co
Isn't this the one set by a fire inspector?