The Great Fire of 1889 is the reason why Spokane looks the way it does today. Even though this fire took the lives of many people, caused many to lose their jobs, their businesses and their belongings, the Great Fire of 1889 led to the expansion of Spokane Falls Washington. Spokane Falls was growing! The old, wooden buildings were being rebuilt into new, stone and brick buildings! This made the structure of each building a lot stronger. Unfortunately there were still more buildings that were wood instead of brick and stone. This contributed greatly to the fire. The Great Fire started on August 4, 1889 in a restaurant and a lodging house. This fire spread quickly because there was not enough pressure from the water hose and the wind moved the fire to more wooden (and some stone and brick buildings) while the heat made the fire hotter causing a bigger damage. The Great Fire was moving so fast, it was bound to hit other buildings in downtown Spokane Falls. Can we stop the fire from getting to these other buildings? If so how? Mayor Fred Furth had a solution. In hopes of creating a firebreak, he ordered buildings to be demolished. Instead of creating a firebreak he caused more panic and fear. Eventually the fire stopped later that night. By the …show more content…
The fire forced buildings to be built in a new way. No wooden structures in the downtown area! Electric fire alarms and a professional paid fire department instead of volunteer firefighters are now in the city of Spokane Falls.Spokane Falls’ rebuild attracted many entrepreneurs, investors and businesses, too, which also helped Spokane Falls grow because there are more people. After two years, most of Spokane Falls had been rebuilt and Spokane Falls was now called Spokane. The original small city of Spokane Falls has now turned into a the big city of Spokane thanks to the Great Fire of
When the fire broke out, and the firefighters were signaled, they were sent to the wrong location. Unfortunately, back then the fire fighters were carriages with horses, so when they finally arrived to the correct location the fire already went crazy. The conflagration spread from east to north and burnt down wooden houses, commercial and industrial buildings, private
Chicago was very susceptible to be burned. Piles of lumber were stacked in preparation for the new building projects in 1871, before the fire. Over half of the streets in Chicago were paved with pine. Chicago also have wooden sidewalks along with their wooden buildings and streets. The weather in Chicago had been dry for a while leading up to the fire. Fires occurred
First of all, two-thirds of the city was made of wood. There was wooden buildings, stores, frames, and lots more. There were 59,500 buildings that were destroyed in the fire. That made it burn more and more. The fire started at the home of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. The wood was a bad thing. Since the whole town was made of
On the night of October 8, 1871 at 9:00pm, a horrible fire broke loose. Very dry weather, leaving the ground dry, the wooden city vulnerable. The abundance of wooden buildings a fire started in a barn, outside in Chicago behind the home of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary at 13 Dekoven street. The Great Chicago Fire people are saying was caused by the cow of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary kicked a lantern. No one really doesn’t know how this great fire was started but some theories say humans or a matador caused this fire.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept.
The Great Chicago Fire was a tragic event to happen in the city's history. While the cause of this major fire is unknown, Chicago's wood buildings and dry summer made the fire much worse. There are a few theories to how this fire started, but what is known for sure is that it started in the O'Leary's barn. This particular fire lasted two days and spread quickly. Firefighters were contacted, but were sent to the wrong place, causing chaos and delays as they tried to find the fire. By the time firefighters got there, the fire was spreading from house to house, already unmanageable. Before they knew it the fire had taken over the city. Within two days, the water tank in the city had run out of water. Luckily before the fire moved further, on October 10 1871, it was put out by nature's rain.
The Great Chicago Fire was a fire that kept growing and eventually burned a majority of Chicago. It destroyed over 40 acres of Chicago. Over 100,000 of the people living there were left homeless and around 300 people were killed. Around 17,500 buildings perished in the fire. The fire overall burned through about 4 acres of Chicago, taking out everything and most living things in its path.
The Great Chicago Fire was one of the significant devastation that happened in the eighteenth century. Through this tragic event, hundreds of people died and thousands of buildings were completely destroyed in the fire. Before, the city was flourishing as more people traveled and decided to call Chicago their home. After the fire destroyed most of the surrounding area, people began blaming one another for the deaths of all the people. As time passed, Chicago slowly began to rebuild like never before. Although the city of Chicago continued to grow before the fire, after, the city boomed with the abundance of money and people. Moreover, because there was destruction, the people of Chicago, Illinois did not allow a fire to stop them from creating more opportunities for the future. The city has changed from the fire, but because of the help that was received, it was able to get rebuilt, and invite new individuals to explore the wondrous city of Chicago.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was a large part of Chicago's history. Destroying most of the city, the fire went on for two days and was uncontrolled. Though fire fighting and alarms were great for the time, multiple mistakes cause the fire to go wild. It is unknown how it started but it was spread by dry winds and a mostly wooden city.
The sheer physical nature of fire is to consume all fuel that lay in its path. That is exactly what happened in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911. The building itself was reported to be fire proof, but what about its contents? The amount of unused cotton and other fabric scraps that were piled up were ample amounts of fuel just waiting to be consumed by a spark. The business owners kept what little exits and escape routes the building had locked for fear of a thieving employee. The employees mostly took the elevators up and down the building, limiting their knowledge of possible escape routes. Given those three factors combined, it was only a matter of time before disaster would strike.
Throughout the mid 1800´s Chicago was undergoing substantial growth. The city had a population of 30,000 in 1850 and within 30 years had grown to nearly 90,000. Middle class individuals settled the outskirts of the city expanding it's borders. Lower class individuals continued to settle in the downtown districts. This resulted in an extremely dense concentration of people and wooden structures which would contribute to the extensive damage caused by the fire.
Great Chicago Fire in 1871; “Big Burn” the Great Fire of 1910; Miramichi Fire; Oakland Firestorm of 1991; Cloquet Fire; Yellowstone 's 'Summer of Fire '; California 's Cedar Fire of 2003; 2004 Taylor Complex Fire; Great Hinckley Fire of 1894; and the 2007 California wildfires (Nelson, 2013).
fires in the first week of October, on Saturday night, October 7, a blaze broke
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was one of the largest disasters in American history. Practically overnight the great city of Chicago was destroyed. Before the fire there was a large drought causing everything to be dry and flammable, then a fire broke out in the O’Leary’s barn and spread throughout the city. Many attempts were made to put out the fire but there were too many errors and problems in the beginning. After the fire many people were left homeless and had to help build their city again (Murphy, 39)
Just as everyone thought the fire was dying down and would no longer spread, the wind picked up, and the fire spread, causing it to head farther northward. Then, something terrible happened. Fire Devils. Fire Devils are whirls of air which send burning wood and such things flying through the air, and in this case, across a river. Not good.