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The Great Fire In Spokane Falls

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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

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