List of town and city fires

1800s

• 1805 – Detroit, Michigan, then a wooden frontier settlement, burned except for a river warehouse.

1810s

• 1811 – Great Fire of Podil in Kiev, Russian Empire. Over 2,000 buildings, 12 churches and 3 abbeys destroyed; about 30 deaths.
• 1812 – The Fire of Moscow of 1812 was burned to deny shelter to Napoleon.
• 1812–1814 – The War of 1812 involved several major urban fires:
  • 1813 – Buffalo, New York
  • 1813 – York, Upper Canada
  • 1814 – Burning of Washington
• 1813 – Portsmouth, New Hampshire
• 1814 – Tirschenreuth, Bavaria, totally destroyed apart from the parish church and 3 neighboring buildings.
• 1817 – St. John's, Newfoundland

1820s

• 1820 – Ponce, Puerto Rico, a Spanish settlement, was almost completely destroyed on February 27.^[7][8][9]
• 1820 – Great Savannah Fire burned almost 500 structures, with damages of about US$4 million.^[10]
• 1821 – Paramaribo, Suriname, fire destroyed over 400 houses.
• 1821 – Great Fire of Fayetteville destroyed 500 buildings in the city.
• 1827 – Great Fire of Turku, Finland
• 1829 – Fire destroyed hundreds of buildings in Augusta, Georgia.

1830s

• 1835 – Second Great Fire of New York City of 1835
• 1838 – Charleston, South Carolina, over 1,000 buildings damaged.

1840s

• 1842 – Hamburg fire, about a quarter of the inner city destroyed, 51 killed, and an estimated 20,000 homeless.

Views of Pittsburgh the day after the 1845 Great Fire. Detail from William Coventry Wall print, "Great Conflagration at Pittsburgh".

• 1845 – Great New York City Fire of 1845, 345 buildings destroyed
• 1845 – Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroyed over 1,000 buildings.
• 1845 – A fire at La Playa, the city port of Ponce, Puerto Rico, wiped out most of the Ponce vicinity.^{[8][8][9][11]}
• 1846 – Great Fire of 1846 in St. John's, Newfoundland, destroyed about 2,000 buildings and left 12,000 homeless.
• 1847 – Great Fire of Bucharest, Romania.
• 1848 – Fire in Medina, Ohio, destroyed the entire business district.
• 1849 – St. Louis Fire of 1849, saw the first US firefighter killed in the line of duty.
• 1849 – First Great Fire of Toronto of 1849

1850s

• 1850 – Kraków Fire of 1850 of 1850, Poland, affects 10% of the city area.
• 1851 – San Francisco Fire of 1851 destroys 2,000 buildings.
• 1852 – Vaasa, Finland
• 1852 – Great Montreal Fire of 1852 in Montreal left 10,000 of the city's 57,000 residents homeless.^[12]
• 1854 – The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead, England, started by a spectacular explosion, killed 53 and leveled substantial property in both towns.
• 1858 – A large fire in Auckland, New Zealand, destroyed 3 hotels, 20 shops, more than 50 houses, the police station, theater, post office and several other buildings in the centre of town, an entire city block.^[13] At the time Auckland had a population of about 6,300.^[14]

1860s

• 1862 – Troy, New York, 671 buildings destroyed
• 1864 – Great Fire of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, burned over four city blocks with over 50 houses and dozens of businesses razed
• 1861–1865 – The American Civil War involved several major city fires:
  • 1864 – Atlanta, Georgia, burned after time given for evacuation of citizens by order of William Tecumseh Sherman
  • 1865 – Columbia, South Carolina, burned while being occupied by troops commanded by William Tecumseh Sherman
  • 1865 – Richmond, Virginia, burned by retreating Confederates.
• 1866 – Great Portland Fire of 1866, Maine, destroyed the commercial district and left 10,000 homeless.
• 1868 – Auerbach in der Oberpfalz, Bavaria. Arson destroyed 107 houses and 146 other buildings; 4 deaths.
• 1869 – Great Fire of Whitstable of 1869, Kent, England, fed by strong winds, destroying 71 buildings.

1870s

• 1870 – Fire in Medina, Ohio, started in a wooden building with a barber shop and consumed all but two blocks of the business district, nearly wiping out the entire town.
• 1871 – Strong winds fed several simultaneous fires in Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois on October 8–9:
  • 1871 – Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed the downtown on October 8 and died out the following night. About 250 dead.
  • 1871 – Peshtigo Fire of 1871, several towns destroyed in a firestorm that reached Michigan, 1,500–2,500 dead. Deadliest wildfire in American history.
  • 1871 – Great Michigan Fire of 1871 was a series of simultaneous fires, the most prominent of which was the Port Huron Fire, which killed over 200 people in Port Huron, Michigan.
  • 1871 – The Urbana fire destroyed central Urbana, Illinois, on October 9.
• 1872 – Great Boston Fire of 1872, destroyed 776 buildings and killed at least 20 people.
• 1874 – Chicago Fire of 1874, July 14, was in some respects very similar to the 1871 fire, but was stopped by a new fire-proof wall. It destroyed 812 structures and killed 20 people.
• 1875 – Great Whiskey Fire, Dublin, 18 June, killed 13 people, and destroyed a malt house, a bonded warehouse, houses and a tannery in Mill Street and Chamber Street.
• 1877 – Paris, Texas, the first of three fires that destroyed much of the town.
• 1877 – Saint John, New Brunswick, fire destroyed 1,600 buildings.
• 1878 – The Great Fire of Hong Kong ^[15] destroyed 350 to 400 buildings across more than 10 acres (40,000 m²) of central Hong Kong.
• 1879 – Hakodate fire, Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan, caused 67 fatalities, 20,000 homeless.^[16]

1880s

• 1881 – Thumb Fire in Michigan burned over a million acres during a drought, 282 killed.
• 1886 – Fire in Calgary, Alberta
• 1886 – Great Vancouver Fire, Vancouver, British Columbia
• 1888 – Sundsvall Fire of 1888, Sweden, left 9,000 homeless.
• 1889 – Great Seattle Fire, Washington, destroyed the central business district
• 1889 – Great Spokane Fire, Washington, destroyed the downtown commercial district.^[17]
• 1889 – The Great Ellensburg Fire, Washington, resulted in the city's bid to become the state capital ending in failure.
• 1889 – Great Bakersfield Fire of 1889, California, destroyed 196 buildings and killed 1 person.
• 1889 – The First Great Fire of Lynn, Massachusetts, destroyed about 100 buildings and took over 2 weeks to put out.^[18]

City of St. John's after the Great Fire of 1892

1890s

• 1892 – Great Fire of 1892 in St. John's, Newfoundland
• 1893 – Clarksville, Virginia, fire destroyed many of the blocks between the river (now the Kerr Reservoir) and 5th Street in the historic commercial core.
• 1894 – Great Hinckley Fire, Minnesota was a firestorm that destroyed several towns; over 400 killed.
• 1894 – Great Fire in Shanghai destroyed over 1,000 buildings.
• 1896 – Paris, Texas, the second of three fires that destroyed much of the town.
• 1897 – The Great Fire of Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada, destroyed 80% of the town.
• 1898 – Great Fire of New Westminster, British Columbia
• 1898 – Great fire of Park City, Utah
• 1899 – El Polvorin Fire in Ponce, Puerto Rico, occurred on January 25. The fire started at the U.S. Munitions Depot (on the lot currently occupied by the Ponce High School). The heroes in that fire are remembered with monuments and a obelisk in Plaza Las Delicias.^[9][19]

1900s

• 1900 – Hull–Ottawa Fire of 1900, Canada. Starting in Hull, Quebec, the fire crossed the river to Ottawa, Ontario, and destroyed large areas of both cities.
• 1900 – Sandon, British Columbia, Canada, destroyed by fire.
• 1901 – Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901 in Jacksonville, Florida, destroyed the downtown area with flames seen for hundreds of miles.
• 1902 – The Great Conflagration of 1902, Paterson, New Jersey^[20]
• 1904 – Great Baltimore Fire of 1904
• 1904 – Second Great Fire of Toronto of 1904
• 1904 – Ålesund Fire, 850 buildings destroyed; the fire started during a violent storm.
• 1906 – San Francisco earthquake and fire
• 1906 – Syzran Fire destroyed by fire, 5,500 buildings destroyed, 33,000 homeless in Syzran, Russia.
• 1906 – Dundee Fire of 1906, Scotland, began at a whiskey warehouse with alcohol explosions spreading flames, several blocks burned.
• 1908 – First Great Chelsea Fire on April 12. Nearly half the city of Chelsea, Massachusetts, was destroyed.
• 1909 – Phoenix, British Columbia destroyed by fire, then rebuilt.

1910s

• 1911 – Oscoda/AuSable, Michigan
• 1911 – Great Fire of 1911 in Bangor, Maine, destroyed hundreds of buildings.
• 1912 – Houston, Texas, 56 city blocks; Houston's largest fire
• 1912 – Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland.
• 1914 – Great Salem Fire of 1914, Massachusetts
• 1916 – Bergen, Norway. About 300 buildings razed.
• 1916 – Matheson Fire, Matheson, Ontario
• 1916 – Paris, Texas Fire of 1916. Largest of 3 historical fires that destroyed most of the central business district and a large residential section.
• 1917 – The Halifax Explosion, the largest man-made explosion before the atomic bomb, sparked fires throughout Halifax, Nova Scotia.
• 1917 – Great Atlanta fire of 1917, during which over 300 acres (1.2 km², 73 blocks) were destroyed.
• 1917 – Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, Thessaloniki, Greece. About 9,500 buildings were destroyed.
• 1917 – In Gyöngyös, Hungary a fire destroyed a number of buildings, leaving around 8,000 people homeless.

1920s

• 1921 – Tulsa Race Riot resulted in the destruction of 35 city blocks and 1,256 residences by arson.
• 1922 – The Great Fire of Smyrna, Izmir, Turkey
• 1922 – Most of downtown Astoria, Oregon burns
• 1922 – The Great Fire of 1922 in the Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada, killed 43 people and burnt down 18 townships.
• 1923 – 1923 Tokyo fire following the Great Kantō earthquake razed half the city with over 100,000 deaths.^[21]
• 1923 – 1923 Berkeley Fire, California, destroyed at least 640 structures.
• 1925 – 1925 Decatur St. Fire, Atlanta, Georgia, left 6 firefighters dead, 8 other seriously injured.^[22]
• 1928 – Great Fall River fire of 1928, Massachusetts

1930s

• 1931 – Fire engulfed much of the twin cities of Napier and Hastings, New Zealand following an earthquake.
• 1931 – Downtown fire in Marshfield, Wisconsin, killed 6 on March 28.
• 1931 – Half of downtown Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, was destroyed by fire.
• 1934 – Hakodate, Hokkaido, a household fire began on March 21 and spread to the surrounding areas including a local court, department store, school and hospital. Over two days 2,166 people lost their lives, with 9,485 injured, 145,500 people made homeless, and 11,055 buildings lost.
• 1938 – 1938 Changsha Fire, 56,000 buildings burned by the Chinese army during the Second Sino-Japanese War to prevent the Japanese from getting resources, 3,000 civilians killed.
• 1939 – Luftwaffe Bombing of Warsaw on September 1, 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, left an estimated 1,500 killed.^[23]
• 1939 – Great Lagunillas Fire at Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela, on November 14.

1940s

• 1940–1945 – Air raids during World War II resulted in many major city fires:
  • 1940 – Bombing of Rotterdam, 14 May, forcing the capitulation of the Dutch government. 800 killed, 24.000 houses destroyed, 80,000 left homeless.
  • 1940 – The Second Great Fire of London, one of the most-destructive air raids of The Blitz. 1,500 were killed.
  • 1942 – German air bombardment of Stalingrad, Soviet Union, resulting in firestorm and 955 fatalities (original Soviet estimate).
  • 1943 – Hamburg, 45,000 killed (largest in an air-raid on Germany)
  • 1943 – Kassel, 10,000 killed
  • 1944 – Braunschweig, 2,600 killed but 30,000 rescued
  • 1944 – Darmstadt, 12,000 killed
  • 1944 – Heilbronn, 6,500 killed
  • 1945 – Dresden, around 30,000 killed in firestorm during one of the most-controversial Allied air-raids.
  • 1945 – Pforzheim, a quarter of the town's population (17,000) killed.
  • 1945 – Tokyo, causing the largest urban conflagration in history, with over 100,000 killed.
  • 1945 – Würzburg, 5,000 killed
  • 1945 – Kobe, 8,800 killed
  • 1945 – Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 105,000 to 120,000 killed; large fires in each city.
• 1941 – The great fire of Santander, Spain, destroyed the greater part of the medieval town centre.
• 1944 – Destruction of Warsaw by the German army and Waffen SS, as a reprisal for the Warsaw Uprising, included the deliberate burning of many buildings.^[24]
• 1946 – Bandung, a city in West Java, Indonesia, was burned on March 24 by Indonesians to prevent the Dutch from retaking the city, an event called "Bandung sea of fire".
• 1947 – Texas City Disaster, two ships explode, igniting fires throughout the city and chemical works, 460–600 killed.
• 1948 – Fukui earthquake with fire, 46,000 buildings and houses lost on June 28.
• 1949 – A fire burned for 18 hours in Chongqing's waterfront and banking district, on September 2, killed 2865 people^[25] and left more than 100,000 homeless. 7,000 buildings were destroyed.^[26]

1950s

• 1953 – Shek Kip Mei fire in a squatter area in Hong Kong left 58,000 homeless.^[27]
• 1955 – The Freeman Pier Fire in Seaside Heights & Seaside Park, New Jersey, United States. At least 30 businesses lost, 50 residents evacuated, no major injuries.^[28][29][30]
• 1956 – Franklin Street fire in New Haven, Connecticut, killed 15 on January 25.

1960s

• 1961 – Bukit Ho Swee Fire, flames erupt in a squatter settlement in Singapore, making 16,000 homeless.
• 1961 – Brentwood-Bel Air fire in Los Angeles, burned 6,090 acres (24.6 km²) and destroyed 484 homes.^[31]
• 1964 – The Bellflower Street Conflagration in Boston destroyed 19 apartment buildings and damaged 11.
• 1966 – Fire in Iloilo City, the Philippines, devastated most of the downtown area.

1970s

• 1973 – Second Great Chelsea, Massachusetts, fire on October 14 destroyed 18 city blocks.
• 1974 – Chelsea, Massachusetts, a May 24 fire at the American Barrel Company spread to several other businesses in a two block area.

1980s

• 1981 – Arson fire in Lynn, Massachusetts levelled downtown factory area under redevelopment.^[32]
• 1982 – Keane fire, Alberta, Canada, consumed more than 500,000 hectares of forest^[33]
• 1983 – North Division Street explosion in Buffalo, New York kills 5 firefighters and 2 others and destroys millions in property.
• 1984 – Oil spill set fire to the shantytown of Vila Socó, Cubatão, São Paulo, Brazil, on February 25; official death toll is 93 people although speculation is more than 200.
• 1985 – MOVE incident in Philadelphia destroyed 65 houses on Osage Avenue and left 250 homeless.
• 1985 – Annanar forest fire, Portugal, 1,500 km² destroyed, killing 14.
• 1986 – Chu Ku Tsai village fire, Hong Kong, left 2,000 homeless on Lunar New Year holiday.^[27]
• 1986 – Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter fire, Aberdeen, Hong Kong, 150 vessels destroyed, 1,700 homeless and 2 injured on December 25.^[27]
• 1988 – Great Lashio Fire, Lashio, Myanmar, killed 134 and destroyed 2,000 buildings.
• 1988 – A fire in Lisbon, Portugal, destroyed 7 blocks of houses (7,500 m²) on August 25.
• 1988 – The Perkasie, Philadelphia, fire destroyed one and a half blocks of historic Perkasie.

1990s

• 1991 – Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments.
• 1993 – A tsunami and fires occurred at Okushiri Island, Japan, following the July 12 Hokkaidō earthquake, with 645 houses lost and 202 people killed.
• 1995 – Great Hanshin earthquake with fire, Kobe, Japan

2000s

• 2001 – Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Of the initial casualties, approximately 2,600 deaths (including 343 firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers) were caused by fires that followed the crashes of jetliners into the World Trade Center towers in New York. At the Pentagon in Washington, DC, 125 people were killed by the plane crash and subsequent fire.
• 2002 – Lagos armoury explosion caused fires in Northern Lagos, Nigeria, which killed at least 1,100 people.
• 2002 – Edinburgh Cowgate fire, Scotland, 150 people fled their homes but there were no injuries.^[34]
• 2002 – Rodeo-Chediski fire
• 2003 – Canberra bushfires killed 4 and destroyed over 500 homes
• 2003 – Cedar Fire, San Diego, second-largest California brush fire that killed 15 and destroyed 2,232 homes.
• 2004 – The great fire of carraroe co.galway Ireland also known as 23/4 where there was the loss of Jarlath Depoar the former rugby champion who got lost in the smoke.
• 2007 – Greek forest fires destroyed 2,100 buildings.
• 2008 – Camden Market Fire, which caused severe damage to one of North London's most famous shopping districts.
• 2009 – February Black Saturday Bushfires in Victoria, Australia, resulted in 173 deaths

2010s

• 2010 – Dhaka fire kills 117 people in the Nimtali area of Old Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• 2011 – Devastating fire in Manila, Philippines,^[35] leaves about 8,000 people homeless and 9 injured in a Makati City squatter community.
• 2012 – Hurricane Sandy caused a six-alarm fire that destroyed 121 homes in Breezy Point, Queens, New York.
• 2013 – Yarnell Hill Fire burned over 13 square miles, destroyed over 100 homes,^[36] and killed 19 firefighters.^[37]
• 2013 – Lac-Mégantic derailment caused an explosion and fire in the town centre that destroyed over 30 buildings and killed 46.^[38][39] The event was the deadliest train accident in Canada since 1864.^[40]
• 2013 – Boardwalk fire in Seaside Heights & Seaside Park, New Jersey, US. At least 19 buildings destroyed, 30 businesses lost, no major injuries.^[41]
• 2014 – Valparaíso wildfire devastated several areas of Valparaíso, Chile, destroying 2,500 homes and killing at least 15 people.
• 2015 – Tianjin Port fire and explosions killed at least 173 people, damaged 300 buildings and over 10,000 vehicles.
• 2016 – Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta destroyed approximately 2,400 homes and buildings, and forced a complete evacuation.^[42] 5,896 square kilometres burned, with an estimated cost of C$9.5 billion.
• 2016 – The Gatlinburg Fire began as a wildfire in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and spread into the town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, killing 14.
• 2017 – In October, 17 separate fires raged across five counties in Northern California, causing extensive damage in Sonoma and Napa Counties. The fires burned 160,000 acres, destroyed 5,700 buildings, and killed 43. The two largest fires were the Tubbs Fire and Atlas Fire. The city of Santa Rosa, California sustained heavy damage, with over 2,800 buildings destroyed.
• 2018 – Kemerovo fire at the Winter Cherry complex mall in Kemerovo, Russia, killed at least 64 people. The blaze started on the top floor of the four-story complex, and people were seen jumping from windows to escape it.^[43][44]