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This is a 'list of historic fires'. Before the 20th century, fires were a major hazard to urban areas and the cause of massive amounts of damage to cities. It does not include historic wildfires or forest fires. See list of forest fires for a list of some of the most severe recorded forest fires.

Contents

Building or structure fires

City or area fires

Ship fires

Other fires

Building or structure fires

★ 586 BC - Temple in Jerusalem or בית המקדש the first at Jerusalem burned by Nebuchadnezzar king of the Babylonians

★ 356 BC - Temple of Artemis at Ephesus burned by arson

★ c. 50 BC - Library of Alexandria burned during siege (possibly accidental)

★ 70 - Temple in Jerusalem or בית המקדש the second at Jerusalem burned by Roman Empire troops under general Titus

★ 272 - Library of Alexandria possibly burned during occupation of Alexandria

★ 391 - Library of Alexandria possibly burned by order of Roman Emperor Theodosius I

★ 640 - Library of Alexandria possibly burned by order of Caliph Umar I
:''Note: evidence is scant for all four fires, but the library was eventually destroyed''

★ 1666 - Great Fire of London

★ 1613 - Globe Theatre, London burned due to mishap

★ 1697 - The medieval "Tre Kronor" Royal Castle in Stockholm burned down and was eventually replaced by the present palace.

★ 1794 - Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen

★ 1811 - Richmond Theatre Fire, Richmond, VA. 72 dead.

★ 1814 - The White House and U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. burned by the British
:''Note: The White House was already named before the fire, not because scorch marks were painted over''

★ 1823 - Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome

★ 1834 - Palace of Westminster, home to Parliament of the United Kingdom

★ 1844 - St. Michael's & St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Churches Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (reportedly due to arson)

★ 1845 - Theatre fire in Canton, China killed 1670

★ 1846 - Nantucket July 13

★ 1863 - Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús fire in Santiago, Chile, killed over 2000

★ 1871 - The Great Chicago Fire on October 8

★ 1876 - Brooklyn Theater Fire, killed 295 in Brooklyn, NY

★ 1878 - The Eldkvarn flour mill in Stockholm.

★ 1878 - The Washburn "A" Mill flour mill explosion and fire in Minneapolis, Minnesota

★ 1881 - Ring Theater Fire, killed 850 in Vienna

★ 1884 - Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen

★ 1887 - Paris Opéra Fire on May 25 killed 200

★ 1887 - Theatre Royal, Exeter Fire, England on September 5 killed 186

★ 1895 - The Rotunda, University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Virginia

★ 1897 - Paris Bazaar Fire on May 4 killed 150

★ 1899 - Windsor Hotel East 47th Street/5th Avenue Manhattan, New York - at least 33 and 45 people killed (estimates vary)

★ 1900 - Hoboken Docks Fire on June 30 killed 326

★ 1902 - Birmingham Church Fire on September 20 killed 115

★ 1903 - Iroquois Theater Fire, Chicago, at least 600 died

★ 1908 - Rhoads Theater Fire, Boyertown, PA killed 170

★ 1908 - Collinwood School Fire, Cleveland, Ohio on March 4

★ 1911 - Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, New York City

★ 1916 - Centre Block of the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario

★ 1918 - Norman State Hospital Fire, Norman, OK

★ 1919 - Mayaguez Theater Fire, San Juan, Puerto Rico

★ 1929 - Glen Cinema disaster, Paisley, Scotland killed 71 on December 31 [1]

★ 1929 - Cleveland Clinic Disaster, Cleveland

★ 1930 - Ohio State Penitentiary Fire, Columbus

★ 1931 - Pittsburgh Nursing Home Fire

★ 1933 - Reichstag fire in Berlin, caused by arson

★ 1934 - Hotel Kerns Fire in Lansing, MI

★ 1936 - The Crystal Palace fire, London, England

★ 1937 - Hindenburg disaster near Lakehurst, New Jersey

★ 1938 - Terminal Hotel Fire in Atlanta, GA

★ 1940 - Rhythm Night Club Fire, Natchez, MS

★ 1941 - Great fire of Santander, Santander,Cantabria, Spain

★ 1941 - Booth's clothing factory fire in Huddersfield, England killed 49 on October 31 [2]

★ 1942 - Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston, Massachusetts

★ 1943 - Gulf Hotel Fire in Houston, TX

★ 1943 - Hoteiza Theater Fire in Kucchan (Japan) killed 205 on March 6

★ 1944 - Hartford Circus Fire in Hartford, Connecticut

★ 1946 - LaSalle Hotel Fire in Chicago

★ 1946 - Winecoff Hotel Fire in Atlanta, GA

★ 1949 - St. Anthony's Hospital Fire in Effingham, IL

★ 1953 - Littlefield Nursing Home Fire in Largo, FL

★ 1954 - Larkin Building Fire in Buffalo, New York First fire in Buffalo's history to go to a general alarm

★ 1957 - Warrenton Nursing Home Fire in Warrenton, MO

★ 1958 - Our Lady of the Angels School Fire, Chicago

★ 1958 - Vida Store Fire in Bogotá

★ 1960 - Guatemala Mental Hospital Fire, killed 225 on July 14

★ 1960 - Syrian Movie Theater Fire in Amude (Syria)

★ 1961 - Grand North American Circus arson in Niterói (Brazil) killed 323 on December 17

★ 1963 - Surfside Hotel Fire in Atlantic City, NJ on November 18

★ 1963 - Golden Age Nursing Home Fire in Fitchville, OH killed 63 on November 23

★ 1963 - Hotel Roosevelt fire in Jacksonville, FL killed 22 on December 29

★ 1967 - 1967 Tasmanian fires in Tasmania, Australia

★ 1967 - Apollo 1 burned during ground tests at Cape Canaveral

★ 1967 - L'Innovation Department Store Fire, in Brussels killed 322 on May 22

★ 1967 - Florida State Prison Fire, in Jay, FL killed 37 on July 16

★ 1971 - Taeyunkak Hotel Fire in Seoul, South Korea on December 25

★ 1972 - Hotel Vendome Fire in Boston, 9 firefighters killed on June 17

★ 1973 - National Archives Fire in St. Louis, Missouri

★ 1973 - Summerland disaster in Douglas, Isle of Man killed 51 on August 2

★ 1974 - Joelma Fire kills 188 in São Paulo.

★ 1977 - Beverly Hills Supper Club fire kills 165 in Southgate, Kentucky.

★ 1978 - The Cinema Rex Fire kills over 400 in Abadan, Iran.

★ 1980 - MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas, Nevada kills 87

★ 1981 - Keansburg Boarding Home fire in Keansburg, New Jersey kills 30

★ 1981 - Stardust Disaster, discotheque fire in Dublin kills 44

★ 1982 - Connecticut Street Armory Fire in Buffalo, NY

★ 1982 - Salang tunnel fire kills between 150 and 1,000 people in Afghanistan's only road tunnel

★ 1982 - Caldecott Tunnel fire kills 6 and severely damages major road tunnel in Oakland, California

★ 1982 - Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day Fire destroys the Northwestern National Bank building and former Donaldson's flagship store.

★ 1983 - Turin Movie Theater fire in Turin kills 64

★ 1983 - Madrid Discotheque fire in Madrid kills 83

★ 1984 - Summit tunnel fire in West Yorkshire, England

★ 1985 - Valley Parade Ground Stadium fire in Bradford, England, 56 die

★ 1986 - Dupont Plaza Hotel fire, set by disgruntled employees, kills 97 in San Juan, Puerto Rico

★ 1987 - King's Cross fire in the London Underground

★ 1988 - Piper Alpha disaster, North Sea

★ 1990 - Happy Land Fire (arson) in the Bronx, New York City, kills 87

★ 1990 - 1991 Hamlet chicken plant fire kills 25 people

★ 1991 - Meridian Plaza 22nd Fl. fire caused by oil-soaked rags, Philadelphia

★ 1992 - Windsor Castle, England

★ 1993 - Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas, about 80 killed

★ 1995 - 衛爾康餐廳Wei Er Kang Restaurant at Taichung, Taiwan killing 64

★ 1996 - Teatro La Fenice in Venice

★ 1996 - Channel Tunnel fire between France and England

★ 1996 - The Garley Building fire (20 Nov 1996), Hong Kong, 40 killed.

★ 1998 - October 29, Gothenburg nightclub fire in Gothenburg, Sweden, killing 63

★ 1999 - Mont Blanc Tunnel fire between France and Italy, 39 killed

★ 1999 - The Worcester Cold Storage fire, 6 firefighters killed

★ 2001 - On January 3, the largest loss of life ever recorded in a single family dwelling occurs in Oak Orchard, Delaware when a pot of grease left unattended on a kitchen stove leads to the loss of 11 family members.

★ 2001 - September 11 Terrorist Attacks in New York City and Arlington, Virginia

★ 2001 - Volendam, fire in a bar/discoteque; killing 14, injuring 180 (many with lasting scars)

★ 2001 - Fan Lin school explosion, fire breaks out in firework store, resultant explosion kills 41 children.

★ 2003 - Daegu subway fire in Daegu (South Korea)

★ 2003 - The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island

★ 2003 - Patrice Lumumba People's Friendship University, Moscow

★ 2004 - Asunción supermarket fire kills at least 464

★ 2004 - República Cromagnon nightclub fire in Buenos Aires kills 194, injures 714.

★ 2005 - Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal in Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom, a major explosion injures 43.

★ 2005 - 11 die at a fire in the detention center of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

★ 2005 - The Madrid Windsor Tower Building Fire 14-15 February 2005 Spain [3][4]

★ 2006 - 2006 Kolkata leather factory fire kills at least nine people in India.

★ 2006 - Moscow hospital fire kills 45 drug addicts in a rehabilitation centre.

★ 2006 - Fire at store in Ormoc City, Philippines kills 24 [5]

★ 2007 - Warehouse fire in Charleston, SC; 9 firefighters were killed battling the blaze.

City or area fires

★ 64 - Great Fire of Rome

★ 847 - Borgo, the area around Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome

★ 1204 - Constantinople burned three times during the Fourth Crusade

★ 1547 - Moscow fire which sparked a rebellion

★ 1571 - Moscow fire occurred when the forces of the Crimean khan Devlet I Giray raided the city

★ 1657 - Great Fire of Meireki - Edo (modern-day Tokyo)

★ 1666 - Great Fire of London

★ 1676 - Jamestown, Virginia Nathanial Bacon and his followers burned Jamestown to prevent Governor Berkley from using it as a base.

★ 1694 - the Great Fire of Warwick

★ 1696 - St. John's, Newfoundland and 35 other settlements burned by French forces under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville

★ 1702 - Uppsala, Sweden, large parts of the city devastated and the cathedral and Uppsala Castle severely damaged.

★ 1728 - Copenhagen Fire of 1728, two fifths of the city burned down during three days. 3,650 families became homeless.

★ 1734 - Montreal, New France

★ 1776 - New York City

★ 1788 - Great New Orleans Fire

★ 1794 - New Orleans

★ 1795 - Copenhagen fire of 1795

★ 1805 - Detroit

★ 1812 - Moscow, to deny shelter to Napoleon

★ 1812 - Buffalo, New York burned during the War of 1812

★ 1813 - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

★ 1813 - York, Upper Canada burned during the War of 1812

★ 1814 - Burning of Washington during the War of 1812

★ 1817 - St. John's, Newfoundland

★ 1821 - Paramaribo (Suriname) over 400 houses destroyed

★ 1827 - Great Fire of Turku

★ 1835 - Great Fire of New York

★ 1845 - Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroyed over 1000 buildings

★ 1846 - St. John's, Newfoundland

★ 1849 - St. Louis Fire, first US firefighter killed in the line of duty

★ 1850 - Kraków, Poland, 10% of the city area

★ 1852 - Vaasa, Finland

★ 1854 - Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead: a spectacular explosion leads to the great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead, killing 53 and levelling substantial property in both towns.

★ 1862 - Troy, New York, over 500 buildings destroyed

★ 1864 - Atlanta 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.

★ 1871 - Great Chicago Fire, destroyed the downtown area and paved the way for new building ideas

★ 1871 - Peshtigo, Wisconsin Fire, several towns destroyed in a firestorm, 1500-2500 dead, same day as Chicago Fire

★ 1872 - Great Boston Fire of 1872, destroyed 776 buildings and killed at least 20 people.

★ 1877 - Saint John, New Brunswick Fire destroyed 1600 buildings

★ 1883 - Ponce, Puerto Rico

★ 1886 - Great Vancouver Fire, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1886.

★ 1889 - Great Seattle Fire

★ 1892 - St. John's, Newfoundland

★ 1894 - Great Fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings are destroyed


★ 1901 - Great Fire of 1901, Jacksonville, Florida

★ 1904 - Great Baltimore Fire

★ 1904 - Great Toronto Fire

★ 1904 - Ålesund Fire

★ 1906 - San Francisco earthquake and fire

★ 1910 - The Big Blowup or Great Fire of 1910, Washington, Idaho and Montana, over 3 million acres (12,000 km²), 85 dead. This fire set new policies, and created new organizations for fighting wildfires.

★ 1914 - Great Salem Fire of 1914

★ 1916 - Matheson Fire, Matheson, Ontario

★ 1917 - The Halifax Explosion, largest man-made explosion before the atomic bomb

★ 1917 - Over 300 acres (1.2 km²) (73 blocks) destroyed in Great Atlanta fire of 1917

★ 1917 - Great Fire of 1917, Thessaloniki, Greece

★ 1921 - Tulsa Race Riot, 35 city blocks; 1,256 residences were destroyed by arson

★ 1923 - Tokyo following the Great Kantō earthquake

★ 1933 - Tillamook Burn

★ 1941 - Santander, Cantabria

★ 1945 - Bombing of Dresden in World War II

★ 1945 - Bombing of Tokyo in World War II, the largest urban conflargation in history.

★ 1945 - Atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II

★ 1945 - Atomic bombing of Nagasaki in World War II

★ 1947 - Texas City Disaster, two ships explode, igniting chemical works, 460 - 600 killed

★ 1949 - Mann Gulch fire

★ 1951 - Tung Tau fire, fire in a squatter area in Hong Kong, up to 25,000 homeless, led to the Comfort Mission riot

★ 1953 - Shek Kip Mei Fire, fire in a squatter area in Hong Kong, 58,000 homeless

★ 1961 - Bukit Ho Swee Fire, flames erupt in a squatter settlement in Singapore, making 16,000 homeless

★ 1981 - Arson fire in Lynn, Massachusetts levels downtown factory area under redevelopment; no conviction; $80 million damage estimate[6]

★ 1983 - North Division Street explosion in Buffalo, New York kills 5 firefighters and 2civilians and destroys millions in property.

★ 1988 - Yellowstone fires of 1988 largest, most expensive wildfire in the history of the National Park Service, at the world's first National Park

★ 1991 - Kuwaiti oil fires following the Persian Gulf War

★ 1991 - Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3469 homes and apartments

★ 1994 - South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mt. near Glenwood Springs, Colorado kills fourteen firefighters on July 6.

★ 2000 - Jasper Fire in The Black Hills of South Dakota burns 93,000+ acres (380 km²), the largest fire in Black Hills history

★ 2002 - Lagos armoury explosion causes fire which destroys half of Lagos and killed 1,100 people

★ 2002 - Edinburgh Cowgate fire

★ 2002 - Rodeo-Chediski fire

★ 2003 - Canberra bushfires fire that killed 4 and destroyed over 500 homes

★ 2006 - Day Fire, Los Angeles and Ventura counties in California.

★ 2007 - 2007 Greek forest fires large fire in Greece

Ship fires

''See also: List of ship and ferry disasters''

★ 1800 - English warship ''Queen Charlotte'' — 700 deaths

★ 1840 - Steamship ''Lexington'' in Long Island Sound — 139 deaths

★ 1893 - Freighter ''Cabo Machichaco'' in Santander, Spain — 500 deaths .

★ 1904 - Steamship ''General Slocum'' in New York City — 1,021 deaths

★ 1917 - Munitions ship ''Mont-Blanc'' burned, drifted and detonated in the Halifax Explosion — roughly 2,000 deaths

★ 1934 - ''SS Morro Castle'' off Asbury Park, New Jersey — 137 deaths

★ 1941 - ''SS Normandie'' in New York City

★ 1949 - ''SS Noronic'' in Toronto, Canada — 118 to 139 deaths

★ 1963 - ''Lakonia'' near Madeira — 128 deaths

★ 1965 - ''SS Yarmouth Castle'' near Nassau, Bahamas — 90 deaths

★ 1972 - ''RMS Queen Elizabeth'' in Hong Kong

★ 1987 - ''Doña Paz'' in the Philippines — an estimated 4,000 deaths

★ 1990 - ''M/S Scandinavian Star'' off Norway — 159 deaths

★ 1994 - ''Achille Lauro'' near Somalia

★ 2006 - ''Star Princess'' in the Caribbean — 1 death

★ 2007 - ''Cutty Sark'', 19th-century clipper in dry dock as a museum ship in Greenwich, London extensively damaged while undergoing restoration on May 21

Other fires

★ 1913 - Ais Gill rail crash in England kills 14 chiefly through fire on September 1

★ 1915 - Quintinshill rail crash in Scotland kills 227 chiefly through fire on May 22

★ 1962 - Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire begins

★ 1978 - Taunton train fire on British Rail kills 12 on July 6

★ 1992 - 健康幼稚園火燒車事件Chien-Kang Bus Fire one bus carrying 50 kindergarten students, teachers, and parents caught fire at Taoyuan on their way to the Leofoo Amusement Park killing 23 and injuring 9.

★ 1998 - Yaounde train explosion fuel train explosion, kills 120 people.

★ 2000 - Ibadan tanker truck explosion multiple car pile-up explodes 100-200 killed.

★ 2000 - Kaprun disaster, Austrian funicular train fire, kills 155 people

★ 2002 - Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt

★ 2003 - Ladhowal train fire, India

★ 2003 - 尊龍客運高速公路火燒車事故 Chun-Lung Bus Fire- a charter bus caught fire at Taipei County killing 6 and injuring 4.