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View these Great Fires through the lens of war, and not cows suddenly kicking over oil lamps across North America.
Pay attention to New Orleans in this video, which has a Roman-Greco structure in the background before it was destroyed by "fire".
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The Great Urban Fires in North America
1608-1922
This list of the Great Fires across North America is not exhaustive (hundreds of fires occurred), but it does cover the most prominent ones in standard historical compilations.
17th–18th Century (Earliest Documented Major Fires)
1608: Jamestown Fire (Virginia, US) – First major documented fire in English colonial North America; destroyed much of the settlement’s provisions and lodgings.
1711: Great Boston Fire (Massachusetts, US) – Destroyed the First Town-House and significant portions of the city; one of the earliest explicitly named "Great Fire."
1760: Great Boston Fire (Massachusetts, US) – Burned 349 buildings.
1776: Great Fire of New York (also called First Great Fire of New York City; New York, US) – Destroyed 400–1,000 buildings (about one-fifth of the city) during the Revolutionary War.
1788: First Great New Orleans Fire (Louisiana, US) – Burned 856 of ~1,100 structures in the French Quarter.
1794: Second Great New Orleans Fire (Louisiana, US) – Destroyed another ~212 buildings.
19th Century
1805: Great Fire of 1805 (Detroit, Michigan Territory, US) – Burned nearly the entire town except one warehouse.
1825: Miramichi Fire (also Great Miramichi Fire; New Brunswick, Canada, with impacts in Maine, US) – Massive wildland fire; burned ~3 million acres and killed 160–300.
1835: Second Great Fire of New York (New York, US) – Destroyed ~700 buildings in the financial district.
1845: Great Fire of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, US; urban) – Destroyed over 1,000 buildings. Also in 1845: The Great Fire (Oregon, US; wildland) – Burned ~1.5 million acres.
1849: First Great Fire of Toronto (Ontario, Canada) – Destroyed significant portions of the city.
1850: Great Fire in the City of Mexico (Mexico City, Mexico) – Notable urban fire in colonial/post-colonial records (one of the few prominently referenced in historical accounts).
1866: Great Portland Fire (Maine, US) – Destroyed the commercial district; left ~10,000 homeless.
1871: Great Fires of 1871 (cluster on October 8–9):
- Peshtigo Fire (Wisconsin, US; wildland) – Deadliest wildfire in U.S. history; ~1.2–2.5 million acres, 1,200–2,500 deaths.
- Great Michigan Fire (Michigan, US; wildland) – ~2.5 million acres.
- Great Chicago Fire (Illinois, US; urban) – Destroyed much of downtown; ~250–300 deaths.
1872: Great Boston Fire (Massachusetts, US) – Burned ~65 acres and 776 buildings.
Early 20th Century Onward (Selected Major Ones)
1881: Great Thumb Fire (Michigan, US; wildland) – ~1 million acres; 282 deaths.
1894: Great Hinckley Fire (Minnesota, US; wildland) – ~350,000 acres; 418+ deaths.
1910: Great Fire of 1910 (also Big Burn/Big Blowup; Idaho, Montana, Washington, US; wildland) – ~3 million acres; 87 deaths (including 78 firefighters).
1911: Great Porcupine Fire (Ontario, Canada; wildland) – ~500,000 acres; 73–200 deaths.
1916: Great Matheson Fire (Ontario, Canada; wildland) – ~500,000 acres; 223 deaths.
1919: Great Fire of 1919 (Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada; wildland) – ~5 million acres.
1922: Great Fire of 1922 (also Haileybury Fire; Ontario, Canada; wildland) – ~415,000 acres; 43 deaths.
Source: Grok
*Still images animated with Grok Imagine.
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