20th century List of fires

1 20th century

1.1 1900s
1.2 1910s
1.3 1920s
1.4 1930s
1.5 1940s
1.6 1950s
1.7 1960s
1.8 1970s
1.9 1980s
1.10 1990s

20th century
1900s

1900 – 1900 hull–ottawa fire, canada. starting in hull, quebec, fire crossed river ottawa, ontario, , destroyed large areas of both cities.
1900 – sandon, british columbia, canada, destroyed fire
1901 – great fire of 1901, jacksonville, florida
1902 – great confligration of 1902, paterson, nj
1903 – iroquois theater fire, chicago, illinois. fourth worst loss of life in u.s. history.
1904 – great baltimore fire
1904 – second great fire of toronto
1904 – Ålesund fire, 850 buildings destroyed; fire started during violent storm.
1906 – san francisco earthquake , fire
1906 – syzran fire destroyed fire, rebuilt. 5500 buildings destroyed, 33 000 homeless in syzran.
1908 – first great chelsea fire on april 12. half city of chelsea, massachusetts destroyed.
1909 – phoenix, british columbia destroyed fire, rebuilt

1910s

1911 – triangle shirtwaist factory fire, march 25, new york city, 146 deaths. fourth largest industrial disaster in u.s. history.
1911 – oscoda/ausable, michigan
1912 – houston, texas, 56 city blocks; houston s largest fire
1912 – maryland agricultural college, university of maryland.
1913 – binghamton clothing company fire, july 22, 1913, binghamton, new york, 31 deaths (mostly young women).
1914 – great salem fire of 1914, massachusetts
1916 – bergen, norway. 300 buildings razed.
1916 – matheson fire, matheson, ontario
1916 – paris, texas fire of 1916. largest of 3 historical fires destroyed of central business district , large residential section resulting in property loss of on $11 million.
1917 – halifax explosion, largest man-made explosion before atomic bomb
1917 – great atlanta fire of 1917, during on 300 acres (1.2 km²) (73 blocks) destroyed
1917 – great thessaloniki fire of 1917, thessaloniki, greece. ca. 9,500 buildings destroyed.
1917 – gyöngyös, hungary fire in number of buildings destroyed leaving around 8,000 homeless
1921 – tulsa race riot, 35 city blocks; 1,256 residences destroyed arson

1920s

1922 – great fire of smyrna, izmir, turkey
1922 – of downtown astoria, oregon burns
1922 – great fire of 1922 in timiskaming district, ontario, canada, killed 43 people , burnt down 18 townships.
1923 – 1923 tokyo fire following great kantō earthquake. half city razed , on 100,000 died.
1923 – 1923 berkeley fire destroyed @ least 640 structures
1925 – 1925 decatur st. fire, atlanta, ga – 6 firefighters killed, 8 other injured
1928 – great fall river fire of 1928, massachusetts
1929 – cleveland clinic fire of 1929, fire resulted in 125 deaths.

1930s

1931 – fire engulfed of twin cities of napier , hastings, new zealand following earthquake.
1931 – downtown fire in marshfield, wisconsin, killed 6 on march 28
1931 – half of downtown lillooet, british columbia, canada, destroyed fire
1934 – on march 21, 1934 fire started in house in japanese town of hakodate, hokkaido. on 2 days, burning debris fanned strong winds, set fire surrounding areas including local court, department store, school , hospital. according official documents, 2,166 people lost lives, 9,485 injured, 145,500 people made homeless, , 11,055 buildings lost.
1938 – 1938 changsha fire, 56,000 buildings burned chinese army during second sino-japanese war prevent japanese getting resources city, 3,000 civilians killed on november 13.
1939 – luftwaffe bombing of warsaw on september 1, 1939 @ outbreak of world war ii. original casualty estimates of around 1,500 killed.
1939 – great lagunillas fire @ ciudad ojeda, venezuela on november 14.

1940s

1941 – great fire of santander, spain. destroyed greater part of medieval town centre.
1944 hartford circus fire
1944 – planned destruction of warsaw german army , waffen ss following capitulation of polish home army in warsaw uprising.
1940–1945 – air raids during world war ii resulted in many major city fires:

1940 – bombing of rotterdam, 14 may 1940, forcing capitulation of dutch government. 800 killed, 24.000 houses destroyed, 80.000 homeless
1940 – second great fire of london, 1 of destructive air raids of blitz. 1,500 killed.
1942 – german air bombardment of stalingrad, soviet union, resulting in firestorm; 955 fatalities (original soviet estimate)
1943 – hamburg, 45,000 killed (largest in air-raid on germany)
1943 – kassel, 10,000 killed
1944 – braunschweig, 2,600 killed 30,000 rescued
1944 – darmstadt, 12,000 killed
1944 – heilbronn, 6,500 killed
1945 – dresden, around 30,000 killed in firestorm during 1 of controversial allied air-raids
1945 – pforzheim, quarter of town s population (17,000) killed
1945 – tokyo, causing largest urban conflagration in history. on 100,000 killed.
1945 – würzburg, 5,000 killed
1945 – kobe, 8,800 killed
1945 – atomic bombings of hiroshima , nagasaki, 105,000 120,000 killed; large fires in each city


1946 – bandung, city in west java, indonesia, march 24, 1946, city burned indonesians prevent dutch retaking on city, event called bandung sea of flame .
1947 – texas city disaster, 2 ships explode, igniting chemical works, 460–600 killed
1948 – fukui earthquake fire, 46,000 buildings , houses lost on june 28
1949 – fire burned 18 hours in chongqing s waterfront , banking district, on september 2, killed 2865 people , left more 100,000 homeless. 7000 buildings destroyed.

1950s

1953 – shek kip mei fire, fire in squatter area in hong kong, 58,000 homeless
1955 – freeman pier fire in seaside heights & seaside park, new jersey, united states. @ least 30 businesses lost, 50 residents evacuated, no major injuries
1956 – franklin street fire in new haven, connecticut, killed 15 on january 25

1960s

1961 – bukit ho swee fire, flames erupt in squatter settlement in singapore, making 16,000 homeless
1961 – brentwood-bel air fire in los angeles, burned 6,090 acres (24.6 km) , destroyed 484 homes near ucla in los angeles
1964 – bellflower street conflagration destroyed 19 apartment buildings , damaged 11 in square-block conflagration in boston
1966 – william booth memorial home on 13 august. australia s deadliest building fire in 30 men incinerated
1967 – dale s penthouse fire in montgomery, alabama killed 26 people

1970s

1973 - summerland fire isle of man
1973 – second great chelsea fire on october 14. 18 city blocks destroyed: several businesses (mostly rag shops) , homes of one, two, , 3 story wood frame , metal clad construction.
1974 – chelsea, massachusetts on may 24. fire @ american barrel company spread several other businesses in 2 block area.
1977 – beverly hills supper club fire beverly hills supper club fire in southgate, kentucky, third deadliest nightclub fire in u.s. history. occurred on night of may 28, during memorial day holiday weekend. 165 killed, , 220 injured.

1980s

1981 – arson fire in lynn, massachusetts levels downtown factory area under redevelopment; no conviction; $80 million damage estimate
1983 – north division street explosion in buffalo, new york kills 5 firefighters , 2 others , destroys millions in property.
1984 – oil spill set fire shantytown of vila socó, cubatão, são paulo, brazil; official death toll 93 people although speculation more 200, on february 25
1985 – isabela island forest fire, galápagos island, ecuador, 62,500 acres (253 km) lost on march.
1985 – osage ave./move incident, philadelphia, 65 houses destroyed.
1985 – bradford city stadium fire during football game in bradford, england, killed 56 , injured 265.
1985 – annanar forest fire, portugal, 1,500 km² destroyed, killing 14.
1986 – chu ku tsai village fire, hong kong, 2,000 homeless on lunar new year holiday.
1986 – aberdeen typhoon shelter fire, aberdeen, hong kong, 150 vessels destroyed, 1,700 homeless , 2 injured on december 25
1988 – great lashio fire, lashio, myanmar, killed 134, 2000 buildings destroyed.
1988 – fire in lisbon, portugal destroyed 7 blocks of houses (7,500 m²) on august 25

1990s

1990 – happy land fire deadliest arson fire, , deadliest nightclub fire, in new york city history. 87 killed, 6 injured.
1991 – kuwaiti oil fires following arab gulf war
1991 – oakland hills firestorm kills 25 , destroys 3469 homes , apartments
1993 – tsunami , fires occurred @ okushiri island, japan following july 12 hokkaidō earthquake, 645 houses lost , 202 people killed.
1995 – great hanshin earthquake fire, kobe, japan
1996 – 1996 pat sin leng wildfire, pat sin leng, tai po, hong kong; 5 (3 pupils , 2 teachers) killed on february 10
1996 – garley building fire, deadliest building fire in hong kong s history; 41 deaths, 81 injuries.




^ great 1902 confligration . www.patersonfirehistory.com. retrieved 1 november 2015. 
^ james, charles d. (2002). 1923 tokyo earthquake , fire (pdf). nisee.berkeley.edu. pp. 2–3. archived original (pdf) on 2007-03-16. 
^ item display . usg.edu. retrieved 20 february 2015. 
^ nfpa statistics – deadliest hospital fires . retrieved 23 november 2016. 
^ special correspondent (3 september 1939). world war 2: 1,500 reported dead german war planes drop bombs in poland . telegraph. retrieved 30 september 2016. 
^ editors. warsaw uprising . encyclopædia britannica online. retrieved 30 september 2016. 
^ death toll in chungking fire put @ 2,865, chicago daily tribune (october 3, 1949)
^ new blows suffered chiang regime, pittsburgh post-gazette (september 5, 1949)
^ fung, may; so, sanna (1997-01-26). black days in hk s history . standard. hong kong. archived original on 2014-03-26. retrieved 2011-11-03. 
^ salvini, emil r. (june 30, 2009). freeman pier fire- 1955– seaside . tales of new jersey shore , environs. 
^ seaside begins rebuilding fire ashes cool . star-ledger. seaside heights. 1955. 
^ fire loss high, insurance low; concessions listed . seaside heights. 1955. 
^ california wildfires – 1961 bel air-brentwood fire – bel air brush wildfire – stone canyon, roscomare rd . cccarto.com. 1961-11-06. retrieved 2013-09-16. 
^ geoff plunkett. australia s dealiest . deadliestfire.info. retrieved 20 february 2015. 
^ http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2017/02/06/fifty-years-since-historic-dales-penthouse-fire/97570982/. retrieved 15 april 2017.  missing or empty |title= (help)
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