London in the seventeenth century was a city filled with people, homes and buildings constructed of wood, and narrow roads. However, on the evening of September 2 this played a large part in a disastrous occurrence that would change London forever. In 1666 Thomas Farrinor, a baker, unsuccessfully extinguished his oven causing the Great fire of London to burn from September 2 to September 6, leaving thousands of London’s citizens homeless and churchless. On the dry summer night of September 2, 1666 in King Charles II’s home near the London Bridge, sparks from the bakers oven began to spread causing the nearby homes and buildings to burn. The Great Fire began in the bakery then spread to Stars Inn where it contained flammable equipment, which turned the fire into uncontrollable flames. …show more content…
As the evening continued, the blaze continually spread causing citizens to panic.
Containing the flames became “difficult and time-consuming; those doing it were liable to being sued to compensation; and unless the timbers and other flammable material from the demolished buildings were removed from the site, they could still ignite and allow the fire to spread” (Hanson 29). As the panic and frustration continued, people began to gather their belongings and abandon London through the Thames River. Those without a roof seeked protection in hills and the rural part of the city. It took a couple of days for the fire to be put out due to the fact that there was no actual fire station procedure just buckets. After the fire was contained, about 100,000 people were left without a roof over their head and almost 90 churches were destroyed, including St. Paul’s
Cathedral. The Great Fire of London was so large it was seen by many, including Samuel Pepys. Samuel Pepys kept a diary of his life, that “diary has become one of our best sources of knowledge of seventeenth-century life” (Priestley 254). Written in secret code, Pepys diary, consisted of six volumes of composition. With the Help of Pepys’ diary, historians receive a firsthand look at the Great Fire of London. On September 2, 1666 just before the uncontrollable blaze, Pepys was in bed when he woke up at about 3:00 am to hear Jane, his maid, talking about the fire. Pepys got out of bed to see where the fire had occurred, he thought the fire was far away so he decided to go back to sleep. “By and by Jane comes and tells me that she hears above 300 houses have been burned down to night by the fire we saw, and that is now burning down all Fish-Street, by London Bridge” (Pepys 187). Later that night Pepys awoke a second time, around 7:00 to see how the fire had spread from the last time he saw it. At that moment it had destroyed many houses and churches, including St. Magnus’s Church. Later that day, Pepys witnessed people taking their valuables with them to the Thames River. The diarist then met with the king and Duke of York, at White Hall to discuss the fire with them. Sources say that it was hard to contain the fire due to the fact that the Thames River was filled with boats, people and their belongings. Throughout the days of the blaze Pepys continues to describe how the Great Fire destroyed everything it could set its fiery hands on. For example, he describes how he and his family pack their things and evacuate due to the fire getting closer and closer to their home. On September 6, 1666 Pepys’ diary entry reads “A sad sight to see how the River looks; no houses not church near it, to the Temple where it stopped” (Pepys 191). Although the Great fire of London burned for many days, by cause of the fire starting in the bakery, it probably could have been put out quicker if it were not for the city’s hellish design. London’s architecture was just a disaster waiting to happen. According to Historians, London in the seventeenth-century was built mainly of wood, narrow roads, and the population was vast. Urban fires were common during this time as a result of droughts and dry summer days. However, there still wasn’t a permanent fire department. “The equipment for fighting fires had barely altered since Roman times. The tools available were wooden ladders, leather buckets, long-handled swabs and brooms for beating out a blaze” (Hanson 29). Fighting the Great Fire was very difficult to do with these limited resources. In addition to this, during low tide it’s hard to acquire water from the river, therefore it was difficult to fill the buckets and contain the fire. During this time, “Parts of the city were almost entirely composed of wooden warehouses, crumbling tenement, lean-tos, shacks, and shanties teeming with people and this overcrowding further heightened the risk of fire” (Hanson 33).
The Armenian genocide ruins Vahan Kenderian’s picture-perfect life. Vahan is the son of the richest Armenian in Turkey and before the war begins, he always has food in his belly and a roof over his head in the book Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian. Life is absolutely quintessential for Vahan, until the war starts in 1915, when he endures many deaths of his family, losses of his friends, and frightening experiences in a short amount of time. He is a prisoner of war early in the book and is starved for days. As he goes through life, he is very unlucky and experiences other deaths, not just the deaths of his family. Vahan ultimately becomes the man his family would want him to be.
I have been preparing for the position of Lieutenant for the past couple of years. I am currently qualified to work as acting lieutenant of a fire company. Working as a lieutenant over the past few years has given me valuable experience and knowledge of what it takes to get the job done. I have a bachelor's degree in engineering from The Ohio State University. I have reached the paramedic level as an EMT. After college, I gained management experience as a line supervisor in a factory at General Motors. I believe the knowledge, skills and abilities that I have gained in these experiences has prepared me to be an effective leader of a fire company.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was one of the largest disasters in American history. Practically overnight the great city of Chicago was destroyed. Before the fire there was a large drought causing everything to be dry and flammable, then a fire broke out in the O’Leary’s barn and spread throughout the city. Many attempts were made to put out the fire but there were too many errors and problems in the beginning. After the fire many people were left homeless and had to help build their city again (Murphy, 39)
In the case, “Facing a Fire” prepared by Ann Buchholtz, there are several problems and issues to identify in determining if Herman Singer should rebuild the factory due to a fire or retire on his insurance proceeds. I believe that this case is about social reform and self-interest. I think that Singer needs to ask himself, what is in the firm’s best economic interests. There are several things to question within this case, what should Herman Singer do and why, should he rebuild the factory or begin retirement, if he rebuilds, should he relocate the firm to an area where wages are lower and what provisions, if any, should Singer make for his employees as well as for the community?
Dry weather combined with many wooden buildings, sidewalks and streets were open to catching fire and eventually led to it happening (Chicago Fire, 1). The fire spread uncontrollably to the northeast and central of the city. The downtown and north of Chicago was taken in flames but the stockyards on the south and west were not touched by the fire (Fire of 1871, 2). 17,500 buildings have been destroyed, a total of 78 miles of pavements were covered in flames (Murphy, 100). That night the wind was at 30 miles per hour, but there were many whirl flames that traveled to and across the city (Great Chicago Fire, 2). Amid the day and age of the fire the populace was assessed roughly around 324,000 individuals. Inside nine years after the decimation the populace was 500,000 (Chicago Fire, 2). Before the tragic event of the fire, the summer of 1871 was extremely hot, and Chicago went threw a horrific drought. From July to the day of the fire there was only three inches of rainfall in Chicago. In fact, one night before the great downfall a different fire began that was battled out by all fire companies to compose it. Many residents felt that Chicago was saved from disaster after putting the fire to rest (The Great Fire, 2). There was a myth that mention that the fire started by a cow tipping over a lantern
The One Meridian Plaza was a 38-story office building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The building was built in 1972 and destructed in 1992, due to a fire that engulfed eight floors and scorched for nineteen hours. Three firefighters lost their lives battling the biggest high-rise office building fire the city of Philadelphia ever encountered. The fire started in an office room on the vacant 22nd floor. Investigators said the cause of the fire was due to combustion of a pile of linseed oil-soaked rags.
This fire was unprepared to fight by the fire post and everyone willing to help put it out. “King Charles II did his best to organize people to fight the fire, no amount of effort was able to stop it”(Alagna, 23). The equipment that was being used such as leather buckets, water pipes, and hand pumps were not helpful. They also had fire extinguishers to fight against the fire but were not very effective with putting out big fires. “ Soon, the fire became so strong that it could not be put out with buckets of water and the hand pumps that were typically used” (Alagna, 19).
The fire began at the Korn Leather Factory at 57 Boston Street, which is located in the northern part of the city. Chemicals that were used to create varnish exploded starting the blaze. It is believe that the heat of the day built up in the storage room where the chemicals were kept that caused the explosions and started fires. Some of the factory buildings had a sprinkler system, but because of the wooded structures the buildings were made of the few that had the sprinkler systems were ineffective, allowing the fire to grow hotter. It was a hot windy day that day, and the wind caused the man-made fire to become exponentially worse. The strong wind fanned the flames south into the heart of the city and the fire jumped to nearby buildings and kept growing. During this time most building and homes did not follow any fire ordinances, so the roofs were made out of combustible material like plain wood shingles. Embers were blown from
March 25th 1911 is the day one of the largest deadly workplace fires occurred. 146 factory workers died on this day as they fought to escape the Triangle Shirtwaist factory only to find locked exits, and faulty fire escapes. The public witnessed this display of poor fire safety and was quickly filled with sorrow. William Gunn Shepard claimed, “I remember their great strike of last year, in which these girls demanded more sanitary workrooms, and more safety precautions in the shops…. These dead bodies told the result.” This fire is often referred to as the tragedy that awakened the consciousness of America. The Triangle Fire showed the public the horrific working conditions that thousands of employees had at the time. The death of these 146
The fire of October 8, 1871, that started atis known for being the Great Chicago Fire and it earned it. The fire had annihilated seventy-three miles of street, destroyed 17,500 buildings, causing $200 million of property damage, made 100,000 homeless and claimed 300 souls. How it started nobody knows, but they blamed Mrs. Catherine O'Leary and her cows. In 1871, Chicago suffered from a huge drought from early July until October with less than three inches of rain fall (DestroyedTheEntireCity). It was very dry year leaving the ground barren and the wooden city susceptible to fires (History Files). Over the year of 1871 an average of two fires sprang to life every day, but in the past week twenty fires popped to life (U.S.History). On October 7 a big fire popped to life which firemen put out with little to no effort, and they thought they could battle any fire until they ha...
No report about what happens to his wife and kids. Many of the blacks people homes were being burned down. According to Walter White another angry white mob trapped a five colored people in a burning house. Four of them burned to death, one was able to escape but was shot down and thrown back in the fire. As the mobs continued on destroying and killing all through downtown, one of the them were lead by a printing plant employee who was paid forty-eight dollars a week; set fire and destroyed the printing planting. Killed while attacking the plant (Walter White). The white rioters continued on and set homes, buildings on fire which spread heavily (Gates). Gates continued that armed whites broke into homes and businesses and forcing everybody
Throughout recorded history, fires have been known to cause great loss of life, property, and knowledge. The Great Fire of London was easily one of the worst fires mankind has ever seen causing large scale destruction and terror. Samuel Pepys described the fire as “A most malicious bloody flame, as one entire arch of fire of above a mile long… the churches, houses and all on fire and flaming at once, and a horrid noise the flames made.” (Britain Express 1).
have in common and what differs with regards to the representation of the Great Fire of 1666, I
“With great power comes great responsibility”. This was said by someone who had a profound way with words, but I'm not sure exactly who it was, mainly because it has been said in every known origin story of a superhero I can think of, so I guess it's safe to say it is motivational. Imagine that you could have one super power. What would it be and how would you use it? What would be your kryptonite? In all honesty I can say I have thought about this particular question too much in my 17 years of being alive, but maybe that's just because I am a huge Marvel fan. Being the comic book nerd that I am I can honestly say Stan Lee is a genius and sometimes I love him for his writing and sometimes I hate him for it. If I were to have one superpower
Over the last few years, there has been an unusual amount of devastating wildfires reported around the globe. Alaska, Indonesia, Canada, California, Spain, Portugal, and Chile have all been affected by the deadly fires. The number of deaths from wildfires has greatly increased over the last few decades.