Conflagration

For the film, see Conflagration (film).

A conflagration is a large fire.^[1] Conflagrations often damage human life, animal life, health, and/or property. A conflagration can begin accidentally or be intentionally created (arson). A very large fire can produce a firestorm, in which the central column of rising heated air induces strong inward winds, which supply oxygen to the fire. Conflagrations can cause casualties including deaths or injuries from burns, collapse of structures and attempts to escape, and smoke inhalation.

The August Complex fire in 2020, the largest fire in California's history

Firefighting is the practice of extinguishing a conflagration, protecting life and property and minimizing damage and injury. One of the goals of fire prevention is to avoid conflagrations. When a conflagration is extinguished, there is often a fire investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

Burned trees in front the Montagna di Vernà, Peloritani mountains, Sicily

Causes and types

During a conflagration a significant movement of air and combustion products occurs.^[2] Hot gaseous products of combustion move upward, causing the influx of more dense cold air to the combustion zone. Sometimes, the influx is so intense that the fire grows into a firestorm.^[3]

Inside a building, the intensity of gas exchange depends on the size and location of openings in walls and floors, the ceiling height, and the amount and characteristics of the combustible materials.

• Industrial conflagrations include fires at oil refineries, such as the 2009 Cataño oil refinery fire.
• Wildfires are fires in forests or other undeveloped areas, and may grow into a conflagration.
• An urban conflagration is defined as a "large, destructive fire that spreads beyond natural or artificial barriers; it can be expected to result in large monetary loss and may or may not include fatalities. An urban conflagration moves beyond a block and destroys whole sections of a city."^[4] Notable examples includes the Great Fire of London in 1666, the Great Fire of Tartu in 1775,^[5] the Great Fire of Turku in 1827,^[6] and the Great Fire of Hamburg in 1842,^[7] and the Camp Fire in Paradise, California in 2018, which burned 18,000 structures and killed 85 people.^[8]
• On board ships, a large uncontained fire may quickly lead to a ship conflagration.^[9]
• The conflagration of a building is known as a structure fire.

Notable examples

Main article: List of historic fires

Ostankino Tower fire

A fire in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

Beijing Television Cultural Center fire

A fire in a school in Aberdeen, Washington

Place	Year	Conflagration	Notes
Alexandria, Egypt	48 BCE	Burning of the library of Alexandria
Rome, Roman Empire	64	Great Fire of Rome	Large parts of ancient Rome destroyed
Bremen, Archbishopric of Bremen, Holy Roman Empire	1041	Fire of Bremen	Most of the old city including the cathedral destroyed
Lübeck, County of Holstein, Holy Roman Empire	1157	1157 Fire of Lübeck	Destruction of the city
Lübeck, County of Holstein, Holy Roman Empire	1251	1251 Fire of Lübeck	Triggered use of stone as a fire-safe building material
Lübeck, County of Holstein, Holy Roman Empire	1276	1276 Fire of Lübeck	Northern part of old city destroyed. Triggered system of fire protection. Last fire until the bombing of WW II
Munich, Duchy of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire	1327	Fire of Munich	Ca. 1/3 of the city destroyed
Bern, Switzerland	1405	1405 Fire of Bern	600 houses destroyed, over 100 deaths
Moscow, Tsardom of Russia	1547	1547 Great Fire of Moscow	2,700 to 3,700 fatalities; 80,000 displaced
Moscow, Tsardom of Russia	1571	1571 Fire of Moscow	10,000 to 80,000 casualties
London, England	1613	Burning of the Globe Theatre[10]	During performance, cannon misfire caught the thatched roof on fire and the Theatre burned down
Aachen, Holy Roman Empire	1656	Fire of Aachen	4,664 houses destroyed, 17 deaths
Edo, Japan	1657	Great Fire of Meireki	30,000 to 100,000 fatalities, 60-70% of the city was destroyed
London, England	1666	Great Fire of London	13,200 houses and 87 churches were destroyed
Rostock, Holy Roman Empire	1677	1677 Fire of Rostock	ca. 700 houses destroyed. Accelerated the city's economic decline at the end of the Hanseatic period
Copenhagen, Denmark	1728	Copenhagen Fire of 1728	1700 houses destroyed (28% of the city), 15,000 people made homeless
Tartu, Estonia	1775	Great fire of Tartu	Up to 2/3 of the city was destroyed
Copenhagen, Denmark	1795	Copenhagen Fire of 1795	900 houses destroyed, 6,000 people made homeless
Kyiv	1811	Great Podil fire	Over 2,000 houses, 12 churches and 3 abbeys razed, 30 deaths
Moscow, Russian Empire	1812	1812 Fire of Moscow	Estimated that 75% of the city was destroyed
Hamburg, German Confederation	1842	Great Fire of Hamburg	25% of the inner city destroyed
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.	1849	Great St. Louis Fire	430 homes and 23 ships destroyed, but only 3 dead
San Francisco, California, U.S.	1851	San Francisco Fire of 1851	Destroyed as much as three-quarters of San Francisco
Santiago, Chile	1863	Church of the Company Fire	2,000 to 3,000 fatalities
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia	1864	Great Fire of Brisbane	Over four city blocks burned with over 50 houses razed and dozens of businesses
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.	1864	Atlanta Campaign during American Civil War	About 11/12ths of the city burned: more than 4,000 houses, shops, stores, mills, and depots; only about 450 buildings escaped damage
Portland, Maine, U.S.	1866	1866 Great fire of Portland, Maine	1800 structures destroyed on peninsula/downtown area; 10,000 left displaced and homeless
Peshtigo, Wisconsin, U.S.	1871	Peshtigo Fire	Resulted in most deaths by a single fire event in U.S. history (1500-2500)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.	1871	Great Chicago Fire	200 to 300 fatalities; 17,000 buildings were destroyed
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	1872	Boston Fire	Over 700 buildings destroyed
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.	1874	Great Mill Disaster	18 believed fatalities
New York City, U.S.	1876	Brooklyn Theater Fire	273–300 fatalities
Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.	1900	Great Hoboken Pier Fire	4 ships burned, killing up to 400 people
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.	1901	Great Fire of 1901	8-hour fire destroyed over 2,300 buildings and displaced almost 10,000 people
Chicago	1903	Iroquois Theater Fire	Deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history, with 602 victims
New York City	1904	Burning of the steamship General Slocum	Over 1,000 fatalities
San Francisco, California, U.S.	1906	Result of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake	Up to 3,000 victims; over 95% of city burned
Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S.	1908	First Great Chelsea Fire	1,500 buildings destroyed, 11,000 left homeless, when a fire at the Boston Blacking Company was fanned by 40 mph (64 km/h) winds and raced across the Chelsea Rag District, a several-block area of dilapidated wood-frame buildings housing textile and paper scrap. Half the city was destroyed. Same conditions and origin area of the Second Great Chelsea Fire (1973).
Idaho, U.S.	1910	Massive forest fire known as the Big Burn	3,000,000 acres (12,000 km2) burned out, 75 dead.
New York City	1911	Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire	Killed 146 garment factory workers; 4th deadliest industrial disaster in U.S. history
Tokyo, Japan	1923	1923 Great Kantō earthquake	Fire broke out following the earthquake, half the city was razed and over 100,000 died
Columbus, Ohio, U.S.	1930	Ohio Penitentiary fire	322 fatalities, 150 seriously injured
Berlin, Germany	1933	Reichstag Fire	Destruction of the Reichstag, seat of the German Parliament
Coventry, England	1940	Coventry Blitz	Over 800 fatalities; most of the city was destroyed
Stalingrad, U.S.S.R.	1942	Firestorm resulting from German air bombardment	955 fatalities (original Soviet estimate)
Boston	1942	Cocoanut Grove fire	Nightclub fire killed 492 and injured hundreds more
Hamburg, Germany	1943	Firestorm resulting from air bombardment	35,000 to 45,000 victims, 12 km2 (4.6 sq mi) of the city destroyed
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.	1944	Hartford Circus Fire when tent burned	168 killed and over 700 injured
Dresden, Germany	1945	Firestorm resulting from Allied bombing	Up to 25,000 fatalities during the three-day bombing; 39 km2 (15 sq mi) of the city destroyed
Tokyo, Japan	1945	Devastating conflagration resulting from B-29 raids during Operation Meetinghouse	Up to 100,000 fatalities and 41 km2 (16 sq mi) of the city destroyed; similar fires hit the Japanese cities of Kobe and Osaka
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan	1945	Firestorm developed 30 minutes after the bombing of Hiroshima, but only a conflagration developed at Nagasaki[11]	Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (see nuclear explosion)
Texas City, Texas, U.S.	1947	Texas City disaster	Cargo ship Grandcamp caught fire and exploded, destroying most of the harbor and killing 600 people
Seaside Heights & Seaside Park, New Jersey, United States	1955	The Freeman Pier Fire	At least 30 businesses lost, 50 residents evacuated, no major injuries[12][13][14]
Chicago	1958	Our Lady of the Angels School Fire	95 fatalities, 100 wounded
Singapore	1961	Bukit Ho Swee Fire	4 fatalities, over 2,800 homes destroyed, 15,694 people left homeless
Brussels, Belgium	1967	L'Innovation Department Store fire	322 victims, 150 wounded
Gulf of Tonkin	1967	USS Forrestal fire	Fire aboard aircraft carrier during Vietnam War, killed 134 sailors and injured 161
Tasmania, Australia	1967	1967 Tasmanian fires	Severe wildfires that claimed 62 lives, 900 injured, displaced 7,000, and destroyed 264,000 hectares (2,640 km2) of land including 1,293 homes
Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S.	1973	Second Great Chelsea Fire	18 city blocks destroyed when a firestorm raced across the Chelsea Rag District, a several-block area of dilapidated wood-frame buildings housing textile and paper scrap. The same conditions and origin area of the First Great Chelsea Fire (1908).
Southgate, Kentucky, U.S.	1977	Beverly Hills Supper Club fire	165 fatalities
Minneapolis, Minnesota	1982	Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day Fire	Two people convicted of arson in setting fire to a Donaldson's department store, which in turn destroyed a full city block of downtown Minneapolis
San Juanico, Mexico	1984	San Juanico Disaster	Fire and explosions at a liquid petroleum gas tank farm killed 500-600 people and 5,000-7,000 others suffered severe burns; local town of San Juan Ixhuatepec devastated
Bradford, England	1985	Bradford City stadium fire	52 victims
London	1987	King's Cross fire	Conflagration in London Underground station killed 31 people
Waco, Texas	1993	Mount Carmel Center, the compound of the Branch Davidians cult	Occurring on the final day of the Waco siege, resulting in deaths of 76 cult members; question of who actually started the fires remains unanswered[15]
Dabwali, India	1995	Dabwali tent fire	540 deaths[16]
New York City and Washington, D.C., U.S.	2001	September 11 attacks	2,606 victims killed in New York City as fires caused both twin towers of the World Trade Center to collapse, following impacts by two hijacked airliners. In Washington, D.C., 125 victims at the Pentagon were killed by the hijacked plane crash and subsequent fire.
West Warwick, Rhode Island, U.S.	2003	The Station nightclub fire	100 killed and over 200 injured in fire at rock concert
Asunción, Paraguay	2004	Ycuá Bolaños supermarket fire	Almost 400 fatalities
Hemel Hempstead, England	2005	Hertfordshire oil storage terminal fire	The largest fire in peacetime Britain
Greece	2007	2007 Greek forest fires	84 victims in over 3,000 wildfires destroying 670,000 acres (2,700 km2) of land
Victoria, Australia	2009	Black Saturday bushfires	173 victims in over 400 separate bushfires which burned 450,000 hectares (4,500 km2)
Near Haifa, Israel	2010	2010 Mount Carmel forest fire	44 victims, 12,000 acres (49 km2) of bush/forest destroyed
Comayagua, Honduras	2012	Comayagua prison fire	382 fatalities
Karachi and Lahore, Pakistan	2012	2012 Pakistan garment factory fires	About 315 fatalities, over 250 injured in 2 fires on a single day
Santa Maria, Brazil	2013	Kiss nightclub fire	At least 232 fatalities and 117 hospitalized[17]
Seaside Heights & Seaside Park, New Jersey, U.S.	2013	Boardwalk fire	At least 19 buildings destroyed, 30 businesses lost, no major injuries[18]
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta, Canada	2016	2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire	Destroyed 2400 buildings and burned 589,552 hectares (1,456,810 acres) forcing the evacuation of 80,000 residents.
London, United Kingdom	2017	Grenfell Tower fire	On 14 June 2017, a fire broke out in Grenfell Tower, causing the deaths of 72 people and injured 74.
Sonoma County, California, U.S.	2017	Tubbs Fire	36,807 acres burned, 5,400 structures destroyed, 22 fatalities[19]
Paço de São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	2018	National Museum of Brazil fire	On 2 September 2018, a fire broke out at Paço de São Cristóvão in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which housed the 200-year-old National Museum of Brazil. The museum held more than 20 million items, of which almost 90 percent were lost.
Notre-Dame de Paris	2019	Notre-Dame de Paris Fire	The fire of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was a violent fire that erupted in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. It began at the end of the afternoon of April 15, 2019, on the roof of the building, causing considerable damage. The cathedral's needle and roof collapsed, and the interior and artefacts it housed were severely damaged.
Los Angeles County, California	2025	January 2025 Southern California wildfires	Between January 7th and 31st, 2025, 14 destructive wildfires burned in throughout Los Angeles County in California, United States. Due to environmental conditions, the wildfires grew into an urban conflagration.[20] Leading to the death of more than 28 people,[21] with more than 31 missing.[21] More than 17,000 structures were destroyed.[22] These were some of the most destructive fires in California's history.[23]

See also

• Deflagration
• Fire department
• Fire investigation