From New York to Reichstag: Top Fires That Shook the World
© AP Photo / Thierry Mallet
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Throughout the history of mankind, fires have had a dramatic effect on the course of world events, prompting reforms, laws on urban planning, and setting in place new environmental policies.
As wildfires scorch Southern California, let’s recall the profound impact left by some of history’s most devastating fires.
Notre Dame fire (2019)
No culprit has been found five years on from the fire that ravaged the iconic French cathedral and contaminated areas of Paris with toxic dust and lead.
Totally restoring it is expected to run into 700 million euros ($767 million).
In this April 15, 2019, file photo, flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame Cathedral as it burns in Paris. The cathedral stands crippled, locked in a dangerous web of twisted metal scaffolding one year after a cataclysmic fire gutted its interior, toppled its famous spire and horrified the world. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
© AP Photo / Thibault Camus
Great Matheson Fire (1916)
Coffins lined the tracks of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway after Canada’s deadliest forest fire, in which some 200 people were killed. As sparks from dynamite used by railway companies may have been the cause, new regulations were set in place.
The Reichstag building is shown as it goes up in flames, Feb. 27, 1933, in Berlin.
© AP Photo
Reichstag Fire (1933)
The Reichstag fire was such a boon for the Nazis that it is speculated they started it themselves. Chancellor Adolf Hitler blamed the communists for setting it ablaze, used an emergency law to crush all opposition, and harnessed total power. While no one died in the fire itself, it set the stage for the largest conflict in human history, WWII, which is estimated to have claimed from 70 to 85 million lives.
Interior view of the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, after it was gutted in a fire, Feb. 27, 1933.
© AP Photo
US Great Fire (1910)
The “Big Burn” fire across North Idaho and Western Montana destroyed enough timber to fill a freight train 3,900 km long, prompting the creation of a federal fire protection system.
The Great Fire of New York (1835)
Firefighters drilled holes in the frozen East River and Hudson River to get to water during the blaze. No wonder the nation’s first aqueducts were built after the fire.
Screenshot of Lithograph showing the burning of the Merchant's Exchange Building during the Great Fire of New York, December 16-17 1835.
© Photo : Library of Congress
Great Fire of London (1666)
A new stone London rose from the ashes of this fire that destroyed over 13,000 mostly timber homes. Interestingly, the first fire insurance companies were established.
Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt (48 BC)
It took centuries for humanity to recover from the loss of the priceless knowledge contained in the over 40,000 ancient scrolls on science, philosophy, literature, etc. that were lost in the fire.
10 January 2025, 13:29 GMT
