A massive forest fire rages through Minnesota on October 12,
1918, killing hundreds of people, leaving thousands homeless
and burned at least 1,500 square miles.

The fire, known as the Cloquet-Moose Lake fire because that is
where the damage was worst, began at rail lines near Sturgeon
Lake. This region of Minnesota, southwest of Duluth in the
eastern part of the state, was ripe for a major disaster of this
sort. The area’s timber industry used crude slash methods in
the thick forests, leaving behind dry scraps that were perfect
kindling for wildfires. They also tended to leave these scraps
lying around the rail lines that carried wood from the lumber
mills. Since train engines of the time often gave off sparks,
fires were nearly inevitable.

Making matters even worse, the months leading up to October
1918 were very hot and dry. When the fire began, it spread
quickly due to high winds.

     
CAMILLE
BOHANNON

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept
through the central parts of London from Sunday, 2 September
to Thursday, 6 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval
City of London inside the old Roman city wall. The death toll is
generally thought to have been relatively small, although some
historians have challenged this belief.

The fire started in a bakery shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September, and spread rapidly.

On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812 between the United
States and England, British troops entered Washington, D.C.
and burned the White House in retaliation for the American
attack on the city of York in Ontario, Canada, in June 1813.

When the British arrived at the White House, they found that
President James Madison and his first lady Dolley had already
fled to safety in Maryland. Soldiers reportedly sat down to eat
a meal made of leftover food from the White House scullery
using White House dishes and silver before ransacking the
presidential mansion and setting it ablaze.

James Madison Jr.
(March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836)

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

In 1904, more than 1,000 people died when fire erupted aboard
the steamboat General Slocum in New York’s East River. In
1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act making
the National Guard part of the U.S. Army in the event of war
or national emergency.

The excursion boat General Slocum lies beached off Hell
Gate in New York City’s East River, following a fire and
resulting panic. The disaster cost the lives of 1,030
mostly German immigrants, June 15, 1904. (AP)

In one of the darkest moments of America’s industrial history,
the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City
burned down, killing 146 workers, on March 25, 1911. The
tragedy led to the development of a series of laws and
regulations that better protected the safety of factory
workers.

The Triangle factory, owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris,
was located in the top three floors of the 10-story Asch
Building in downtown Manhattan. It was a sweatshop in
every sense of the word: a cramped space lined with work
stations and packed with poor immigrant workers, mostly
teenaged women who did not speak English. At the time of
the fire, there were four elevators with access to the factory
floors, but only one was fully operational and it could hold
only 12 people at a time. There were two stairways down to
the street, but one was locked from the outside to prevent
theft by the workers and the other opened inward only. The
fire escape was shoddily constructed, and could not support
the weight of more than a few women at a time.

Washington place today, site of the triangle fire, was constructed in 1900. it is currently
KNOWN AS NYU’S BROWN BUILDING.