This is a list of historic fires. Urban fires are the most numerous due to loss of life and property, but also included are lists of fires in individual structures, ships and other transportation, and mines. A few of the most important wildfires or forest fires are included, but this list is not the primary resource for the most severe wildfires, which is summarized in the List of forest fires.
Town and city fires
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Building or structure fires
Transportation fires
Mining fires
This is a partial list of fire due to mining: man-made structures to extract minerals, ores, rock, petroleum, natural gas, etc.
- 1884 to present  â€" World's Greatest Mine Fire â€" New Straitsville, Ohio, coal mine fire ignited by striking miners
- 1892 â€" Fire in the Marie iron mine, PÅ™Ãbram, now in the Czech Republic, 319 killed on May 31
- 1895 â€" Osceola copper mine in Osceola Township, Houghton County, Michigan, caught fire on September 7, 30 killed
- 1911 â€" Fire at the Price-Pancoast Colliery, Throop, Pennsylvania, on April 7, with 72 dead by suffocation
- 1915 to present â€" Laurel Run mine fire in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States, ignited when at carbide lamp set fire to a timber support
- 1956 â€" Bois du Cazier fire, Belgium, killed 262 people from 12 nations
- 1962 â€" Devil's Cigarette Lighter fire in a gas field in Algeria, lasted almost 6 months before doused with explosives
- 1962 to present â€" Centralia Mine Fire, Pennsylvania, rendering the town uninhabitable
- 1971 to present â€" Darvaza gas crater fire in a natural gas field in Derweze, Ahal Province, Turkmenistan
- 1972 â€" Fire broke out in the Sunshine Mine in Kellogg, Idaho, on the morning of May 2; 91 workers died from smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning
- 1986 â€" Fire in a gold mine owned by the General Mining Union Corporation in Kinross, Transvaal, South Africa, with 177 killed and 235 injured on September 16
- 1988 â€" Piper Alpha oil platform disaster, North Sea, on July 6; 167 deaths
- 2010 â€" Explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon mobile offshore drilling unit in the Gulf of Mexico
Forest and countryside fires
- 1871 â€" The Great Michigan Fire, killed over 200 in Michigan
- 1910 â€" Great Fire of 1910 (aka Big Blowup; Big Burn), Washington, Idaho and Montana, over 3 million acres (12,000 km²), at least 85 dead. This fire set new policies, and created new organizations for fighting wildfires.
- 1911 â€" Great Porcupine Fire, Ontario
- 1916 â€" Matheson Fire, Ontario, July 29. Six towns destroyed, two more damaged, 223 people dead.
- 1918 â€" 1918 Cloquet Fire, 453 lives lost in a single day, October 12. Minnesota
- 1921 â€" 1921 Mari wildfires, 35 killed
- 1922 â€" Great Fire of 1922, Northern Ontario, several towns destroyed including 90% of the City of Haileybury
- 1933 â€" Griffith Park Fire in Los Angeles, California, killed 29 firefighters on October 3
- 1933 â€" Tillamook Burn, Oregon
- 1935 â€" Kursha-2, 1200 killed
- 1936 â€" Bandon, Oregon, Bandon's entire commercial district was destroyed, total loss stated at the time was $3 million USD, with 11 fatalities.
- 1937 â€" Blackwater fire of 1937 in Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming, killed 15 firefighters on August 21
- 1949 â€" The great forest fire of 1949 in the Landes Forest, wildfire, 256,000 acres (1,040 km2) lost, 240 killed, include 82 firefighters, on August.
- 1949 â€" Mann Gulch fire
- 1953 â€" Rattlesnake Fire, set by an arsonist named Stan Pattan, in Mendocino National Forest near Willows, California, killed 15 firefighters on July 9
- 1963 â€" Paraná forest fire, 20,000 square kilometres destroyed, killing at least 110, with 5,000 houses burned in September.
- 1966 â€" Serra de Sintra forest fire, outskirt of Lisbon, Portugal, 26.6 km² destroyed, killing 26.
- 1967 â€" 1967 Tasmanian fires in Tasmania, Australia
- 1971 â€" Kure forest fire, Kure, western HonshÅ«, Japan, 18 firefighters killed on April 27
- 1975 â€" Fire on the Lüneburg Heath in north Germany, 80 square kilometres destroyed, 7 fatalities including 5 firefighters killed on August 10
- 1983 â€" Ash Wednesday fires in south-eastern Australia killed 75 people in South Australia and Victoria.
- 1987 â€" 1987 Daxing'anling wildfire in People's Republic of China, burned for a month
- 1988 â€" Yellowstone fires of 1988 largest, most expensive wildfire in the history of the National Park Service, at the world's first National Park
- 1994 â€" Isabela Island forest fire, Galápagos Island, Ecuador, 12 km² lost in April.
- 1994 â€" South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain near Glenwood Springs, Colorado kills fourteen firefighters on July 6.
- 2003 â€" Canberra bushfires, Australian Capital Territory, 4 killed and 435 injured
- 2003 â€" Cedar Fire destroyed over 550 homes and many acres of land, Southern California
- 2003 â€" 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire, British Columbia
- 2005 â€" Eyre Peninsula bushfire, South Australia, 9 killed, at least 113 injured and 79 houses destroyed
- 2006 â€" Pilliga forest fire burned out 740 km² on just its first day
- 2007 â€" October 2007 California wildfires Fires in California
- 2008 â€" Summer 2008 California wildfires Second costliest in US history to extinguish.
- 2009 â€" Black Saturday bushfires In February, at the end of the early 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave, bushfires swept through the Australian state of Victoria killing 173 people, injuring around 500, destroying at least 2029 homes.
- 2010 â€" 2010 Russian wildfires, 2000 buildings, 8000 km² destroyed, 54 killed.
- 2010 â€" Mount Carmel forest fire in Israel led to 44 fatalities.
- 2011 â€" Fires across parts of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, during the Easter holidays, destroying many parks and forests.
- 2011 â€" Summer fire outbreak across Texas claimed almost 4 million acres in over 21,000 fires. Approximately 7,000 homes were lost and approximately 50,000 homes in direct danger were saved by fire departments across the state.
- 2011 â€" Two wildfires burn in Bastrop, Texas; 2 people killed, 34,000 acres burned, over 1000 houses and other structures destroyed
- 2011 â€" Swinley Forest, UK, 12 fire services attended from various counties to extinguish this forestry fire in Berkshire.
- 2015 â€" Sampson Flat bushfires, Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia, destroyed 12,500 hectares (31,000 acres) of native forest, farmland, vineyards and 27 houses, with no human fatalities
- 2016 â€" A series of wildfires raged across mainland Portugal and the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira.
- 2017 â€" Between 30 and 40 gorse fires raged across the country [Ireland] between late April and early May. Cloosh Valley saw the worst of these fires with 1,500 hectares of forest damaged.
- 2017 â€" A series of wildfires, burn across Pedrógão Grande and Nodeirinho in Portugal, killing at least 64 people and injuring at least 204 others.
- 2017 - Fires consumed hundreds of thousands of acres of Oregon's Deschutes National Forest, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, and the Willamette National Forest during August and September, causing evacuations and road closures. Fires included the Chetco Bar Fire and the Eagle Creek Fire, which also spread into Skamania County, Washington, United States.
See also
- List of accidents and disasters by death toll
- List of fire departments
- List of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions
References
Further reading
- Irish Examiner article on 1875 fire
