List of fires
(Redirected from Historic fires)
Template:Incomplete list Template:Short description
This article is a list of notable fires.
Town and city fires
Building or structure fires
Transportation fires
Mining (including oil and natural gas drilling) fires
Template:See also This is a partial list of fire due to mining: human-made structures to extract minerals, ores, rock, petroleum, natural gas, etc. Template:Sticky header
| Date | Location | Dead/injured | Details | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1884 to present | New Straitsville, Ohio | Coal mine fire ignited by striking miners | World's Greatest Mine Fire<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 31 May 1892 | Příbram, now in the Czech Republic, | 319/? | Fire in Marine iron mine | |
| 7 September 1895 | Osceola Township, Houghton County, Michigan | 30/? | Osceola copper mine caught fire | <ref>Template:Cite report</ref> |
| 7 April 1911 | Colliery, Throop, Pennsylvania, | 72/? | Fire at the Prince-Pancoast, leaving 72 dead by suffocation | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1915 to present | Luzerne County, Pennsylvania | Laurel Run mine fire ignited when a carbide lamp set fire to a timber support | ||
| 1956 | Belgium | 262/? | Template:Interlanguage link multi killed 262 people from 12 nations | |
| 1962 | Algeria | Devil's Cigarette Lighter fire in a gas field, lasted almost 6 months before doused with explosives | ||
| 1962 to present | Pennsylvania | Centralia Mine Fire, rendering the town uninhabitable | ||
| 1967 to present | Kukruse, Estonia | A continuously burning gangue mound at the Kukruse mine | ||
| 1971 to present | Derweze, Ahal Province, Turkmenistan | Darvaza gas crater fire in a natural gas field | ||
| morning of 2 May 1972 | Kellogg, Idaho | 91/? | Fire broke out in the Sunshine Mine, on the morning of 2 May; 91 workers died from smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning | |
| 16 September 1986 | Kinross, Transvaal, South Africa | 177/235 | Kinross mining disaster fire in a gold mine owned by the General Mining Union Corporation | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 6 July 1988 | North Sea | 167/? | Piper Alpha oil platform disaster | |
| 1991 | State of Kuwait | Kuwaiti oil fires following the Gulf War | ||
| 2010 | Gulf of Mexico | 11/17 | Explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon mobile offshore drilling unit | |
| New Zealand | 29/? | Pike River Mine disaster in New Zealand; a series of three explosions in the mine was followed by a fourth which set fire to the coal. 29 miners and contractors perished. | ||
| 4 December 2015 | Caspian Sea | 12+18 missing /? | Gunashli Platform No.10 fire broke out on the offshore oil and gas platform in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea; 12 confirmed deaths, 18 missing. |
Forest and countryside fires
Template:See also Template:Sticky header
| Date | Location | Dead/injured | Details | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 October 1871 | Michigan | >200/? | A series of fires across the state, the most severe of which was the Port Huron fire. The combined Michigan fires killed over 200 people and burned about 1.2 million acres. Occurred on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire and the Peshtigo Fire. | Great Michigan Fire |
| 8 October 1871 | Wisconsin | 1,500–2,500/? | Deadliest wildfire in world history. Death toll can only be estimated because entire towns with all town records were incinerated. Burned over 1.2 million acres. Occurred on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire and the Great Michigan Fires. | Peshtigo Fire |
| 1910 | North Idaho and Western Montana | 87/? | The largest Fire in U.S. history burned an area the size of Connecticut (Template:Convert), killing 87 people, including 78 firefighters | Great Fire of 1910<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> |
| 1911 | Ontario | 73–200/? | Great Porcupine Fire | |
| 29 July 1916 | 223/? | Six towns destroyed, two more damaged | Matheson Fire | |
| 12 October 1918 | Minnesota | 453/? | 1918 Cloquet Fire | |
| 1921 | 35/? | 1921 Mari wildfires | ||
| 1922 | Northern Ontario | Several towns destroyed including 90% of the city of Haileybury, Ontario | Great Fire of 1922 | |
| 1933 | Los Angeles, California, | 29/? | Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles, California, killed 29 firefighters on 3 October. | 1933 Griffith Park fire |
| 1933 | Tillamook Burn, Oregon |
- 1936Template:SndKursha-2, 1200 killed
- 1936Template:SndBandon, Oregon, Bandon's entire commercial district was destroyed, total loss stated at the time was US$3 million, with 11 fatalities.
- 1937Template:SndBlackwater Fire of 1937 in Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming, killed 15 firefighters on 21 August.
- 1939Template:SndBlack Friday bushfires in Australia. 71 people killed.
- 1949Template:Snd1949 Landes forest fire, Template:Convert lost, 82 people killed.
- 1949Template:SndMann Gulch fire
- 1953Template:SndRattlesnake Fire, set by an arsonist named Stan Pattan, in Mendocino National Forest near Willows, California, killed 15 firefighters on 9 July.
- 1963Template:SndParaná forest fire, 20,000 square kilometres destroyed, killing at least 110, with 5,000 houses burned in September.
- 1966Template:SndSerra de Sintra forest fire, outskirt of Lisbon, Portugal, Template:Convert destroyed, killing 26.
- 1967Template:Snd1967 Tasmanian fires in Tasmania, Australia, 62 killed and over 900 injured.
- 1971Template:SndKure forest fire, Kure, western Honshū, Japan, 18 firefighters killed on 27 April.
- 1975Template:SndFire on the Lüneburg Heath in north Germany, 80 square kilometres destroyed, 7 fatalities including 5 firefighters killed on 1p August.
- 1983Template:SndAsh Wednesday bushfires killed 75 people and injured more than 2600 others in South Australia and Victoria.
- 1987Template:Snd1987 Black Dragon fire in People's Republic of China, burned for a month
- 1988Template:SndYellowstone fires of 1988 largest, most expensive wildfire in the history of the National Park Service, at the world's first national park.
- 1991Template:SndOakland firestorm of 1991, Oakland, California, U.S., killed 25 people and injured 150 others.
- 1994Template:SndIsabela Island forest fire, Galápagos Island, Ecuador, 12 km² lost in April.
- 1994Template:SndSouth Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain near Glenwood Springs, Colorado kills fourteen firefighters on 6 July.
- 2002Template:SndBiscuit Fire, the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Oregon
- 2003Template:SndCanberra bushfires, Australian Capital Territory, 4 killed and 435 injured
- 2003Template:SndCedar Fire, destroyed over 550 homes and many acres of land, Southern California
- 2003Template:Snd2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire, British Columbia
- 2005Template:SndEyre Peninsula bushfire, South Australia, 9 killed, at least 113 injured and 79 houses destroyed
- 2006Template:SndPilliga forest fire burned out 740 km² on just its first day
- 2007Template:SndOctober 2007 California wildfires
- 2008Template:SndSummer 2008 California wildfires, second costliest in US history to extinguish.
- 2009Template:SndBlack Saturday bushfires In February, at the end of the early 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave, bushfires swept through the Australian state of Victoria killing 180 people, injuring around 500, destroying at least 2029 homes.
- 2010Template:Snd2010 Russian wildfires, 2000 buildings, 8000 km² destroyed, 54 killed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2010Template:Snd2010 Mount Carmel forest fire in Israel led to 44 fatalities.
- 2011Template:SndFires across parts of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, during the Easter holidays, destroying many parks and forests.
- 2011Template:SndSummer 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.
- 2011Template:SndTwo wildfires burn in Bastrop, Texas; 2 people killed, 34,000 acres burned, over 1000 houses and other structures destroyed
- 2011Template:SndSwinley Forest, UK, 12 fire services attended from various counties to extinguish this forest fire in Berkshire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2015Template:SndSampson 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
- 2016Template:SndA series of wildfires raged across mainland Portugal and the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira.
- 2017Template:SndBetween 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 Template:Convert of forest damaged.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2017Template:SndA series of wildfires, burn across Pedrógão Grande and Nodeirinho in Portugal, killing at least 66 people and injuring at least 204 others.
- 2017Template:SndFires 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.<ref>United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) USDA Forest Service website.</ref><ref>DOF Template:Webarchive Dept. of Forestry Blog: "ODF Daily Fire Update - Monday, September 4, 2017."</ref><ref>KGW News Template:Webarchive "With Oregon on fire, where should you go, or avoid, this Labor Day Weekend?" 31 August 2017.</ref>
- 2018Template:SndCamp Fire in California. Began November 8, 2018; caused 85 deaths and destroyed 18,804 structures.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2018Template:SndWoolsey Fire in California, which broke out on the same day as the Camp Fire. Resulted in three deaths and the destruction of 1,643 structures,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> among them, the homes of notable celebrities.
- 2019Template:Snd2019 Nelson fires – Two wildfires, 20 kilometres apart in Nelson and Tasman District, New Zealand, started on 5 February 2019. The Pigeon Valley fire was described as the country's largest since 1955 and New Zealand's largest aerial firefight on record with 22 helicopters involved.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2019Template:SndGospers Mountain bushfire – Starting on 29 October 2019, this rapidly became the largest single-ignition fire from lightning strike Australia has ever seen, reaching over Template:Convert with a perimeter of Template:Convert, the Gospers Mountain Fire has officially been set to contained on 13 January 2020, at 12:00.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2020Template:SndCagua fire – On 23 January 2020, a fire was started in the Agrícola del Lago reed bed in Cagua, Aragua state, Venezuela. Eleven people were confirmed to have died as a result of the fire, all but two being minors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2025Template:SndEaton Fire in Los Angeles area, CaliforniaTemplate:SndBegan January 7, 2025; destroyed 5,000 structures and caused 6 deaths.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
- 2025Template:SndPalisades Fire in Los Angeles area, CaliforniaTemplate:SndBegan January 7, 2025; caused 5 deaths and more than 12,000 structures damaged or destroyed, more than 150,000 people evacuated.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
- List of fires by locations
- List of accidents and disasters by death toll
- List of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions
References
Further reading
- Template:Cite news Irish Examiner article on 1875 fire
Template:Fire fighting Template:Fire Template:Natural disasters