Conflagration

A conflagration is one term for a great and destructive fire that threatens human life, animal life, health, or property. It may also be described as a blaze or simply a (large) fire. A conflagration can be accidentally begun, naturally caused (wildfire), or intentionally created (arson). Arson can be for fraud, sabotage or diversion, or due to a person's pyromania. A firestorm can form as a consequence of a very large fire, 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, trauma due to collapse of structures and attempts to escape, and smoke inhalation.

Firefighting is the practice of attempting to extinguish a conflagration, protect life and property, and minimize damage and injury. One of the goals of fire prevention is to avoid conflagrations.

Definitions [edit]

a destructive fire, usually an extensive one

a very intense and uncontrolled fire

a large disastrous fire

Causes and types [edit]

Forest fire

During a conflagration a significant movement of air and combustion products occurs. Hot gaseous products of combustion move upward, causing the influx of more dense cold air to the combustion zone. 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.

Conflagrations can occur in forests or other wilderness areas, known as Wildfire.

The conflagration of a building is known as a structure fire.

Notable examples [edit]

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	Date	Conflagration	Notes
Rome	64	Great Fire of Rome
Alexandria, Egypt	48BC	Burning of the library of Alexandria
Moscow	1547	Great Fire of Moscow, 1547	2,700 to 3,700 fatalities; 80,000 displaced
Moscow	1571	Fire of Moscow, 1571	10,000 to 80,000 casualties
London	1613	Burning of the Globe Theatre	During the Henry VIII (Play), a cannon fire lit the thatched roof on fire burning down the Theatre
Edo	1657	Great Fire of Meireki	30,000 to 100,000 fatalities, 60-70% of the city was destroyed
London	1666	Great Fire of London	13,200 houses and 87 churches were destroyed
Moscow	1812	Fire of Moscow (1812)	Estimated that 75% of the city was destroyed
Hamburg	1842	Great Fire of Hamburg	25% of the inner-city was destroyed
St. Louis, Missouri	1849	Great St. Louis Fire	430 homes and 23 ships were destroyed, but only 3 people died
Santiago, Chile	1863	Church of the Company Fire	2,000 to 3,000 fatalities
Atlanta	1864	Atlanta Campaign during American Civil War	More than 4,000 houses, including dwellings, shops, stores, mills and depots were burned; about eleven-twelfths of the city. Only about 450 buildings escaped damage
Peshtigo, Wisconsin	1871	Peshtigo Fire	Resulted in most deaths by a single fire event in U.S. history
Chicago	1871	Great Chicago Fire	200 to 300 fatalities; 17,000 buildings were destroyed
Boston	1872	Boston Fire	Over 700 buildings were destroyed
Minneapolis	1874	Great Mill Disaster	18 believed fatalities
New York City	1876	Brooklyn Theater Fire	273 – 300 fatalities
Hoboken, New Jersey	1900	Great Hoboken Pier Fire	4 ships burned, killing up to 400 people
Jacksonville, Florida	1901	Great Fire of 1901	An eight-hour fire which 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 1000 fatalities
San Francisco	1906	Result of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake	More than 105,000 victims; over 95% of city burned
Idaho	1910	Massive forest fire known as the Big Burn	3 million acres burned out
New York City	1911	Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire	Killed 146 garment factory workers; 4th deadliest industrial disaster in US history
Columbus, Ohio	1930	Ohio Penitentiary fire	322 fatalities, 150 seriously injured
Coventry	1940	Coventry Blitz	Over 800 fatalities, most of the city was destroyed
Stalingrad	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	1943	Firestorm resulting from air bombardment	35,000 to 45,000 victims, and 12km² of the city was destroyed
Hartford, Connecticut	1944	Hartford Circus Fire	Killed 168 and injured over 700 in circus tent fire
Dresden	1945	Firestorm resulting from Allied bombing	Up to 25,000 fatalities during the three-day bombing; 39km² of the city was destroyed by the fire
Tokyo	1945	Firestorm resulting from B-29 raids during Operation Meetinghouse	About 100,000 victims and 41km² of the city was destroyed; similar firestorms hit the Japanese cities of Kobe and Osaka following air bombardments
Hiroshima and Nagasaki	1945	A Firestorm developed 30 minutes after the bombing of Hiroshima, but only a conflagration developed at Nagasaki (see nuclear explosion)	Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Texas City	1947	Texas City disaster	Cargo ship Grandcamp caught fire and exploded, destroying most of the harbor and killing 600 people
Chicago	1958	Our Lady of the Angels School Fire	95 fatalities, 100 wounded
Brussels	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 of land including 1293 homes
Southgate, Kentucky	1977	Beverly Hills Supper Club fire	165 fatalities
Minneapolis	1982	Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day Fire	Two people were convicted of arson, after 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 was devastated
Bradford, England	1985	Bradford City stadium fire	52 victims
London	1987	King's Cross fire	Conflagration on London Underground station killed 31 people
Dabwali, India	1995	Dabwali tent fire	540 deaths
New York City	2001	World Trade Center fires	2,806 victims as fires caused both twin towers of the World Trade Center to collapse, following impacts by hijacked airliners
West Warwick, Rhode Island	2003	The Station nightclub fire	100 killed, 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 km) of land
Victoria, Australia	2009	Black Saturday bushfires	173 victims in over 400 separate bushfires which burned 450,000 hectares
Near Haifa, Israel	2010	Mount Carmel forest fire (2010)	44 victims, 12,000 acres (49 km) 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 1 day
Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil	2013	Kiss nightclub fire	at least 232 fatalities, 117 hospitalized

References [edit]

Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., "Conflagration"
Merriam Websters' Dictionary
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre [1]
Glasstone, Philip J.; Dolan, eds. (1977), ""Chapter VII - Thermal Radiation and Its Effects", The Effects of Nuclear Weapons (Third ed.), United States Department of Defense and the Energy Research and Development Administration, pp. 304, Nagasaki probably did not furnish sufficient fuel for the development of a fire storm as compared to the many buildings on the flat terrain at Hiroshima. 1977 Glasstone & Dolan pg 304.
Item 55 in Large Building Fires and Subsequent Code Changes
Brazil Nightclub Fire Kills At Least 232 People

External links [edit]

Conflagration on map (AccidentMap.com Accident on map)

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Facilities	Fire department Fire lookout tower Fire station

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Terminology	Glossary of firefighting terms Dead Man Zone Draft Fire classes Fire control Fire safety Fire triangle Fireman's carry Firewall Flash fire Forcible entry Gaseous fire suppression Deluge gun Stop, drop and roll Structure fire Two-in, two-out Ventilation

Wildfires	Wildfire Wildfire suppression Glossary of wildland fire terms Aerial firefighting Helitack Smokejumper

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Information source: wikipedia.org

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