List of fires
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is a list of notable fires.
Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone.Jack London after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire[1]
Town and city fires
Building or structure fires
Transportation fires
Mining fires
This is a list of fires caused by mining: human-made structures to extract minerals, ores, rocks, petroleum, natural gas, etc. This list includes oil and gas drilling fires.
| Date | Location | Dead/injured | Details | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1884 to present | New Straitsville, Ohio | Coal mine fire ignited by striking miners | World's Greatest Mine Fire[2] | |
| 31 May 1892 | Příbram, now in the Czech Republic | 319 killed, injured unknown. | Fire in Marine iron mine | |
| 7 September 1895 | Osceola Township, Houghton County, Michigan | 30 killed, injured unknown. | Osceola copper mine caught fire | [3] |
| 7 April 1911 | Colliery, Throop, Pennsylvania | 72 killed, injured unknown. | Fire at the Prince-Pancoast, leaving 72 dead by suffocation | [4] |
| 1915 to present | Luzerne County, Pennsylvania | Laurel Run mine fire ignited when a carbide lamp set fire to a timber support | ||
| 1956 | Belgium | 262 killed, injured unknown. | Marcinelle mining disaster 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 killed, injured unknown. | 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 killed, 235 injured. | Kinross mining disaster fire in a gold mine owned by the General Mining Union Corporation | [5] |
| 6 July 1988 | North Sea | 167 killed, injured unknown. | Piper Alpha oil platform disaster | |
| 1991 | State of Kuwait | Kuwaiti oil fires following the Gulf War | ||
| 2010 | Gulf of Mexico | 11 killed, 17 injured. | Explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon Mobile offshore drilling unit | |
| New Zealand | 29 killed, injured unknown. | 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 killed, 18 missing, injured unknown. | 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
| Date | Location | Dead/injured | Details | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 October 1871 | Michigan | More than 200 killed, injured unknown. | 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 killed, injured unknown. | 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 Fire. | Peshtigo Fire |
| 1910 | North Idaho and Western Montana | 87 killed, injured unknown. | The largest Fire in U.S. history. It burned an area the size of Connecticut (3,000,000 acres [12,000 km2]), killing 87 people, including 78 firefighters. | Great Fire of 1910[6] |
| 1911 | Ontario | 73–200 killed, injured unknown. | Great Porcupine Fire | |
| 29 July 1916 | 223 killed, injured unknown. | Six towns destroyed, two more damaged. | Matheson Fire | |
| 12 October 1918 | Minnesota | 453 killed, injured unknown. | 1918 Cloquet Fire | |
| 1921 | 35 killed, injured unknown. | 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 killed, injured unknown. | Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles, California, killed 29 firefighters on 3 October. | 1933 Griffith Park fire |
| 1933 | Tillamook Burn, Oregon | |||
| 1936 | Kursha-2, Russia | 1200 killed. | ||
| 1936 | Bandon, Oregon | 11 killed. | Bandon's entire commercial district was destroyed, total loss stated at the time was $3 million, with 11 fatalities. | |
| 1937 | Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming | 15 killed. | Killed 15 firefighters on 21 August. | Blackwater Fire of 1937 |
| 1939 | Victoria,Australia | 71 killed. | Black Friday bushfires | |
| 1949 | Landes Forest, France | 82 killed. | 256,000 acres (1,040 km2) lost. | 1949 Landes forest fire |
| 1949 | Helena National Forest, Montana, U.S. | 13 killed. | Mann Gulch Fire | |
| 1953 | Mendocino National Forest near Willows, California | 15 killed. | Set by an arsonist named Stanford Pattan. Killed 15 firefighters on 9 July. | Rattlesnake Fire |
| 1963 | Paraná | 110 killed. | 20,000 square kilometres destroyed, killing at least 110, with 5,000 houses burned in September. | |
| 1966 | Serra de Sintra, outside of Lisbon, Portugal | 26 killed. | 26.6 square kilometres (6,600 acres) destroyed, killing 26. | |
| 1967 | Tasmania, Australia | 62 killed, more than 900 injured. | 1967 Tasmanian fires | |
| 1971 | Kure, western Honshū, Japan | 18 killed. | 18 firefighters killed on 27 April. | |
| 1975 | Northern Germany | 7 killed. | 80 square kilometres destroyed, 7 fatalities including 5 firefighters killed on 10 August. | Fire on the Lüneburg Heath |
| 1983 | South Australia and Victoria | 75 killed, more than 2600 injured. | Killed 75 people and injured more than 2600 others. | Ash Wednesday bushfires |
| 1987 | People's Republic of China | Burned for a month. | 1987 Black Dragon fire | |
| 1988 | Yellowstone National Park, U.S. | Largest, most expensive wildfire in the history of the National Park Service, at the world's first national park. | Yellowstone fires of 1988 | |
| 1991 | Oakland, California, U.S. | 25 killed, 150 injured. | Killed 25 people and injured 150 others. | Oakland firestorm of 1991 |
| 1994 | Isabela Island | 12 km² lost in April. | ||
| 1994 | Storm King Mountain near Glenwood Springs, Colorado | 14 killed. | Killed fourteen firefighters on 6 July. | South Canyon Fire |
| 2002 | Oregon | The largest Wildfire in the recorded history of Oregon. | Biscuit Fire | |
| 2003 | Australian Capital Territory | 4 killed, 435 injured. | Canberra bushfires | |
| 2003 | Southern California | Destroyed over 550 homes and many acres of land. | Cedar Fire | |
| 2003 | British Columbia | 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire | ||
| 2005 | South Australia | 9 killed, at least 113 injured. | 9 killed, at least 113 injured and 79 houses destroyed. | Eyre Peninsula bushfire |
| 2006 | Pilliga forest | Burned out 740 km² on just its first day. | ||
| 2007 | California, U.S. | October 2007 California wildfires | ||
| 2008 | California, U.S. | Second costliest in US history to extinguish. | Summer 2008 California wildfires | |
| 2009 | Victoria, Australia | 180 killed, roughly 500 injured. | 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. | Black Saturday bushfires |
| 2010 | Russia | 54 killed. | 2000 buildings, 8000 km² destroyed, 54 killed.[7] | 2010 Russian wildfires |
| 2010 | Israel | 44 killed. | 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire | |
| 2011 | Parts of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland | Destroyed many parks and forests. | ||
| 2011 | Texas, U.S. | 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. | Summer fire outbreak across Texas | |
| 2011 | Bastrop, Texas | 2 killed. | Two wildfires burn in Bastrop, Texas; 2 people killed, 34,000 acres burned, over 1000 houses and other structures destroyed. | |
| 2011 | Swinley Forest, UK | 12 fire services attended from various counties to extinguish this forest fire.[8][9] | ||
| 2015 | Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia | Destroyed 12,500 hectares (31,000 acres) of native forest, farmland, vineyards and 27 houses, with no human fatalities. | Sampson Flat bushfires | |
| 2016 | Portugal | 2016 Portugal Wildfires | ||
| 2017 | Ireland | Between 30 and 40 gorse fires raged across Ireland between late April and early May. Cloosh Valley saw the worst of these fires with 1,500 hectares (5.8 sq mi) of forest damaged.[10] | ||
| 2017 | Portugal | At least 66 killed, at least 204 injured. | June 2017 Portugal Wildfires | |
| 2017 | Oregon's Deschutes National Forest, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, and the Willamette National Forest | 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.[11][12][13] | ||
| 2018 | California, U.S. | 85 killed. | Began November 8, 2018; caused 85 deaths and destroyed 18,804 structures.[14][15] | Camp Fire |
| 2018 | California, U.S. | 3 killed. | Broke out on the same day as the Camp Fire. Resulted in three deaths and the destruction of 1,643 structures,[16] among them, the homes of notable celebrities. | Woolsey Fire |
| 2019 | Nelson and Tasman District, New Zealand | Two wildfires, 20 kilometres apart in Nelson and Tasman District, New Zealand, started on 5 February 2019. The Pigeon Valley fire was described as New Zealand's largest since 1955 and New Zealand's largest aerial firefight on record with 22 helicopters involved.[17] | 2019 Nelson fires | |
| 2019 | Australia | Starting on 29 October 2019, this rapidly became the largest single-ignition fire from lightning strike Australia has ever seen, reaching over 512,000 hectares (1,980 sq mi) with a perimeter of 1,503 kilometres (934 mi).[18] | Gospers Mountain bushfire | |
| 2020 | Cagua, Aragua state, Venezuela | 11 killed. | 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.[19][20][21][22] | Cagua fire |
| 2025 | Los Angeles area, California, U.S. | 6 killed. | Began January 7, 2025; destroyed 5,000 structures and caused 6 deaths.[23][24] | Eaton Fire |
| 2025 | Los Angeles area, California, U.S. | 5 killed. | Began January 7, 2025; caused 5 deaths and more than 12,000 structures damaged or destroyed, more than 150,000 people evacuated.[25][24][26] | Palisades Fire |
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fires.