Stardust Disco Fire – 1981

9 years ago

Friday the 13th turned out to be a tragically unlucky day for 48 young people who died in a 1981…

Beverley Hills Supper Club Blaze – 1977

9 years ago

It was a typically busy Saturday night at the Beverley Hills Supper Club, a North Kentucky nightclub which was a…

Summerland Holiday Center Fire – 1973

9 years ago

If ever there was a contrast between the high hopes of a project’s designers and that project’s eventual outcome, the…

Our Lady of the Angels School Fire – 1958

9 years ago

The particular horror of school fires is that in addition to the personal tragedy of each child’s death, the fire…

Chongqing Waterfront Fire – 1949

9 years ago

Chongqing’s importance is geographical: it sits on a hilly peninsula overlooking the confluence of the Yangzi and its principal tributary,…

Ballantyne’s Department Store Fire – 1947

9 years ago

The arcaded facade of Ballantyne’s Department Store made a grand statement in the heart of Christchurch on South Island. Since…

The Dresden Firestorm – 1945

9 years ago

Symbolically, Dresden ended what began in Coventry. Early 1945 was getting towards the end of World War II. The Russians…

Hartford Circus Fire – 1944

9 years ago

The disaster got its name from a front-page photograph of Emmett Kelly carried by the Hartford Courant. Kelly was the…

Cocoanut Grove Fire – 1942

9 years ago

The only entrance to the Cocoanut Grove was the revolving front door. Other exits had been bricked or welded shut…

The Blitz on London – 1940-1941

9 years ago

The Blitz was not a single event. It was a World War II ordeal by fire and bombing that lasted…