Ballantyne’s Department Store Fire – 1947
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
Symbolically, Dresden ended what began in Coventry. Early 1945 was getting towards the end of World War II. The Russians…
Hartford Circus Fire – 1944
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
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
The Blitz was not a single event. It was a World War II ordeal by fire and bombing that lasted…
Laurier Palace Theatre Fire – 1927
The Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal was nearly full for the Sunday matinee. The audience of 800 consisted mainly…
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire – 1911
If any single incident could provide a manifesto for the existence of labor unions, it is the horrific fire that…
Fire at the Iroquois Theater – 1903
The Iroquois Theater was bang up-to-date. Designed like a Paris opera house with a 19m (60 ft) high marble-walled lobby…
The Great Boston Fire – 1872
Even today visitors to Boston can feel the waft of the city’s once evident superiority complex. In the 1870s it…
The Great Chicago Fire – 1871
Chicago was born in a hurry to grow up, from a hamlet of 150 people in 1831 to a haphazard…