The Great Fire of London in 1666, ignited by a small flame in a bakery on Pudding Lane, swiftly escalated into a devastating inferno that ravaged the city. Consuming over 13,000 houses and 87 churches, the fire’s destructive path seemed unstoppable.
Yet, amidst the chaos, the remarkable fact remains that only six recorded deaths occurred, a testament to the city’s successful evacuation and the absence of high casualty figures in such a catastrophic event. This historic fire prompted significant urban planning changes and the rebuilding of London, ultimately shaping the city’s architectural landscape for centuries to come.
Ohh, great fun, I once read up on that fire while writing a small text on fire safety in cities of the Early Modern Period. The 1666 fire was certainly unprecedented in size looking at the last few hundred years before it, but smaller fires were rather common, leading to a generally well prepared population. I’d wager that this led to the low death count, and the premature dismissal of the fire to the tune of “A woman could piss it out”.
In the end, however, the fire was stopped by demolishing the wooden houses next to the active fire, preventing further spread to even more parts of the city. Hooks for breaking down wooden walls were common by then, explosives were used for that as well. I recommend this paper for deeper reading on the fire itself.
Furthermore, by ~1700, there are multiple detailled fire policies of cities written down, giving great insight into the particularities of fire fighting. In the lawbook of the city I looked at for my paper, every house was forced to stash one bucket of water, and help out with that bucket if a house in their street was on fire. Things like distribution of water sprayers in the case of emergency to the population was listed, as were monetary rewards to the first people extinguishing the fire. This is the fire policy which I looked at, it’s in german, but well worth a read if you are able to.
Edit: Before I forget, here’s a paper regarding the rebuilding of London after 1666. There were four plans after only a few days of the fire happening!
Fascinating stuff. Thank you.
It was informative and engaging. Thank you for sharing it!
Interesting share! Allow me to add a related piece of trivia. In Japan, the penalty for arson can be as severe as that for murder, even potentially carrying the death penalty at its maximum. This is because the penal code originates from past eras when cities were densely populated with wooden structures. Back then, setting fire to one house could result in a significant portion of the city burning down.
