Great Baltimore Fire and piers lining the north side of the old "Basin" (today's "Inner Harbor") of the Northwest Branch of the Baltimore Harbor and Patapsco River facing along Pratt Street. It is considered historically the third worst conflagration in an American city, surpassed only by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. Other major urban disasters that were comparable (but not fires) were the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and most recently, Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico coast in August 2005. One reason for the fire's long duration involved
Great Oulu fire of 1652 Great Oulu fire of 1652 The great Oulu fire of 1652 was a conflagration that destroyed the majority of the young city of Oulu, Finland on 2 October 1652. Almost all of the houses of the town’s bourgeoisie, the provision warehouses in which the Crown’s grain and money was stored and the drawbridge of Oulu Castle were destroyed. The city was rebuilt after the fire according to the city plan drawn up by surveyor Claes Claesson in 1651. The new city plan doubled the surface area of the town. At the same time, the streets and city blocks were laid