Chicago Fire of 1874 Sides. The fire insurance industry's National Board of Underwriters responded to the fire by demanding widespread changes in Chicago's fire prevention and firefighting efforts, and ultimately encouraged fire insurers to cancel all coverage of buildings in the city in October. Many insurers did halt their activities in Chicago, and only returned to issuing policies in the city after the municipal government adopted many of the suggested reforms. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, there were some attempts to give the event a nickname to correspond with the much larger "Great Chicago Fire" of 1871. On July 17, three days
The Great Fire of Key West so long and destroy so much of the city. Since 1875, the city had a serious fire department, organized first by A. H. Dorsett. However, at the time of the fire, the city's only steam fire engine had been sent to New York for repair. Firefighters were only able to use less effective measures like hand pumpers. Secondly, on the night when the fire occurred, strong winds were blowing, which caused the fire to start up again even where it appeared to have been put out. There is speculation that the fire was started on purpose by arsonists sent by