Great Fire of London general; and more particularly in this business of the fire, laying it all upon him." Pepys was a senior official in the Navy Office by then, and he ascended the Tower of London on Sunday morning to view the fire from a turret. He recorded in his diary that the eastern gale had turned it into a conflagration. It had burned down several churches and, he estimated, 300 houses and reached the riverfront. The houses on London Bridge were burning. He took a boat to inspect the destruction around Pudding Lane at close range and describes a "lamentable" fire, "everybody
Second Great Fire of London Second Great Fire of London The "Second Great Fire of London" refers to one of the most destructive air raids of the Blitz. An American correspondent in a cable to his office said, ""The second Great Fire of London has begun"." The Luftwaffe raid caused fires over a greater area than the Great Fire of London in 1666. On night of 29-30 December 1940, approximately 100,000 bombs fell on the city. The Germans dispatched 136 bombers to the city. Fewer incendiaries were dropped than in the raids of 15 November or 8 December. However, the raid was focused on a