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Nowadays, it is quite impossible to be absolutely sure as what was the initial cause of Chicago Great Fire of 1871. However, it is most probably that this cause had accidental properties. Most historians agree that the fire was started in Patrick Olearys barn, when one of his cows kicked over a lantern. This seemingly a banal accident is associated with one of the worst artificially created disasters in the history of U. S.
During the course of fire, three hundred people lost their life and hundred thousands of Chicago residents were left homeless. Property valued at $ 192, 000, 000 was destroyed. Even though that the number of casualties was comparatively small, given fires magnitude, it still being associated with unimaginable horror that peoples negligence and specific meteorological conditions can produce, when being combined. (1) It is assumed that fire started at about 9 p. m. on October 8, somewhere in southern outskirts of the city. The strong north-west winds propelled the rapid spread of fire.
It also did not help that a few days, prior to fires outbreak, weather remained unusually warm, for this time of year. Eighty percent of Chicago's buildings, at the time, were made out of wood, which enabled the spread of fire to proceed with murderous efficiency, when very little could be done to stop it. The precious time was lost when firefighters did not react promptly to the initial reports of fire. It was not until several buildings on De Korea Street were engulfed in flames that firefighters finally responded. However, even than, they did not have any idea what they were about to begin dealing with. During the sub sequential investigation, it was realized that fire was spreading with a speed of 2 miles an hour.
This meant that there was no much firefighters could do to stop it, especially given the fact that they did not have modern equipment. After it was being realized that it was only the matter of very short time, before fire would destroy southern part of the city, Chicago residents still had a hope that Chicago River would prevent fire from spreading into the northern part. However, there were many wooden vessels docked in the river, at the time. After they became ignited, people who were watching the fire from the other side of the river realized that they would have to run for their lives, because fire was going to spread into Chicago's central districts as well. This caused a great deal of panic, among residents. Horace White provides us with a witness account of the fire: Billows of fire were rolling over the business palaces of the city and swallowing up their contents.
Walls were falling so fast that the quaking of the ground under our feet was scarcely noticed, so continuous was the reverberation. Sober men and women were hurrying through the streets from the burning quarter, some with bundles of clothes on their shoulders, others dragging trunks along the sidewalks by means of strings and ropes fastened to the handles. We saw the tall buildings on the opposite sides of the two streets melt down in a few moments (White). It appears that Chicago Fire actually produced a firestorm, which was sustaining itself by drawing oxygen into the blaze. The high temperature caused many people who were caught in the fire to melt. Thus, it is wrong to suggest that the first instance of artificially created firestorm is associated with bombing of Dresden in 1945.
Apparently, Chicago was the first city to experience such firestorm in modern history. By the time, fire crossed the river; firefighters realized that they had lost their battle, because fire destroyed waterworks that were located just north of the Chicago River, which meant that Chicago's water supply was cut off. After this happened, firefighters had no choice but to give up, as they became powerless to affect the situation. This coincided with gasps of north-west winds becoming stronger, which resulted in Chicago's business district being reduced to smoldering ashes within a matter of half an hour.
The contemporary analyses of Chicago Fire suggest that it was possible for the firefighters work to be more effective. However, they did not have a clear understanding of what was happening, therefore, they could not come up with effective strategy of how to deal with the spread of fire. In his article, Chicago Fire 1871, James Yackish points out to the fact that firefighters were simply overwhelmed with the scope of disaster: The firemen had been fighting fires nonstop all week and were extremely worn out. The fatigue led to stupid mistakes and slow reactions. The firemen hoped that the width of Harrison Street would stop the beast. But it was not the case.
The fire raged through the heart of the city, taking with it many historical buildings and the whole entire business district (Yackish). As result of fire, Chicago City Hall was being burned to the ground. Crosby Opera House, which was to become one of Chicago's trademarks, was also burned, even though that it boasted a very advanced fire protection system. At the time it became engulfed in flames, people inside were not able to use waterhouse's, because of rapidly increasing temperature. The Iroquois Theater was ignited when live performance was taking place on the stage. It is estimated that 25 people became trapped in the building, because they were not able to escape during the ensued panic.
The Chicago's entire center was simply wiped out, with many churches, printing plants, hospitals, libraries sharing the fate of Iroquois Theater. The article The Great Chicago Fire, which can be found on the site of Hello Chicago. Com, gives us a glimpse of how Chicago looked like, two weeks after disaster took place: There all was now one grand, solemn, awful scene of ruin scarcely one stone of all those numberless walls left remaining upon another scarcely a vestige of the recent metropolitan magnificence to be seen, except in the ugly heaps of debris and surviving parts of the city in the distance, south and west scarcely a mark discoverable in all those many and once compact streets by which to identify that which had so grandly stood there. It seemed like a vast cemetery, in which a race of giants had been buried (Hello Chicago. Com). For about two days, after fire died out, it was impossible to approach to citys center, because smoldering debris did not allow people to breathe properly.
Eventually, officials were able to determine that fire destroyed an area about four miles long and averaging 3 / 4 mile wide, encompassing more than 2, 000 acres. Seventeen thousands buildings were burned. The Chicago Tribune described fire as being so fierce that it surpassed the damage done by Napoleons siege of Moscow in 1812. Nevertheless, some buildings did survive it, such as Chicago Water Tower, which still bears the burning marks, as reminder of fires ferocity.
It is very ironic that Olearys house remained untouched by the fire, which added to anti-Irish sentiment among great many survivors. There were only five public buildings spared by the flames, within the disaster zone. Predictably enough, this is because they were all made out of stone. However, it did not help the people who were trying to use these buildings as fire-refuge, because of the high temperature outside. The contemporaries often used apocalyptical terms, when they were describing the fire. Many people died because they were stunned by the sheer speed with which fire was spreading.
Apparently, the emotional shock of seeing the whole city being consumed by flames had an immobilizing effect on them. Chicago Fire lasted for two days and, by the time everything was over, Chicago became reduced into the heaps of smoldering ruins. (2) Chicago Fire is associated with both: fires deadly efficiency and with the fact that it did not take a long time to completely rebuild the city. Many lessons were learned from it. First of all, citys remaining wooden sidewalks were replaced with concrete ones. In fact, other American cities also began replacing their wooden sidewalks, because of safety considerations. Second of all, Chicago's Mayor made it compulsory for every street to have easy access to the water, which could be used in case of fire.
It was Chicago where firehydrons became an attribute of just about any street, for the first time in history. Third of all, the whole concept of architecture underwent a drastic metamorphose. Chicago's officials made it illegal to erect wooden buildings in citys business district. Potter Palmer, the owner of Palmer House Hotel, which was burned on thirteenth day after its grand opening, decided to build a new hotel, which was to be entirely made out of bricks. This hotel was being officially given the status of World's First Fireproof Building. The process of Chicago's rebuilding was aided by monetary donations that were coming from all over the country.
There was still smoldering debris on citys streets, when lumber intended to be used for Chicago's rebuilding, started to arrive. James Yackish says: The fire helped Chicago become one of the most modern cities in the world. The people of Chicago took advantage of the clean slate they were given to build on and learned from their previous mistakes (Yackish). Although architects tried to preserve citys original look, they nevertheless made many alterations to Chicago's new plan. It was realized that the original number of bridges, across Chicago River, was insufficient. Before the fire, Chicago was divided in three parts, with access to each part only possible by the mean of crossing the river.
This was the reason why firefighters had a hard time getting around the city. The new city plan significantly increased the number of bridges, as well as it had provisions for residents evacuation, in case of fire. Also, every citys district was given its own firefighting department. This significantly improved fire safety in Chicago, because firefighters have better chances of localizing fire, if their headquarters are located nearby. The complete rebuilding of Chicago only took five years, which can be explained by the fact that this city has a great strategic importance.
Within twenty, years after the fire, Chicago expanded its pre-fire size by three times. This gives the reason for some contemporary historians to suggest that the original cause of Chicago Fire was premeditated, because, despite many people losing their life, during the course of disaster, fire benefited Chicago enormously by providing city with the new prospects for development. (3) To conclude this paper, we need to say that if Chicago Great Fire did not take place in 1871, it would probably occur within the matter of next few years, because Chicago's wooden houses and sidewalks were nothing but accident waiting to happen. Even before 1871, Chicago's residents were well aware of the fact that their city was vulnerable to fire. One of the reasons why citys firefighters were not able to prevent Chicago from burning to the ground, is that they were physically exhausted from responding to fire alerts, which were taking place all over Chicago in summer and the first part of autumn of 1871. It is not by pure coincidence that, after Chicago Fire, other large American cities underwent a process of rebuilding, to some degree, with purpose of reducing the number of wooden buildings in cities core.
Thus, we can say that Chicago Fire can be described as educational. It proved that cities geographical expansion is a process that needs to be kept under control by municipal authorities. Before 1871, the firefighting techniques were not affected by the size of populated areas, where these techniques were meant to be applied. After 1871, this situation changed drastically. It was being realized that living in big cities, automatically implies being exposed to significantly increased fire hazards, on the part of residents.
Thus, despite that fact that Chicago Fire resulted in deaths of many people, it proved to be beneficiary to the city, in the long run. Bibliography: The Great Chicago Fire. 2005. Hello Chicago. Com. 3 Dec. 2007. web White, Horace The Great Chicago Fire. (1871). 2003. The National Center for Public Policy Research. 3 Dec. 2007.
web Yackish, James Chicago Fire 1871. 2003. Michigan State University. 3 Dec. 2007. web
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