fires

Great Chicago Fire

The Great Chicago Fire burned October 8 to 10, 1871, in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago, with its frequent high winds and countless wooden structures, was prone to fires even before the “Great Fire” tore through the city. However, none was so destructive as this one. It ultimately killed 300 people and destroyed more than 17,000 buildings. …Read More

Chernobyl Disaster

On April 26, 1986, a Soviet nuclear power plant near Chernobyl, Ukraine, became the site of the most disastrous nuclear accident in history, when it experienced explosions at one of its reactors. Disaster In the early hours of April 26, a planned simulation of an electrical power outage resulted in an uncontrolled nuclear reaction at …Read More

San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

On April 18, 1906, at 5:12 a.m., San Francisco and the surrounding area was struck by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter just two miles west of the city. Massive fires followed, burning a large portion of the city over the course of three days. Three thousand people were killed in the disaster, and half …Read More

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City caught fire and in about half an hour killed 146 people, the majority of them young women. Background The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a sweatshop housed in the top three floors of a 10-story brick building in New York City. It employed hundreds …Read More