The Great Boston Fire of 1872 was Boston's largest fire, and still ranks as one of the most costly fire-related property losses in American history. The conflagration began at 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, November 9, 1872, in the basement of a commercial warehouse at 83–87 Summer Street. The fire was finally contained 12 hours later, after it had consumed about 65 acres (26 ha) of Boston's downtown, 776 buildings and much of the financial district, and caused $73.5 million in damage. The destruction to the buildings was valued at $13.5 million and the personal property loss was valued at $60 million. In the end, at least 30 people died, including 12 firefighters.
A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion is an explosion caused by the rupture of a vessel containing a pressurized liquid that has reached a temperature above its boiling point. Because the boiling point of a liquid rises with pressure, the contents of the pressurized vessel can remain a liquid as long as the vessel is intact. If the vessel's integrity is compromised, the loss of pressure drops the boiling point, which can cause the liquid to convert to a gas expanding rapidly. If the gas is combustible, as in the case with hydrocarbons and alcohols, further damage can be caused by the ensuing fire.
A gas explosion is the ignition of a mixture of air and flammable gas, typically from a gas leak. In household accidents, the principal explosive gases are those used for heating or cooking purposes such as natural gas, methane, propane, butane. In industrial explosions many other gases, like hydrogen, as well as evaporated (gaseous) gasoline or ethanol play an important role. Industrial gas explosions can be prevented with the use of intrinsic safety barriers to prevent ignition, or use of alternative energy.
Tire fires are events that involve the combustion of large quantities of tires, usually waste tires, typically in locations where they are stored, dumped, or processed. They exist in two forms: as fast-burning events, leading to almost immediate loss of control, and as slow-burning pyrolysis which can continue for over a decade. They are noted for being difficult to extinguish. Such fires produce much smoke, which carries toxic chemicals from the breakdown of synthetic rubber compounds while burning.
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services (VFRS) was founded in 1886 and today serves the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, providing fire, medical first response, rescue and extrication services. In 2017, VFRS responded to 67,000 emergency calls.
The Falk Corporation explosion refers to a large and fatal propane gas explosion at a Falk Corporation building in the industrial Menomonee River Valley neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 6, 2006. Three people were killed and forty-seven others injured. Cars were reportedly flipped through the air and debris scattered over several blocks. An investigation of the cause of the disaster uncovered leaks in a pipe running below the building, which supplied propane to the heating system for the complex. Several parties involved in the explosion have launched legal action in connection to the accident.
The Boston Fire Department provides fire services and first responder emergency medical services to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It also responds to such incidents as motor vehicle accidents, hazardous material spills, utility mishaps, floods, explosions, and construction accidents among others.
The Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day fire destroyed two buildings, covering an entire block of Downtown Minneapolis on November 25–26, 1982: the 16-story headquarters of Northwestern National Bank and the vacant, partially demolished location formerly occupied by Donaldson's department store, which had recently moved across the street to the new City Center mall. Nobody was injured or killed as a result of the fire, though 10 firefighters were treated at hospitals.
On Tuesday, 18 November 1947, a fire engulfed Ballantynes department store in central Christchurch, New Zealand. 41 people died; 39 employees and two auditors, who found themselves trapped by the fire, or were overcome by smoke while evacuating the store complex without a fire alarm or evacuation plan. It remains the deadliest fire in New Zealand history.
One Meridian Plaza, formerly known as the Fidelity Mutual Life Building, Three Girard Plaza and Three Mellon Bank Center, was a 38-story high-rise office building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The 492-foot (150-meter) tower was designed by Vincent Kling & Associates and completed in 1972.
The 23rd Street Fire was an incident that took place in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on October 17, 1966. A group of firefighters from the New York City Fire Department responding to a fire at 7 East 22nd Street entered a building at 6 East 23rd Street as part of an effort to fight the fire. Twelve firefighters were killed after the floor collapsed, the largest loss of life in the department's history until the collapse of the World Trade Center in the September 11 attacks of 2001.
A refinery owned by Gulf Oil Corporation in Philadelphia, located at Girard Point on the Schuylkill River in South Philadelphia, caught fire on Sunday, August 17, 1975. This incident grew into an 11-alarm fire, not brought under control until 24 hours later, and resulted in the death of eight firefighters of the Philadelphia Fire Department (PFD), injuries to 14 other firefighters, and the loss of four PFD vehicles.
The First Interstate Tower fire was a high-rise fire that occurred on May 4, 1988, at the First Interstate Tower in Los Angeles, California, a 62-story, 860 foot skyscraper, then the tallest building in the city. The fire destroyed five floors of the building, injured 40 people, and caused the death of a maintenance worker, when the elevator he was riding opened onto the burning 12th floor.
On the evening of December 27, 1983, firefighters in Buffalo, New York responded to a call regarding a propane gas leak. Shortly after their arrival, the propane ignited, leveling a warehouse and causing a wide swath of damage. Five firefighters and two civilians were killed in the blast, and left dozens more injured. The event remains the largest single day loss of life for the Buffalo Fire Department.
The Great New York City Fire of 1845 broke out on July 19, 1845, in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The fire started in a whale oil and candle manufacturing establishment and quickly spread to other wooden structures. It reached a warehouse on Broad Street where combustible saltpeter was stored and caused a massive explosion that spread the fire even farther.
The Kingman explosion, also known as the Doxol disaster or Kingman BLEVE, was a catastrophic boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) that occurred on July 5, 1973, in Kingman, Arizona, United States.
A large fire occurred on September 12, 2013 on the boardwalks and at the Funtown Pier of Seaside Heights and Seaside Park, New Jersey, on the Jersey Shore destroying more than 50 businesses.
On February 27, 1975, fire boke out at the New York Telephone Company switching center at 204 Second Avenue and Thirteenth Street in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. At this time, the building contained central offices for connecting local customer telephone lines, as well as toll switching systems. The fire disrupted service for 175,000 customers, connected within the building through 105,000 service loops. It was the worst single service disaster suffered by any single Bell operating company in the 20th century.
The 1946 Greenville propane explosion occurred on 19 November 1946, at the Ideal Laundry laundromat in Greenville, South Carolina. A tank containing around 3,500 US gallons (13 m3) of propane exploded around 6 PM, after leaking vapors were ignited by the boilers in the basement. The blast, which killed 6 people and injured over 150, was felt as far away as Gaffney, 50 miles to the northeast.
