Fires in Cities are Terrifying

As I was planning this blog last summer, the western United States was, once again, aflame with wildfires. Wildfires are one thing, but fires within cities carry their own kind of devastation. All major cities have had devastating fires started many ways. In the context of my stories, the cities of St. Louis and San Francisco experienced fires that wiped out whole business districts as well as homes. 

I’ll start with St. Louis. This fire began on May 17, 1849, on a steamboat named “White Cloud” while it was moored on St. Louis’ riverfront. Despite the efforts of the volunteer fire department, the fire burned through the rope holding it to the dock and released the floating inferno into the river’s current. It set twenty-two other steamboats on fire as it meandered in the river’s current. Those steamboats that were docked when they were ignited, were loaded with freight and set the entire wharf on fire. Ultimately, fifteen city blocks were devastated including the entire area east of Third Street between Walnut and Locust Streets.

A lithograph of the Great Fire by Nathaniel Currier. Courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis.

The estimated losses were $6,000,000 and put thousands of St. Louisans out of work and left hundreds homeless. It did influence the city’s rebuilding and the structures that emerged were built with particular emphasis on heavy brick walls facing the street front with stone or cast-iron facades.

Then there was San Francisco. San Francisco had seven fires in the first three years of her history. Due to the hurried way the city was assembled, most of the structures were wooden. Most men lived in tents made of canvas. A few fires, one in January 1849 and another in June made the citizens consider the topic of fire protection especially when the citizenry understood how vulnerable they were given the prevalent building material and the ever-present winds. They knew that if a fire ever got started, they were ill-prepared to stop it.

The first major fire in San Francisco’s history occurred on December 24, 1849. It ignited in Dennison’s Exchange, on Kearney Street across from Portsmouth Square. Dennison’s was the city’s richest gambling house, and the flames quickly destroyed it and the south side of Washington Street until the citizens halted the flames by blowing up or pulling down the structures ahead of the flames. Before they knew it, the brand-new goldrush city was in ashes. 

“Great Fire in San Francisco, May 4th, 1850: 400 buildings burned [California].” circa 1850.William B. Cooke & Company (active ca. 1850), publisher. Description: “View from Portsmouth Square of buildings engulfed in flames, crowds in foreground watch blaze. Map shows area destroyed by fire. Printed title (LC). Printed (LR): Pub. by W.B. Cooke & Co., Portsmouth Square.” UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library.

It didn’t take long for a volunteer fire department to organize. The town council met to pass resolutions allocating funds for ropes, ladders, hooks, axes, etc., create a fire chief position and organize companies. Two months later they had a generally organized fire department.

And, as I mentioned in a previous blog, the residents were motivated to rebuild quickly to keep up their commerce given the riches flowing their way from the goldfields. It was estimated that $1,000,000 worth of property was destroyed in the December 24^th fire. But the city was rebuilt, bigger and “better” until, only six months later, on May 4, 1850, the second fire destroyed $4,000,000 worth of property including the most valuable buildings in the city.

From this fire, ordinances were passed to fine anyone who refused to assist in extinguishing the flames no less than $5 and no more than $100. Additionally, every household had to keep six water buckets always in readiness.

A month later, a third fire broke out.  This fire incented the citizens to consider building with brick. While initially more expensive than wood, in the long run brick was considered the better material. And more fire companies were being formed.

Two more fires ravaged the city before the great fire mentioned in my stories. It happened on May 4, 1851, the anniversary of the City’s second great fire. It is estimated that this fire had the combined effective financial damage of all the others. It started in a paint and upholstery store on the south side of the Plaza and due to the northern wind, blew to Kearny Street and then down Kearny Street for several blocks.

At this point, the wind shifted and blew, with hurricane force, from the south which turned and carried the fire back into the main business district. It burned with such ferocity that it is said the reflection of it could be seen one hundred miles at sea. It burned for ten hours, between 1500 and 2000 houses were destroyed, and eighteen blocks of the main business district were destroyed. Only five brick buildings located on Montgomery Street escaped and the damage was estimated at $12,000,000.

Fire departments were organized, equipment purchased, and manpower enlisted but when a city had been thrown together as quickly as San Francisco, the fires had to have been terrifying. I learned from the article referenced below, several of these fires were said to have been “incendiary” in nature which means started by someone. 

I’ll be touching on the cultural tensions that existed in San Francisco that may have been the cause for these fires in a future blog.

I used the articles from Mound City on the Mississippi (dynamic.stlouis-mo.gov) titled, “Great Fire of 1849” and The Museum of the City of San Francisco (sfmuseum.org) titled “Early History of the San Francisco Fire Department” to write this blog.