At 1924 HRS on Nov. 9, 1872, a fire broke out in the basement of a commercial warehouse. Although the incident occurred 138 years ago, the Great Boston Fire, as it later became known, is still Boston’s largest urban fire to date, and remains one of the most costly fire-related property losses in U.S. history.

By the time firefighters gained control of the fire, 12 hours after it started, 65 acres of Boston’s downtown area were destroyed; 776 buildings, as well as a large portion of the financial district, were leveled. Several people, including firefighters, perished in the fire, which ultimately cost a total of $73.5 million in damages. (Note: There is conflicting information about how many firefighters perished in this fire. Some sources say two firefighters died, while others say as many as 12 firefighters died.)

Battling the Blaze
Engine Company #7 was the first to arrive on scene, but observed that the fire building was completely involved, and thus called for additional alarms. Hose Company #2 is said to be the first company to apply water at the scene.

As with most large incidents, the scene was chaotic. Countless people made valiant efforts to save lives and property. Trains carried firefighters and apparatus from almost every state in New England to the Boston area. A committee of concerned citizens and property owners tried to stop the fire in its path by blowing up buildings with gunpowder kegs, but according to accounts, this strategy did more harm than good.

As the fire grew, people called for help via telegraph, but their calls went unanswered, as many telegraph offices were closed at that time of night. It is said that the glow from the fire could be seen as far away as Maine.

To make matters worse, Chief John Damrell, the “incident commander,” had difficulty with actually commanding the scene, as city officials many times brought their concerns to him regarding attack strategy and political impact of the fire. (It is said that Chief Damrell was heavily criticized after the fire; however, prior to the fire, he was outwardly concerned about Boston’s fire safety issues. He visited Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire, which occurred one year earlier, to try to learn from their experience. Upon returning from Chicago, Damrell made several attempts to change Boston’s fire safety infrastructure.)

A steam fire engine from Portsmouth, N.H., along with help from citizens who came with wet blankets, is credited with saving the Old South Meetinghouse in which the Boston Tea Party was formed. This effort is also what finally stopped the fire from spreading.

Why Did It Happen?
There were several contributing factors to the Great Boston Fire, including ignored building codes; over-insured buildings; wooden window frames and other features; old water pipes that had never been updated after the city’s post-Civil-War development; no standardized couplings; insufficient fire hydrants and cysterns; exploding gas lines; etc. At that time, fire alarm boxes were also locked to prevent false alarms, so the Boston Fire Department wasn’t immediately notified of the fire in the warehouse. It is estimated that this caused a 20-minute delay in response.

It was also rumored that the equine influenza, which had spread across the country in 1871 and left the Boston Fire Department without horses to pull their equipment, caused such a delay in response that it is directly responsible for the fire’s ability to grow out of control. Yet although volunteers had to transport all fire equipment to the scene on foot, it was later determined that the lack of horses delayed crews by only a few minutes.

Although hundreds of businesses were gone, and thousands were left homeless and jobless as a result of the fire, the city recovered fairly quickly; the burned section was rebuilt in less than 2 years.