Fire accidents can be deadly. It destroys much valuable possession. Simple negligence can lead to serious consequences. Many times in human history, deadly fire accidents broke out that took plenty of lives and assets. Post-fire accident investigation reveals these accidents could be prevented if a few steps were taken. A single mistake can cost millions of dollars and valuable lives. Today, we will discuss the worst fire accidents ever recorded in human history. We also tell you how you can prevent fire accidents with some simple easy steps. Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Worst Fire Accidents
Great Fire of London:
The great fire accident of London is the worst fire accident ever recorded in human history in 1666. You will find plenty of novels based on Great Fire. The great fire of London completely swept the central park of London. The fire was such mammoth; it can be seen from the sky. It burned almost 13,000 house and 87 churches. It is assumed almost 70,000 people lost their homes for this great fire.
Although, the exact death toll can’t be found. It was estimated 600 people lost their lives. (Few people believed the death of poor and lower middle class wasn’t recorded, otherwise, the death number would have been even bigger.) If you compare the fire with the death toll, it would be a relatively small number. But the destruction was unthinkable.
The great fire started from a bakery at midnight. In sixteen centuries, people had extremely limited firefighting equipment. Firefighters had no option other than being observant of such a massive disaster. Plenty of Dutch and French people dislocated from London due to the great fire of London.
Peshtigo Fire:
The Peshtigo fire burnt a large forest of Wisconsin on 8 October 1871. It brunt almost 1.2 million acres of forest land. The death toll estimated to be around 1200 to 2500. (This is a clear underestimation, historian believes the death toll could be nearly as large as ten thousand. In Peshtigo fire, nearly everything got wiped up around it) A large community of Wisconsin affected severely due to Peshtigo fire. Although nowadays, people of Chicago don’t remember of such massive fire accidents ever recorded in American history.
The setting of little flames was a typical method to clear timberland land for cultivating and railroad development. Upon the arrival of the Peshtigo fire, a virus front moved in from the west, bringing solid breezes that fanned the flames crazy and raised them to huge extents. A firestorm resulted.
In the expressions of Gess and Lutz, in a firestorm “superheated flares of in any event 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit … advance on winds of 110 miles for each hour or more grounded. The breadth of such a fire ranges from one thousand fire accident to ten thousand feet … At the point when a firestorm ejects in Timberland, it is a blowup, nature’s atomic blast.
When it was more than, 1,875 square miles (4,860 km2 or 1.2 a million sections of land) of the woods had been expended, a region 50% bigger than the U.S. territory of Rhode Island. Twelve people group were decimated.
Largest California fire ever recorded:
The largest natural fire in California history that occurred in the fall of 2018 was caused by the energy company Pacific Gas and Electric. This information was published on Wednesday by the state fire service on its website.
Where to contact fire victims who lost property in a forest fire
Its experts found that “the cause of the Campfire was the power lines that are owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric,” RIA Novosti quoted fire accident as saying. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the energy company, which already suffered significant losses in connection with reports of involvement in the fire may lose even more after the fire the department makes an official statement.
Recall that in November 2018, due to forest fires in California, 85 people died, about 14 thousand houses, and over five hundred commercial buildings were burned. Wildfire Camp, raging in the north of the state, was recognized as the most destructive in the history of California. Then the US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said that the damage from the elements “will amount to billions of dollars.”
Australian Bush Fire:
In Australia, there were some of the largest fires ever recorded happened in 2020. The immediate cause of the fires in Australia was weather conditions: drought and temperature, which beat record after record (on the continent, it rose even higher than global). All this led to a large-scale discussion of both specific fire control measures (primarily the role of volunteers and the state in extinguishing them), and the connection of fires with global warming.
According to data at the end of October, when the fire hazard season began, at least 33 people died from the fire.
Even where there are no fires nearby, the population suffers from heat and smoke, and this (as is known, for example, from studies of the consequences of the Moscow fires in 2010), can also significantly increase mortality.
The total area covered by fire this season was estimated at more than 18 million hectares in the middle of the month – this is the territory equal to two Austria or 80 squares in Moscow. Even the scale of the Siberian fires of last year was almost half that: then about 10 million hectares of taiga burned down.
Fire Safety:
Fire safety – the absence of an unacceptable risk of the occurrence and development of fires and the associated possibility of harm to living creatures, material values , and the environment.
Fire safety of the facilities is ensured by implementing the principle of deeply echeloned fire protection aimed at preventing fires, timely detection of fires and their elimination in the shortest possible time with minimal losses.
The main tasks of the separate divisions of the Company in ensuring their fire protection is to carry out organizational, technical and other measures aimed at preventing fires, ensuring the safety of people, reducing possible material losses and reducing negative environmental consequences in the event of their occurrence, creating conditions for quick calling fire departments and successful firefighting.
According to the Civil Protection Code, a fire safety service operates which works in close cooperation with the state fire and rescue units that guard the nuclear power plant and monitor the state of fire safety around the clock.
The implementation of the complex of fire-fighting measures in the separate divisions of the Company allowed to sharply reducing the number of fires.
Tips to Prevent Fire in Home:
Keep in mind all these tips to prevent possible fires in your home.
- One of the most common household accidents is the burning of the frying pan in the kitchen. The best advice is to be calm and use a lid that will put out the fire due to lack of oxygen. Do not leave fabrics near the kitchen stove.
- Be aware of drafts or liquids when boiling, in case they turn off the kitchen fire, gas will continue to come out. Any spark can start a fire.
- If you suspect or smell gas, do not turn on the light, this will prevent a spark from starting a fire. Immediately open the windows to ventilate the room. A trick to detect a gas leak in pipes; use soapy water.
- To avoid accidents, keep away from children, matches and lighters and flammable products.
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In general, gasoline and flammable liquids, away from heat sources.
- Another of the most common accidents is leaving the iron on when the phone rings, there is a knock on the door or we have to attend to someone. Remember to always unplug the iron, you never know how long you will have to neglect it.
- The electrical and gas installations (kitchen, stoves, heaters, etc.) must be reviewed and in good condition. Having current breakers is the best prevention, in the event of a short circuit, the key will jump and cut the power. Do not leave combustible elements (clothing, paper …) or cover heat sources such as electric radiators, gas stoves, or household appliances.
- If you are going to be away from home for a long time, check that the kitchen faucets are closed, including the gas meter. At bedtime, check that all the keys are in the correct position.
- If you have a fireplace, do not use gasoline or other flammable liquids to light it and install protective screens. Don’t leave it on if you have to go out.
- Do not use combustible gases in small rooms and without proper ventilation.
- Do not connect several devices to the same outlet, or if you do, never exceed the maximum power allowed by the mechanism. Connections in the same plug cause overload in the electrical installation and short circuits.
- Do not smoke while handling flammable liquids or in bed as you could fall asleep with your cigarette lit.
- Verify that all cigarettes are properly extinguished before emptying the ashtray.
- Keep the stove burners clean of debris, every year before lighting; call the technician to verify its proper operation and condition.
- In the event of an electrical fire, do not attempt to extinguish the fire with water, or handle electrical appliances with wet or bare feet.
KEYS TO PREVENT A FIRE
The reality is that our homes can present various risk factors such as poor electrical installations, neglect in the kitchen, improvised gas connections or poor appliances, and electronic devices. Taking a few simple steps will go a long way in preventing a home fire, for example:
– Check the electrical installation:
it is very common to allow a longer period of time to go by without maintaining the electrical installations of a home, unless there is a considerable failure; however, it is of utmost importance to ensure that all connections, light bulbs, plugs, and wiring are in optimal conditions, since a minimum failure can be a great risk factor to start a spark that causes a fire.
– Gas connections:
One of the main causes of fire inside the home is from gas leaks. In addition fire accident to checking that the connections work correctly, you must take precautions not to leave combustible elements near heat sources such as the stove or leave food unattended in the fire since any air stream can extinguish the flame and generate gas leaks.
– Flammable candles and devices:
It is important not to leave candles or gas or gasoline lamps burning unattended; also, special care should be taken with materials such as lighters and matches to keep them away from children.
– Electrical connections:
The use of extensions and multi-contacts is very common in the home to operate several devices at the same time, but if the electrical load in these types of connections is saturated, the probability of a short circuit occurring is greater. That is why the maximum load allowed in the sockets must not be exceeded.
– Electronic devices and appliances:
It is recommended to choose low-energy household appliances and electronic devices, in addition to ensuring that they work properly and that the electrical load is not affected at the time of operation, if so, it will be necessary to change them to avoid a short circuit.
Taking these preventive measures can go a long way in preventing a fire accident at home. In addition to these actions, it is also recommended to keep in view the emergency telephone numbers, as well as some fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, or fire alarms.
