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Archiver > GenMassachusetts > 2011-02 > 1297515805


From: Ms Betty Fredericks <>
Subject: [GENMASSACHUSETTS] "Great Fires" of the late 1800's
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2011 05:03:25 -0800 (PST)


Hi Ruth,

Thank you for reminding us of that bad fire in Boston. I think I thought about it about a year ago, and looked to see if the bad fire in Chicago was about the same time. That fire was over 15 years before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire

Oh, I just looked up the Boston fire, and see there was a bad fire in Boston in 1872, a year after the bad fire in Chicago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Boston_Fire_of_1872

There's a paragraph on that page which is interesting. Especially the mention of a "Horse Flu" disabling the horse-drawn fire trucks:

Many factors contributed to Boston's Great Fire:

Boston's building regulations were not enforced. There was no authority to stop faulty construction practices.
Buildings were often insured at full value or above value. Over-insurance meant owners had no incentive to build fire-safe buildings. Insurance-related arson was common.
Flammable wooden French Mansard roofs were common on most buildings. The fire was able to spread quickly from roof to roof, and flames even leapt across the narrow streets onto other buildings. Flying embers and cinders started fires on even more roofs.
Fire alarm boxes in Boston were locked to prevent false alarms, therefore delaying the Boston Fire Department by twenty minutes.
Merchants were not taxed for inventory in their attics, therefore offering incentive to stuff their wood attics with flammable goods such as wool, textiles, and paper stocks.
Most of downtown had old water pipes with low water pressure.
Fire hydrant couplings were not standardized.
The number of fire hydrants and cisterns was insufficient for a commercial district.
A horse flu epizootic that spread across North America that year had immobilized Boston's fire department horses. As a result, all of the fire equipment had to be pulled to the fire by teams of volunteers on foot. This is often cited as the leading cause of this fire growing out of control, but the city commission investigating the fire found that fire crews' response times were delayed by only a matter of minutes.
Looters and bystanders interfered with fire fighting efforts.
Steam engine pumpers were not able to draw enough water to reach the wooden roofs of tall downtown buildings.
Gas supply lines connected to street lamps and used for lighting in buildings could not be shut off promptly. Gas lines exploded and fed the flames.


Betty (near Lowell, MA)


FYI:

I think you just said that the bad fire in 1889 happened during December. I've mentioned my grandmother's story many times in the past, and she was reportedly born on Feb. 1, 1889. And, her older adoptive parents told her that she was "a foundling" on the steps of a church in Boston that night or day.

Happy Birthday, Grammy Kerr. If I'm figuring correctly this morning, she would have just turned 122 yrs. old. (She passed in 1967 just before my first marriage.)

(As I've mentioned before, my "educated guess" is that her Adoptive parents were her maternal grandparents. I believe their married daughter in CT had an "unwanted pregnancy" outside of her marriage. My grandmother was with them probably from Age 1 to Age 10, and they told her many lies during those years. When they died when she was 10, she spent from Age 10 to Age 20 living in Downtown Boston in 2 "homes." (Tremont St. and Chardon St.)

(Long, complicated story which is a good subject for a book ! I've mentioned most of the details on the MA and CT Lists for many years.)



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