This is a list of major urban conflagrations. Before the 20th century, fires were a major hazard to urban areas and the cause of massive amounts of damage to cities.
For notable fires that involved a single structure, see list of building or structure fires. Other lists record wildfires (including forest fires) and transportation fires, though those that caused significant urban damage also appear on that list.
Antiquity to Middle Ages
587 BCThe destruction of the Temple and city of Jerusalem. 330 BCPersepolis destroyed by fire after its capture by Alexander the Great. 146 BCCarthage was systematically burnt down over 17 days by the Romans at the end of the Third Punic War. 64Great Fire of Rome, Italy. 79Lyon burned to ashes. This source lists many more city fires of varying severity. 406A great fire burns down much of Constantinople. 532The Nika riots result in the destruction of much of Constantinople by fire. 798London nearly destroyed. 847Borgo, the area around Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, was devastated by fire. 1041Fire destroys most of the old city of Bremen, Germany, including the cathedral. 1046A fire in Hildesheim, Germany, destroys parts of the city, including the cathedral. 1132In June, a huge fire in Hangzhou, China, destroyed 13,000 houses.Daily Life in China by Jacques Gernet, 34–35 1135Great Medieval London Fire of 1135. The first of the two Great Medieval Fires of London. This blaze was so severe that it destroyed most of the city between St. Paul's and St. Clement Danes in Westminster. 1137A Great Fire in Hangzhou, China, destroyed 10,000 houses. 1157First Fire of Lübeck, Germany, destroys the city. 1204Sack of Constantinople (1204). Constantinople was burned three times during the Fourth Crusade. 1212The Great Fire of Southwark London 1212. The second of the two Great Medieval Fires of London. As many as 3,000 people died on the London Bridge while trying to flee the city. 1251Second Fire of Lübeck, Germany, triggers the use of stone as a fire-safe building material. 1253Great Fire of Utrecht, the Netherlands, lasted for nine days and destroyed much of the city. 1276Third Fire of Lübeck, Germany, results in a comprehensive fire safety system. This was the last major fire in the city before bombing of WW II. 1327Fire of Munich, Germany, destroys one-third of the city, 30 deaths. 1405Fire of Bern, Switzerland, destroys 600 houses, over 100 deaths. 1421First Great Fire of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 1426 – Hanyang fires (now Seoul) in Joseon. 1438Great Fire of Gouda, the Netherlands, almost destroys the entire city. 1452Second Great Fire of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, destroys three-quarters of the city.
16th century
1540 - 1540 European drought was a climatic event that caused many city fires. 1544Burning of Edinburgh - An English amphibious raid destroyed portions of the city and many surrounding villages. 1547The 1547 Moscow fire sparked a rebellion. 1571The 1571 Moscow fire occurred when the forces of the Crimean Khan Devlet I Giray raided the city.
17th century 1608First settlement in Jamestown, Virginia burnt. 1615Great Fire of Wymondham, Norfolk, England, two simultaneous fires destroyed 300 properties. 1624Oslo, Norway, destroyed by fire. 1625First Great Stockholm Fire, Sweden, burned for three days and destroyed a fifth of the infrastructure. 1633Great Istanbul Fire of 1633, Ottoman Empire, modern Turkey, started in the Cibali Gate Port due to a reckless caulker and burned for three days from early Friday morning to Sunday. About 20,000 buildings and all the ships docked on the Cibali Gate Port were demolished. 1652 Glasgow, Scotland, a third of the city was destroyed and over 1,000 families left homeless. 1653Great Fire of Marlborough, England, destroyed the Guildhall, St. Mary's Church, the County Armoury, and 224 dwellings. 1656Fire of Aachen destroyed 4,664 houses, kills 17. 1657Great Fire of Meireki destroyed two-thirds of the Japanese capital Edo (modern-day Tokyo).Blusse, Leonard & Cynthia Vaillé (2005). The Desjima Dagregisters, Volume XII 1650–1660. Leiden 1660Fire in Istanbul, Turkey, destroyed two-thirds of the city and killed an estimated 40,000 people.Baer, Marc David (2004). The Great Fire of 1660 and the Islamization of Christian and Jewish Space in Istanbul. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 36(2), 159–181. 1663Great Fire of Nagasaki destroyed the port of Nagasaki in Japan.
1666Great Fire of London of 1666, which originated in a baker's shop on Pudding Lane and destroyed much of London. 1675Great Fire of Northampton, England. The blaze was caused by sparks from an open fire in St. Mary's Street near Northampton castle. In six hours it devastated the town centre, destroying about 600 buildings (three-quarters of the town) including All Saints church. 11 people died and about 700 families were made homeless. 1676Jamestown, Virginia was burned by Nathaniel Bacon and his followers during Bacon's Rebellion to prevent Governor Berkley from using it as a base. 1677Fire of Rostock, Germany, destroyed 700 houses and accelerated the city's economic decline at the end of the Hanseatic period. 1678Hardegsen. Germany, experienced a fire during the Christmas fair that destroyed most of the town centre. There were no injuries as people were in church. 1684Toompea (part of modern Tallinn), a fire destroyed most of the hilltop-town. 1689Fire of Skopje of 1689, present-day capital of North Macedonia was burned. 1692Two-thirds of Usingen, Germany, was razed, later replaced by a baroque town centre. 1694Great Fire of Warwick, England. 1696St. John's, Newfoundland, and 35 other settlements were burnt by French forces under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.
18th century
1700Edinburgh, Scotland, over one half of the city was destroyed. 1702Uppsala, Sweden, devastated in large part and the cathedral and Uppsala Castle severely damaged. 1702Bergen, at the time the largest city in Norway, seven-eighths destroyed during a storm. 1707Xàtiva, the second most important city in the former Kingdom of Valencia, was burnt down as an exemplary punishment by the Bourbon king Philip V of Spain after besieging and conquering it. 1711Great Boston Fire of 1711. Destroyed the First Town-House. 1726Reutlingen, Germany, Free Imperial City, 80% of all residential houses and almost all public buildings destroyed, making 1,200 families homeless. 1728Copenhagen Fire of 1728, Denmark, two-fifths of the city burned down during three days. 3,650 families became homeless. 1731Blandford Forum, Dorset, England, a large majority of the town was destroyed on 4 June. The aftermath of this fire had an Act of Parliament passed stating that rebuilding work must be in brick and tile. 1731Tiverton fire, Devon, England, burnt nearly 300 houses. 1734Montreal, New France. 1752Fire destroys 18,000 houses in Moscow, 5–6 May. 1754The Great Fire of Hindon swept through the village of Hindon, Wiltshire, burning 144 houses and buildings to the ground. 1759The Second Great Stockholm Fire (Swedish: Mariabranden meaning brand = fire) in Södermalm, Stockholm, Sweden, destroyed about 300 buildings. 1760 Fire in the town of Porvoo, Finland (then part of Sweden) burnt down most of the settlement on 11 June. Propagated by long drought and strong wind. 1760Great Boston Fire of 1760, 349 buildings destroyed. 1775Great Fire of Tartu, Estonia, nearly 200 buildings destroyed.
1776First Great Fire of New York City of 1776. 1776Around two-thirds of Varaždin, the capital of Croatia at the time, destroyed in a fire of unknown origin. 1787Great Boston Fire of 1787. 100 buildings destroyed in the southern part of Boston. 1788First Great New Orleans Fire of 1788, 856 out of 1,100 structures burned. 1788Great Fire of Tenmei, Kyoto, Japan, 150 killed, 37,000 houses burned, on 6 March. 1793Cap Français (modern-day Cap-Haïtien, Haiti). 1794Second Great New Orleans Fire of 1794, 212 structures destroyed. 1795Copenhagen fire of 1795.
19th century
1800s
1805Great Fire of 1805: Detroit, Michigan Territory, then a wooden frontier settlement, burnt except for a river warehouse. 1807The Second Battle of Copenhagen led to the burning of over a thousand buildings in the city, including the Church of Our Lady.
1810s
1811Great Fire of Podil in Kiev, Russian Empire. Over 2,000 buildings, 12 churches and 3 abbeys destroyed; about 30 deaths. 1812The Fire of Moscow of 1812, which was started to deny shelter to Napoleon. 1812–1814The War of 1812 involved several major urban fires: 1813Buffalo, New York. 1813York, Upper Canada. 1814Burning of Washington. 1813Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 1814Great fire of Tirschenreuth in Tirschenreuth, Bavaria, totally destroyed the town apart from the parish church and three neighboring buildings. 1817St. John's, Newfoundland.
1820s
1820Ponce, Puerto Rico, a Spanish settlement, was almost completely destroyed on 27 February.Caminate Guiada Centro Historico de Ponce: Calle Isabel II. (In Spanish). Retrieved December 4, 2009. Verdadera y Auténtica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce.' By Dr. Eduardo Neumann. 1913. (In Spanish) Reprinted by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (1987)Page 194.Puerto Rico. Cuerpo de Bomberos. Historia. Datos Historicos. (In Spanish) . Retrieved February 14, 2010. 1820Great Savannah Fire burnt almost 500 structures, with damages of about million.E. Merton Coulter, "The Great Savannah Fire of 1820", Georgia Historical Quarterly 23:1–27 1821Paramaribo, Suriname, fire destroyed over 400 houses. 1821Great Fire of Fayetteville destroyed 500 buildings in the city. 1825 The 1825 Miramichi Fire destroyed the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick. 1827Great Fire of Turku, Finland. 1829Fire destroyed hundreds of buildings in Augusta, Georgia.
1830s 1831A fire in Fayetteville, North Carolina destroyed hundreds of buildings, and almost completely leveled the city. 1835Second Great Fire of New York City of 1835. 1838Charleston, South Carolina, over 1,000 buildings damaged.
1840s
1842Great fire of Hamburg, about a quarter of the inner city destroyed, 51 killed, and an estimated 20,000 homeless.
1845Great New York City Fire of 1845, 345 buildings destroyed. 1845Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroyed over 1,000 buildings. 1845A fire at La Playa, the city port of Ponce, Puerto Rico, wiped out most of the Ponce vicinity in March.James C. Massey, Exec. Vice Pres., and Shirley Maxwell, Associate, National Preservation Institute (National Building Museum) Washington, D.C. and the Federal Historic Preservation Office, U.S. Department of the Treasury. (Washington, D.C.) January 7, 1988. In National Register of Historic Places Registration Form—U.S. Custom House, Ponce. United States Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Section 8, Page 3. Listing Reference Number 88000073. February 10, 1988. 1846Great Fire of 1846 in St. John's, Newfoundland, destroyed about 2,000 buildings and left 12,000 homeless. 1847Great Fire of Bucharest, Romania, 15 were killed and 1,850 buildings were destroyed, roughly one-third of the city. 1848Fire in Medina, Ohio, destroyed the entire business district. 1848 A fire destroyed at least 500 buildings in Albany, New York. 1849St. Louis Fire of 1849, three were killed, including the first US firefighter ever killed in the line of duty. 1849First Great Fire of Toronto of 1849.
1850s
1850Kraków Fire of 1850, Poland, affects 10% of the city area. 1851San Francisco Fire of 1851 destroyed 2,000 buildings. 1852Vaasa, Finland. 1852Great Montreal Fire of 1852 in Montreal left 10,000 of the city's 57,000 residents homeless. 1854The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead, England, started by a spectacular explosion, killed 53 and leveled substantial property in both towns.