1 Fire Sweeps Through Edo Japan The night of January 18 1657 was very cold in Edo Japan Strong winds raced through the city from the north People struggled to keep warm According to legend a fire began in a home From there it spread quickly Flames consumed the wooden buildings crowded together on narrow streets The wind fed the fire The winds were so fierce that people had little or no warning about the growing fire Thousands were trapped Many died trying to escape By the time firefighters were called out the fire had spread across the city The wind had driven it over two different rivers On January 19 the wind pushed the fire toward the Edo Castle Several towers were burned But firefighters saved the castle itself The fire was finally contained on January 20 It continued to smolder for days The terrible blaze is known as the Great Fire of Meireki because it happened near the start of the This handscroll painting of the Great Fire of Meireki dates back to 1814
The Imperial Palace now stands on the former site of Edo Castle Meireki era in Japanese history It destroyed about 60 percent of the city Officials estimated that between 30,000 and 100,000 people died in the fire Given the number of deaths individual burials were impossible Pits were dug for the dead Monks said prayers for individuals as they were placed in the pits Once covered a memorial hall was built over the mass graves It is called the Eko-In which means Temple of Prayer for the Dead 2 Number of years it took to rebuild Edo after the fire Once the fire started it spread quickly between the wooden buildings Tens of thousands of people died trying to escape The fire threatened the Edo Castle but firefighters were able to save it The dead were buried in mass graves
Panic Reigns in the Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London England began in the early morning of September 2 1666 The summer had been extremely hot and dry The wooden houses and buildings of the city were dry too When a fire began in the kitchen of the king’s baker it grew quickly The fire spread from the bakery to the next building And the next As fire jumped from house to house people tried to put out the flames with buckets of water Even the king Charles II joined the effort As the fire grew people panicked Londoners ran through the city streets trying to escape Many 2 Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg painted this depiction of the Great London Fire in 1797
REBUILDING LONDON It took 50 years to rebuild the city after the Great Fire The first year was spent clearing the burned area Time was also taken to plan how the streets would be laid out New building regulations were set up to prevent future fire disasters The streets were made wider Once rebuilt London was thought to be among the finest cities in the world went to the Thames River to try to flee by boat King Charles II ordered firefighters to create a firebreak Houses in the path of the fire were pulled down with hooked poles But wind kept the fire moving Days later the king ordered that houses in the path of the fire be blown up using gunpowder This created more panic People thought London was being invaded by the French By the time the flames were put out on September 6 80 percent of London had burned Over 13,000 buildings were destroyed Tens of thousands of people were left homeless But fewer than 10 people died A monument to the Great Fire stands by the London Bridge today 5 Number of days London burned before the fire was extinguished The fire started in the king’s bakery It spread quickly through the city of dry wooden buildings Eighty percent of London burned
