Catching fire on September 2nd

Please click to view the details : The Monument to the Great Fire of London - "Catch fire"

Spreading on September 3rd & Burning City on September 4th

Please click to view the details : The Monument to the Great Fire of London - "Spreading and Burning City"

The fire went out on September 5th

Perhaps it was the Heavenly Help Self Help. On the evening of the 4th, the fierce east wind that lasted for several days gradually stopped. The raging fire lost its greatest assistance, and the originally opened isolation zone began to take effect. The fire was divided, surrounded and put out one by one. According to eyewitnesses on the morning of the 5th, there are still many ignition points of different sizes distributed inside and outside the city wall, but they are no longer in the state of prairie fire, just lingering on and waiting to be eliminated one by one. On the same day, rescue workers put out the vast majority of the fires. Although some of the coal continued to smolder in the coal bunkers for two months, the big fire in London has come to an end.

Follow-up

According to official records, the four day long fire resulted in only a single digit number of victims. This number has also been questioned by some historians for two reasons: firstly, there was no strict population registration system at the time, and even if there were, the registration records were set ablaze in the fire. Secondly, the temperature inside the fire was astonishing, and many of the victims may have no bones left, and there is no way to verify how many people lost their lives by jumping into the river. These factors combined make it difficult to accurately calculate the actual number of victims. However, these historians also suffer from the lack of evidence to support their views. So, we can only temporarily trust the official records, after all, a few people died, which is also a fortunate thing in misfortune.

However, there are still some unfortunate individuals who have not been included in the death list. They did not die from high temperatures or inhalation suffocation (research shows that the latter causes even more deaths in most fires), but their deaths are also related to this fire. For example, a person who is disabled due to burns or inhalation of smoke, and ultimately dies from illness; Those who have lost everything and ultimately die of poverty, hunger, or the upcoming cold winter; There are also victims of xenophobic sentiments stirred up by rumors, innocent foreigners who have been subjected to vigilante persecution for longer than burning coal in coal bunkers.

Let's stop our account of the Great Fire in London in 1666 on September 5th! Because from the perspective of firefighting alone, all the work has been completed. Afterwards, there were countless disaster relief and post disaster reconstruction work that made Charles II headache, which was beyond the scope of this firefighting essay. Interested readers can refer to historical materials on their own.

Figure 12： Landscape of The Monument when it was first completed

lessons

Compared to 1666, whether it is the completeness of fire regulations, the flame retardancy of building materials, the safety of the internal and external layout of buildings and various facilities, the diversity of fire equipment and various disaster relief methods, or even the importance of fire safety work in society as a whole, there have been tremendous changes. But looking back at the entire process of this great fire, we can still learn some lessons from the so-called 'the overturning of the front car' and 'the lesson of the rear car'.

1. Firstly, it is the awareness of fire safety in daily life. Ordinary people do not need to understand the considerations behind many fire regulations, but only need to achieve the content of daily propaganda by the fire department. Pay attention to the safety of electricity and gas use, use qualified building decoration materials, remember the nearest escape exit, keep the escape passage unobstructed, evacuate quickly and orderly in case of fire, do not use elevators, do not block fire exits, and so on. Even if you can't understand the purpose of these practices, just remember that they can save lives at critical moments.

2. By using fully automated fire detection and extinguishing systems, they can earn users valuable escape and response time.

3. The design of a security system should consider redundancy, and the idea of using the last drop of water to extinguish the last spark is extremely dangerous. When providing disaster relief, we should not be stingy with costs. Remember that the power of a raging fire will increase exponentially over time, and it is essential to extinguish the fire as soon as possible. If it is found that the fire cannot be immediately extinguished, the phased goal of firefighting work should be shifted to controlling the spread of the fire.

4. A general commander who can constantly grasp the development trend of disaster situations and unify the mobilization of global resources is crucial for disaster relief work. Similarly, a disciplined and well-trained professional rescue force is the foundation for efficient rescue work.

5. Respect science and listen to professional opinions. At the same time, it is also necessary to be aware of the impact of large-scale fires on community public opinion, and understand that the harm caused by fires not only lies in the physical level, but also touches the social and psychological level. Taking this risk into consideration in advance is enough to change the balance between cost and benefit in the minds of decision-makers.

6. For socialized rescue of large-scale catastrophic accidents, it is necessary to pay attention to public opinion orientation, timely and multi-channel coverage of information release, and avoid giving room for rumors to spread and ferment.

7. To recognize that fires also follow the development laws of general things, they can be divided into several stages: initial onset, rise, peak, decline, and extinction. The methods of firefighting also vary depending on the stage of the fire. If the correct method is adopted, don't be discouraged even if it doesn't work. Firmly divide the encirclement, reduce the area of fire, cause qualitative change with quantitative change, and will always usher in the victory of smoke extinction.

Figure 13: The top of The Monument

In 1677, The Monument to the Great Fire of London was completed on the site of St. Margaret's Church, marking the first church destroyed by the fire. The City Council of London has decided to commemorate this disaster with this monument, in order to prevent this "tragic" accident from being slowly erased from people's memories by time. As firefighters, we have a greater responsibility to make more people aware of the burning flames that originated from a bread oven and the lessons it has taught us. Don't be like Hegel said: the only lesson humans learn from history is that they never learn from it.

Figure 14: The panorama of The Monument 

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