Chapter Seventy-One: Fighting Fire with Fire
Fire had never been a major foe of America . They had used it effective against the British more than once against their fleets or troops in cities but no major problems had arisen. Benjamin Franklin had created the first fire department in America but it had not become much more than that. Large cities had small fire station with under equipped, under trained and underfunded firemen. Nobody believed that America would ever face problem that would need a fully funded fire service across the nation, it was deemed too expensive and not worth the cost. That was until the events of 1871. On the morning of April 18, 1871, a massive earthquake shook San Francisco. Though the quake lasted less than a minute, its immediate impact was disastrous. The earthquake also ignited several fires around the city that burned for three days and destroyed nearly 500 city blocks. The Earthquake and fires killed an estimated 3,000 people and left half of the city's residents homeless. Alone it would have been devastating but it was not the only event that shook America that year.
July 1871, as san Francisco struggled to recover a dry season settled in over Chicago. It was dry, windy and hot. On July 8th a fire ignited in or around a small barn belonging to the O'Leary family that bordered the alley behind 137 DeKoven Street. Quickly because of the weather conditions, the fire spiralled out of control. The fire leapt the south branch of the Chicago River and destroyed much of central Chicago and then leapt the main branch of the river, consuming the Near North Side. ed in the America n city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles (9 km2) of the city, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. Smaller fires would devastate the region. Some 250 miles to the north, the Peshtigo Fire consumed the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, along with a dozen other villages. It killed 1,200 to 2,500 people and charred approximately 1.5 million acres. Across the lake to the east, the town of Holland, Michigan, and other nearby areas burned to the ground. Some 100 miles to the north of Holland, the lumbering community of Manistee also went up in flames in what became known as the Great Michigan Fire. Farther east, along the shore of Lake Huron, the Port Huron Fire swept through Port Huron, Michigan and much of Michigan's "Thumb". A fire swept through the city of Urbana, Illinois, 140 miles south of Chicago, destroying portions of its downtown area.
President Lincoln reacted quickly after the fires destroyed the cites, he was seen handling out supplies coming from the capital, he also promised reform. Help began to flow to the affected area from near and far after the fire. The federal government improved building codes to stop the rapid spread of future fires and rebuilt rapidly to those higher standards. This would include wider streets and the end of wooden dominated buildings in America . The federal government also began to work on a fire department that would work under federal control. The main office would be in DC while each state would have its own main fire department while each city and town would have its own fire department. A donation from the French spurred the establishment of the Chicago Public Library, a free public library system, a contrast to the private, fee-for-membership libraries common before the fire, which would slowly become the normal across America .