Great Toronto Fire

The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 was a fire that destroyed a large section of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 19, 1904.

The fire was first spotted at 8:04 p.m. by a constable on his regular street patrol. The flames were rising from the elevator shaft of the Currie neckwear factory at 58 Wellington Street West, just west of Bay Street. The factory was situated in the centre of a large industrial and commercial area. The exact cause of the fire is still not known, but a faulty heating stove or electrical problem is suspected.

The fire began on the evening of the 19th and took nine hours to get under control. The glow of the fire could be seen for kilometres in all directions. Firefighters from cities as far away as Hamilton, Ontario and Buffalo (a long term friendship was established between the "Queen City of New York" and the "Queen City of Canada", given their nicknames) came to Toronto's aid. The battle was made more difficult by strong winds and sub-zero temperatures. The temperature that night was approximately -4 degrees Celsius with winds at 48 kilometres per hour with snow flurries.

The fire destroyed 104 buildings, but killed no one. It caused $10,350,000 in damage and put five thousand people out of work, at a time when the city only had 200,000 inhabitants. As a result of the fire, more stringent safety laws were introduced and an expansion of the city's fire department was undertaken.

It was the largest fire ever in the city, although a previous large fire had consumed many city blocks on April 7, 1849 when the city was much smaller and constructed mostly with wood.

The legacy of this fire includes Call Box 12, which was used to sound the alarm and now is the name for the volunteer canteen truck supporting Toronto Fire Services today.

ee also

* Toronto Fire Services
* Buffalo Fire Department
* List of historic Toronto fire stations
* List of historic fires

External links

* [http://www.toronto.ca/archives/fire1.htm Pictures of the fire's aftermath on the City of Toronto Archives site]
* [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/exhibits/fire/index.html The Great Toronto Fire, the Archives of Ontario remembers this significant event in the city's history]