The Great Fire by Jim Murphy

AR Stats

Reading Quizzes

• (R) Recommended
• Short reading time- 3 hrs 
• (L) Language

Did They Really Read the Book?

Vocab- 

conflagration (noun)   --an extensive fire which destroys a great deal of land or property.

• Background: 

• The Chicago fire occurred over a 3 day period Oct 8-10, 1871
• Nearly 100K people were made homeless (The Army set up 50K tents to support)
• 120 human remains recovered, 300 presumed cremated

• Plot details:

• Chicago had previously suffered from an enduring drought and was bone dry
• "The city was meant to burn"
• build of wood structures, wooden sidewalks, wooden pathways, with wooden architectural ornamentation, and tar roofing material
• The Great Fire started in the barn of the O'Leary Family and spread immediately
• cause speculated, but unknown
• Missteps throughout the emergency response AND failed checks/balances gave time to the fire
• weary citizens and responders dismissed the call to sound alarms for the Great Fire because they assumed it was the previous night's fire still smoldering
• delayed 1st and 2nd official alarms due to human error
• inaccurate account of fire location
• Reshaped Architectural design and preferred material-choice
• Complete ban on wood in the city
• Introduction to Steel

Final Notes

This historical non-fiction reads at the 7th grade level- one instance of the word d@mn, (used in an account to describe the fire). 

It offers a glimpse of disparate social class-structures, the finer points of city planning, interesting aspects of fire science, and an example of how we rationalize collective failures by placing blame in the wake of a disaster. 

 If you have younger kids with an interest in the historical account of the Chicago Fire, the I Survived series is always riveting (review coming soon).

Extra Resources

National Geographic has article other historical details and the  Chicago History Museum wrote a short piece on the beloved Fire Chief that perished in the Great Fire.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY THE NEW YORK TIMES

-DRIF