Chicago's 'Great Fire' spurred innovations

Disaster is topic of new Web site

From Correspondent Jeff Flock

CHICAGO (CNN) -- "Never again!" was the rallying cry 125 years ago after the "Chicago Fire" destroyed a swath of downtown nearly one mile wide and five miles long. It was one of the nation's worst disasters.

The blaze that began October 8, 1871, killed about 250 people, destroyed more than 17,000 buildings and caused $200 million in damage. The city almost burned to the ground.

"It was all around you," explained Professor Carl Smith of Northwestern University. "It wasn't clear where it was safe, ever. This was a kind of epic fire."

The story of the fire is featured in a colorful new Internet exhibit: "The Great Chicago Fire and the Web of Memory" chronicles the devastation and the inventions it wrought.

In response to the blaze, Chicago made innovative firefighting a priority. The Midwestern metropolis has sought to become fireproof.

Among its innovations: a sensor that warns firefighters of an impending building collapse, lighter breathing apparatus and a computer chip that monitors firefighters' vital signs inside a burning building.

Some of the other firefighting equipment founded in Chicago is less high-tech: the snorkel truck, the fire plug or hydrant, the collapsible fire escape and the fire pole, which was invented by a Chicago fire captain in 1874 so firefighters could slide quickly to the ground floor.

Even the design for firefighters' clothing, including the familiar fire helmet, has its origins in Chicago -- "the Chicago helmet."

And now the city has now signed an agreement with NASA to develop new firefighting equipment to make it safer to fight fires in space. Chicago's firefighting ideas have paid off. The city has few out-of-control fires, according to David Lasker, a freelance photographer who makes a living shooting pictures of Chicago blazes.

"On average, there were three to four fires a week several years ago," Lasker said. "Now there are about two a week."

Chicago marked the anniversary of the Great Fire by honoring its contemporary fire heroes. Among them was a firefighter who caught a girl in midair after she jumped from a burning building. That only goes to show that firefighting equipment is often only as good as those who use it.

Related sites:

• The Great Chicago Fire and the Web of Memory
• Fireweb
• NASA

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