The Backstory: Our world on fire

The fires in California are terrifying to watch. But fire has a deep history…and there are lessons to be learned.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fire, the blazing inferno, the destruction of great cities, buildings,
and most importantly of people's homes and lives. What we've
seen this week in California has been really heartrending. But
we're not alone. Mother Nature has left ashes and ruining
every century. We try to figure out who to blame.
But there's more to it than that. I'm Patty Steele

(00:22):
looking into the fire. Next on the backstory. We're back
with the backstory. We've all been fixated on the horrific
fires out in California. Thousands of homes and businesses lost,
people without their homes. At last count, five lives lost,
but that's not a true telling since fires are still

(00:45):
burning at this moment and almost two hundred thousand people
have been ordered to flee the flames. It's devastating. Fire
is unlike so many other hugely destructive events. No one
to blame but mother nature. Although there are narratives just
about arson, but also the impact of climate change and
the politicians that allegedly didn't prepare for this kind of catastrophe.

(01:08):
But here's the thing, this is certainly not an unprecedented event.
Fire is almost unmanageable. It pops up rereeks, havoc and
moves on. We all like to find someone to blame,
and frequently there is someone or something to point a
finger at, but it's definitely nothing new. There was the
fire that destroyed the Library of Alexandria around forty eight BC.

(01:32):
It was a crazy loss of history. The library held
the knowledge of the ancient world, stored in half a
million scrolls from Assyria, Greece, Persia, Egypt, and India. Some
believe Julius Caesar was to blame. There was the massive
fire in Rome in sixty four AD, which burned for
almost a week and completely destroyed that city. Emperor Nero

(01:53):
blamed the Christians, but folks who saw him watching the
inferno from his palace claimed he was smiling and playing
his fiddle, and they blamed him. Ultimately, the Christians were
blamed and were publicly punished. Some were torn apart by dogs,
others crucified, many burned alive. This included Saint Perpetua, who
wrote in her diary about what she went through as

(02:15):
she prepared for trial. She says her father begged her
to disavow her Christian beliefs, but she said she couldn't
do it. She wrote. He kissed my feet and begged
me have pity on your father. If I am worthy.
I've brought you up to this blossoming youth, and I've
preferred you to your all. Your brothers. Look upon them,
your mother and Anne, look upon your son, who will

(02:37):
not survive you. Give up your resolution, she replied, whatever
God wishes will be done at this tribunal. When convicted,
she and her family were condemned to be eaten by
wild animals. Then sixteen hundred years later, there was the
Great Fire of London. It was sixteen sixty six and
it raced through the city during the Black Plague and

(02:58):
destroyed over thirteen thousand homes, leaving one hundred thousand homeless.
The fire gutted the majority of the medieval city and
damaged iconic churches like Saint Paul's Cathedral. One writer, escaping
in his night shirt in a cart, wrote words that'll
remind you of scenes from California this week. He said, Lord,
to see how the streets and the highways were crowded

(03:20):
with people running and riding and trying to get carts
at any price to fetch away things. Rebuilding London took
over thirty years, but the city was rebuilt with beautiful
stone buildings and wider streets, and the London fire also
gave birth to two brand new industries, modern property insurance
and fire brigades. Was there somebody to blame, of course,

(03:44):
It started the home of a baker, Thomas Ferriner, on
Putting Lane. It probably was from a spark from his hearth.
At first authorities tried to accuse the Catholics of arson,
but finally decided the fire was caused by the hand
of God, a strong wind and a very dry season,
and that spark from the hearth. Now we come to
the US. In New York City, the Great Fire of

(04:05):
eighteen thirty five happened when a warehouse caught on fire.
As we've seen in California, powerful winds fanned the flames,
leveling city blocks and setting part of the frozen East
River on fire as turpentine leaked into the water. But
that fire led to the building of an aqueduct in
eighteen thirty seven that brought in twelve million gallons of

(04:27):
water a day, which gave firemen what they needed and
revolutionized American water systems. The Great Chicago Fire of eighteen
seventy one was a massive fire burned down seventeen thousand buildings.
The blaze only lasted three days and didn't spread very fast,
unlike the current la fires, but it still killed about
three hundred people. Problem is it happened in late autumn,

(04:49):
so thousands as were left without shelter once winter arrived.
Who was to blame for this one? Well, it broke
out in the evening, probably in the barn of the
Oleria family when it was reported. Neighbors rushed to try
to save O'Leary's home, but strong winds caused their houses
to light up, and then the fire headed toward downtown.

(05:11):
A lot of folks still blamed O'Leary's cows. Complicating the firefight.
Because of another fire the day before, the fire brigade
in Chicago was exhausted, so warning signals and info weren't
given much attention. Another complication or is the river also
caught fire from wooden boats, driftwood, and greasy debris. It

(05:31):
spread further into the city and along the Polk Street Bridge,
which was destroyed and still hasn't been rebuilt. Finally, as
far as huge wildfire goes, there was the Great Fire
of nineteen ten in Idaho and Montana, which burned get this,
twenty million acres, probably started by embers from locomotives. Hurricane

(05:53):
force winds turned thousands of smaller fires into a monster.
Entire towns were wiped out, and fire native or firewhirlds
led to trees being sucked from the ground, roots and
all and turning into flying blowtorches. Eighty six people died,
mostly firefighters on the front line. At first, a media

(06:13):
was blamed, but later on scientists said it was caused
by an incredibly hot, dry summer and not a meteor.
So as painful as today's fires are, we see we're
not alone. We also see that these events can inspire
innovation and change. Is there something to learn from these catastrophes,
of course, but in every case we have to learn

(06:35):
the how and the why and then use that knowledge
to move forward. Hope you're enjoying the backstory with Patty Steele.
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and feel free to dm me if you have a
story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty
Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.

(06:58):
The Backstory is a pretty reduction of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,
the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.

(07:20):
Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The
pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.