While the Great Fire of London was one of the most devastating events in London’s history, it was not the only time that large areas of London were destroyed by fire.
In Roman times fires had struck twice, and several times during the medieval period. In the 1600s at least six serious fires had burnt parts of the City. After the Great Fire another terrible fire claimed around 20 lives and 500 houses in Southwark in 1676. In the 1800s there was the Tooley Street fire, and then in living memory, the Blitz of 1940-41, when bombs, including incendiary bombs, reduced swathes of London to rubble and killed thousands of people.
London has not been the only city to suffer in this way. Fires also destroyed much of Chicago in 1871 and Copenhagen in 1728 and 1795.
Find out more about how London has coped with fires since 1666.