San Francisco earthquake (1989). Riot of Fire

After people learned to make fire at the dawn of humanity, it became their indispensable friend and helper, changing their lives for the better. But, as I said Leonardo da Vinci:“The same flame both burns and drives away darkness.” Very often the fire got out of control of people, devouring everything around them.

Centuries have passed, methods of fighting fires have been improved, but to this day people cannot completely protect themselves from the violence of the fiery element.

In the 20th century different countries Many destructive fires occurred on different continents, sometimes turning entire cities into ashes and claiming hundreds of lives.

1906 Fire in San Francisco

California is one of the earthquake-prone places on the planet, and earthquakes lead to serious destruction on its territory in the 21st century. However, the main culprit of the tragedy that occurred in San Francisco in April 1906 was not aftershock, and the large-scale fire that followed.

The earthquake occurred at 5:14 a.m. local time on April 18. Its magnitude was estimated at 7.7 points - this was enough to affect houses located in the coastal lowlands, built from fragile materials. Several prestigious hotels, as well as the administration building, did not withstand the blow.

Fire in San Francisco. Photo: Public Domain

But the real disaster was that almost all the water pipelines were destroyed, leaving San Francisco without water. As a result of the disaster, the head of the city fire brigade was also killed, so the firefighters were left without leadership. According to local reporters, the first fire allegedly broke out due to a woman cooking eggs on the stove. However, there were widespread cases of deliberate arson. They were committed by owners of destroyed houses who had fire insurance, but not earthquake insurance.

Literally a few hours later, almost the entire city was on fire. San Francisco burned for three days, and even the fact that several thousand military personnel were sent to fight it did not help to stop the fire. On top of everything else, the police and soldiers also had to fight the looters. The authorities gave the order to shoot criminals on the spot; as a result, this measure was applied to several dozen people.

San Francisco was destroyed by 80 percent, about 3,000 people died, and up to 300,000 were left homeless. Material damage amounted to $400 million, which, taking into account inflation in modern terms, is about $7 billion.

San Francisco 1906 US Army soldiers go on a looting spree, robbing a shoe store. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

1923 Fire in Tokyo

As in the case of San Francisco, the cause of the terrible fire in the Japanese capital in 1923 was an earthquake, which is known in this country as the Great Kanto Earthquake.

An earthquake of magnitude 8.3 occurred on September 1, 1923. Several were hit Japanese cities, but Yokohama and Tokyo suffered the most. Tokyo suffered a severe fire. It destroyed approximately 300,000 of the city's million buildings. The earthquake and fire deprived the capital of almost all stone buildings, including the Orthodox Resurrection Cathedral.

But the worst thing is that thousands of people died. There was no salvation even in open spaces. Several tens of thousands of people gathered in one of the squares, surrounded by burning buildings. Up to 40 thousand people died from suffocation in this square. The total number of fire victims in Tokyo is almost impossible to establish, but in total, as a result of the earthquake and fires in Japan in September 1923, about 175 thousand people died, and almost half a million more were missing. Material damage amounted to billions of dollars and was five times what Japan spent on the Russo-Japanese War.

Fire in Tokyo. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

1942 Fire in Boston

Unlike Europeans, life ordinary Americans during the Second World War it did not undergo too serious changes. Residents of the United States visited stadiums, cinemas, and enjoyed going to nightclubs.

Many of those who visited the popular Boston club "Coconut Grove" on the night of November 28, 1942, were not destined to leave this entertainment establishment alive.

According to one version, the cause was a short circuit; according to another, the flame flared up due to someone throwing a match.

The fire in “Coconut Grove” is extremely reminiscent of the tragedy of the Perm “Lame Horse” - the club’s interiors were made of flammable materials that emitted acrid smoke. Panic began in the hall, which the administration could not stop. People ran towards the exit, causing a stampede. Visitors died, suffocated by smoke, burned alive, and were trampled to death by the crowd.

There were more than 1,000 people in the club that night, despite the fact that the license allowed no more than 430 people to be in the room at one time.

Firefighters arrived within ten minutes, smashed windows, broke down doors and quickly extinguished the fire.

The fire killed 490 people, and several hundred more were seriously injured.

The fire in Coconut Grove led to the creation of new fire safety regulations in the United States.

Fire at Boston's Coconut Grove club. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

1947 Texas City fire

If the tragedies in San Francisco and Tokyo began with earthquakes, then in Texas City the fires started due to human carelessness and negligence.

The French ship Grandcan, whose home port was Marseille, arrived in Texas City with a cargo of ammonium nitrate, also known as ammonium nitrate.

Since April 13, 1947, saltpeter was loaded on board the Grandcan in 100-pound paper bags. By the morning of April 16, over 2,000 tons of ammonium nitrate were loaded onto the ship.

At 8 a.m., when loading was resumed, one of the sailors noticed smoke coming from the hold. They began to fill it with water, then they brought soda-acid fire extinguishers. This only made the smoke worse.

The captain's assistant, who was in charge of the loading, gave the order to stop extinguishing, since “it spoils the cargo.” Instead, it was ordered to batten down the hatches and let steam into the holds.

At 8:20 the hatch covers were torn off and open flames appeared. Captain Charles de Gellabon ordered the crew to go ashore, while he remained to wait for the firefighters. 27 of the city's 50 firefighters were sent to extinguish Grandcan.

After the Texas City fire. Photo: Public Domain

The public, believing that they were not in danger, watched the fire from the shore. But at 9:12 there was a powerful explosion, which evaporated the water at the pier where the ship was moored. The debris was scattered over two miles, and two planes were shot down by the blast wave. Hundreds of people died from the explosion.

The explosion caused a powerful fire in the city, where there were a lot of chemical warehouses and factories. The city burned for three days. During this time, in addition to the destruction on the shore, two more steamships with a load of sulfur and saltpeter took off.

When the fire was finally extinguished, it turned out that it had destroyed two-thirds of the city. At the same time, up to 75 percent of industrial enterprises, mainly in the oil and gas industry, were destroyed in the fire.

About 1,500 people were killed, several hundred were missing, and 3,500 were injured and burned.

After the Texas City fire in 1947. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

1989 Fire on the Asha - Ulu-Telyak stretch

In June 1989, a narrow gap 1.7 m long appeared on the pipe of the Western Siberia - Ural - Volga region product pipeline, through which a wide fraction of light hydrocarbons (liquefied gas-gasoline mixture) was transported. Due to a pipeline leak and special weather conditions, gas accumulated in the lowland along which the Trans-Siberian Railway passed 900 m from the pipeline, the Ulu-Telyak - Asha section of the Kuibyshev Railway, the 1710th kilometer of the highway, 11 km from the Asha station.

The specialist on duty, seeing a drop in pressure in the product pipeline, instead of searching for a leak, increased the gas supply to restore it.

Whole lakes of flammable materials formed around the railway tracks. Train drivers reported that the area was heavily polluted, but dispatchers did not consider this information important.

On June 4, 1989 at 1:15 local time, trains No. 211 “Novosibirsk - Adler” and No. 212 “Adler - Novosibirsk” met on a dangerous section. At this moment, a massive gas explosion occurred, after which a powerful fire began.

What exactly caused it is unknown. According to experts, it could have been a spark or a cigarette butt thrown out of the window of one of the trains.

Train accident on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Photo: RIA Novosti / Sergey Titov

The shock wave broke windows in the city of Asha, located 10 kilometers away. The fire covered an area of ​​250 hectares.

The situation was complicated by the fact that the scene of the tragedy was in a remote area. The military was called in to evacuate the victims and extinguish the fire.

575 people became victims of the tragedy, 623 people received serious injuries and burns.

California is one of the earthquake-prone places on the planet, and earthquakes lead to serious destruction on its territory in the 21st century. However, the main culprit of the tragedy that occurred in San Francisco in April 1906 was not an earthquake, but the large-scale fire that followed.
The earthquake occurred at 5:14 a.m. local time on April 18. Its magnitude was estimated at 7.8 points - this was enough for houses located in the coastal lowlands, built from fragile materials. Several prestigious hotels, as well as the administration building, did not withstand the blow.
But the real disaster was that almost all the water pipelines were destroyed, leaving San Francisco without water. As a result of the disaster, the head of the city fire brigade was also killed, so the firefighters were left without leadership. A fire started.
(total 40 photos)

The surrounding areas of San Francisco have been evacuated since the fires started.

After earthquake, residents watch for new disaster

Rare footage showing the start of a fire

San Francisco is on fire

San Francisco residents come out of their homes

Smoke rises from burning buildings on the embankment

People watch the Winchester Hotel burn

Those who managed to get out of the city are watching the fire

Rescuers help survivors get out of the wreckage

African-American families amid disaster

Crowds gathered on Telegraph Hill to watch the fires

Soldiers against the background of fires and destroyed buildings

Some also manage to take photos with the fires in the background.

Soldier amid destruction

Firefighters barely have time to put out the fires

The victims are trying to save their personal belongings

Everything shimmered into the photos, victims, humanitarian workers and soldiers.

Northeast of City Hall and aftermath

These people caused initial problems for the authorities - they are also looters

Ruins of San Francisco, photograph taken from an airship on May 29, 1906. 41 days after the disaster

According to local reporters, the first fire allegedly broke out due to a woman cooking eggs on the stove. However, there were widespread cases of deliberate arson. They were committed by owners of destroyed houses who had fire insurance, but not earthquake insurance. At that time, the “death” bell sounded 478 times.
Literally a few hours later, almost the entire city was on fire. San Francisco burned for three days, and even the fact that several thousand military personnel were sent to fight it did not help to stop the fire. On top of everything else, the police and soldiers also had to fight the looters. The authorities gave the order to shoot criminals on the spot; as a result, this measure was applied to several dozen people.

A fragment of the panorama and the consequences of disasters.

Looking at Sacramento Street, you don’t understand how citizens restored the city

The houses on Howard Street remained almost intact

Sansome Street

Victims of the disaster and fire settled on the slope

Destroyed City Hall

Fallen statue of Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz near Stanford University

The train was parked on a siding near Point Reyes Station.

Cooking on the streets of San Francisco

Relief distribution centers were set up throughout the city to distribute supplies.

There is a postal telegraph in a tent on Market Street.

Street intersection in front of the Ferry Building

California Street

And this is the road surface after the earthquake.

Looting was commonplace. Crowd at the intersection of 4th and Market Streets

In front is the Ferry Building tower, next to the side building of the largest Emporium department store. On the right is the Call - Building, on the left is the De Young Building.

Preparing hot food for victims

The victims were accommodated in tents that were erected along green spaces.

Destroyed streets from Market Street to Twin Peaks. On both sides there are destroyed markets.

San Francisco was destroyed by 80 percent, about 3,000 people died, and up to 300,000 were left homeless. Material damage amounted to $400 million, which, taking into account inflation in modern terms, is about $7 billion.
After this devastating, catastrophic earthquake, almost all houses in San Francisco began to be insured - in this way people tried to protect themselves from unforeseen adverse circumstances and, in general, from the horror in which they found themselves after the destruction of their city by the elements. Insurance in the West, to this day and especially after events such as the 1906 earthquake in California, is perceived as a way to make the future more predictable, to learn to control it, to manage one’s destiny.

Fly to San Francisco

Located 3 km west of San Francisco, the surface wave magnitude was 7.7; seismic moment - 7,9 .

Earthquake in San Francisco
Location epicenter	37°45′ N. w. 122°33′W d. HGIOL

San Francisco after the earthquake

Earthquake

At 5:12 am local time, an earthquake foreshock occurred, 20-25 seconds later it was followed by the main seismic shock, and in the next 45-60 seconds a series of aftershocks took place.

However, the main damage (up to 80%) was caused not by the earthquake, but by the fires that started because of it, which lasted four days. Many houses were set on fire by their own owners, since they were insured against fire, but not against destruction as a result of an earthquake. This is reported, for example, in a memo by US Signal Corps Captain Leonard Wildman ( Leonard D. Wildman). Extinguishing the fires was complicated by the fact that the city's water supply system was destroyed by the earthquake.

Casualties and destruction

Immediately after the disaster, 498 deaths were officially announced in San Francisco, 102 in San Jose and 64 in Santa Rosa. Now this figure is considered to be greatly underestimated; it is known, for example, that the victims from Chinatown were completely ignored in the calculations. The total death toll is currently estimated at 3,000. Of the 410 thousand population of San Francisco, 225,000-300,000 were left homeless.

The total damage from the earthquake and fires was estimated in 1906 at $400 million (taking into account inflation, equivalent to $6.5 billion in 2006).

Elimination of consequences

Although it is often reported that San Francisco Mayor J. Schmitz ( Eugene Schmitz) and General F. Funston ( Frederick Funston), the commander of the Presidio military base, declared martial law in the city, it was not introduced. 4,000 soldiers who participated in extinguishing fires and eliminating their consequences were subordinate to civilian services

One of the largest earthquakes in US history occurred in the early morning of April 18, 1906. Its epicenter was located at a shallow depth just three kilometers from the city of San Francisco. The strength of the tremors reached 7.9 on the Richter scale. Oscillations earth's crust were clearly felt at a distance from Oregon to Los Angeles, and in the other direction - almost to Nevada.

As a result of the earthquake and fires that broke out at the site of destroyed houses, about 3,000 people died. As more than 80% of the buildings collapsed almost to the ground, 300,000 citizens were left on the streets. A special tent camp was organized for these people on the city beach of Ocean Beach.

Start

At 5 a.m. in San Francisco and surrounding areas populated areas a powerful seismic shock occurred. Since many residents were fast asleep in their houses and apartments at that moment, they did not have time to realize anything and died instantly. Those who managed to get out from under the rubble faced a new test. The streets of the metropolis were flooded with water. When the high waters left San Francisco, the city was engulfed in severe fires.

All fire extinguishing systems were disabled, and rescuers had to fight the fire with improvised means, which did not lead to the desired results. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that some residents, whose houses were insured against fire, but not against earthquakes, deliberately set their homes on fire.

Radical solutions

In order to save at least a small part of the houses, it was decided to blow up some of the buildings that were not completely destroyed, after digging out trenches that were supposed to prevent the spontaneous spread of fire.

The city declared a state of emergency due to the appearance of looters. They entered dilapidated premises and took out everything that could be of any value. Wanting to stop lawlessness, the leadership allowed the soldiers to shoot at the looters. During the liquidation of the consequences of the earthquake, more than 500 people were shot.

Earthquake in San Francisco

All seismology textbooks begin with a description of the earthquake in San Francisco (California, USA). When the United States took it from Mexico in 1846, it was a small village of only about six hundred inhabitants. But in 1848, gold was discovered in its vicinity, and this circumstance led to the rapid growth of the village. By 1906, more than four hundred thousand people already lived here, and its surroundings were quite densely populated. The city, located near the Golden Gate Strait, by this time was the largest trading port on the entire Pacific coast of America. It had many factories and factories, and up to a thousand merchant ships left its port every day.

Architecturally, San Francisco was a mixture of old and new buildings. Many of them were built without any consideration of possible natural disasters, but next to it runs the San Andreas Fault - a giant scar stretching through heterogeneous natural areas. Actually, San Francisco is located right on it. The fault has been alive for 150 million years, and during this time the movements of its various sections occurred in jerks and were accompanied by small earthquakes. The accumulated underground energy has been released, and those parts of the fault that remain calm for a long time have to be feared.

Since its founding, San Francisco has experienced many earthquakes, some of which resulted in minor destruction. But none of the city residents thought about a serious danger. So in the early morning of April 18, 1906, nothing foreshadowed trouble. The day before the earthquake, the weather in San Francisco was beautiful. The warm evening attracted masses of people to theaters and parks. Restaurants and cafes were still full of visitors even after midnight. The rising sun was hiding behind light haze on the sea, which covered the horizon. Meteorologists predicted clear, calm weather, and the day promised to be cool.

But suddenly the birdsong that had just begun suddenly fell silent, and everything in nature seemed numb for a few moments. Frozen in tense anticipation? But what? There were no predictions about this. True, the day before on the coast Pacific Ocean weak vibrations of the ground were felt, but only an indistinct rumble could be heard from the city, reminiscent of a distant cannonade. This phenomenon has long become commonplace, and few people paid attention to it. Residents of San Francisco have long ceased to fear such fluctuations, and they were not afraid this time either. Actually, they had known for a long time that they lived in a seismic zone, that shocks were inevitable, you just had to take cover in time (if the tremors caught you on the street) or, as a last resort, stay in the houses and stand in the doorway - the safest place if it started to collapse ceiling. “The usual shaking,” said one of the townspeople. “It’s not half as bad as a tornado or hurricane.”

At 5 hours 11 minutes local time, the first shock was heard, which woke up many residents of the city, followed by the second - the strongest and most destructive, after which a series of weaker tremors followed. The waves caused by these impacts in the thickness of the earth were so strong that they were recorded by seismographs in the observatories of Washington, Tokyo, Birmingham, Berlin, Vienna, Turin, Strasbourg, Rome, Moscow and other cities.

A terrible roar and crack of bursting buildings, like a crushing tornado, swept through the streets. The underground shock, which lasted only forty seconds, shook multi-storey buildings, heaved alleys, broke power lines, burst water and gas pipes... The asphalt warped, cobblestones flew out of the pavement, tram rails were torn, carriages and cars overturned. A giant cloud of dust shot up into the sky and obscured the sun. The sudden darkness enveloped the entire city, and only the bright glow of the fires flared up in a scary and alarming way. A beautiful city located in a cozy green bay, the resort city of San Francisco turned into flaming ruins in a matter of seconds.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 8.3. It lasted only forty seconds, but this time was enough to turn the flourishing city into a heap of ruins. Scientists later found that the underground shock wave spread from the epicenter at a speed of thirty thousand kilometers towards us. Hardly anyone would have been able to escape such a shock wave if it had completely swept under San Francisco.

But the aftershocks that occurred were enough. In an instant, factory chimneys fell, the walls of houses collapsed, churches collapsed, and deep cracks appeared in the streets. Some houses simply went underground.

The famous singer, tenor Enrico Caruso, who the day before performed Jose's aria in Bizet's opera Carmen, miraculously managed to escape from this earthquake. They applauded him, they didn’t want to let the famous singer go, they asked him to stay. He agreed to spend the night at a hotel and stayed in San Francisco. Fortunately, the hotel where he stayed was slightly damaged and Caruso survived, although he suffered severe nervous shock. True, from that moment on he swore that he would never perform in this damn shaking city again.

Four hours after the tremors, when the initial horror had somehow subsided and rescue teams began dismantling the rubble, trying to extract the dead and still living citizens from under them, the first fire broke out in the center of San Francisco.

Actually, putting out a fire in the absence of water is the most hopeless task. Where can I get it if my water line bursts? How to get to the rubble if the streets have become impassable? In 1906, there was no special fire-fighting equipment, the necessary high-rise ladders were missing, and there were not enough fire engines. Only fire escapes remained, along which, as expected, people could escape the premises engulfed in flames. Alas, these stairs were disabled by the earthquake.

For three days and three nights the fire raged in the destroyed, defeated city. The violence of the fire was difficult to resist, since water mains and pumping stations were damaged as a result of the tremors. Firefighters, in order to cut off parts of the city engulfed in raging flames from the survivors, dug trenches and cleared away rubble. They used explosives, and this often led to new fires. On the evening of the first day after the disaster, too much dynamite was used, and as a result, burning debris scattered in different directions fell on the Chinese quarter of Chinatown, which burned out completely.

According to later estimates, the earthquake claimed the lives of almost a thousand people. Thirteen square kilometers of the central part of the city were destroyed by fire, and in total five hundred blocks of the city were destroyed in the fire. More than a third of the residents, 250 thousand people, were left homeless, many of them lost not only their homes, but also their jobs. However, what was surprising was that the Victorian wooden houses were not destroyed; some of the new brick houses also survived.

The earthquake was felt over 1,170 kilometers: in the north as far as Oregon, in the south to Los Angeles. In general, noticeable fluctuations covered an area of ​​about one million square kilometers.

Today San Francisco is a city of more than three million people. In 1937, engineers and architects dared to build the longest suspension bridge in the world across the Golden Gate - 2737 meters, with two steel four-stage frame pylons, each 227 meters high. Later, the city received an earthquake-resistant 48-story Transamerica skyscraper, capable, according to design engineers, of withstanding earthquakes of any strength.

San Francisco still experiences mild tremors (about 23 per year), but nothing tragic has happened to these largest high-rise buildings. To date, minor movements of the San Andreas Fault have not caused any significant harm to San Francisco and its residents. Apparently, this is explained by the construction experience that engineers and architects learned from the 1906 disaster. After this devastating earthquake, all new buildings under construction have a frame of special strength (in some cases it is even made flexible), the foundation under high-rise buildings is designed so that it can withstand an earthquake of up to several magnitudes. When, during the 1979 earthquake, the strength of tremors in the San Francisco area reached 5.9 points, they did not cause any catastrophic destruction to the city.

However, the San Andreas Fault, which continues to frighten scientists, pleases false prophets. The rift played a major “role” in one of the American super-action films. Main character of this film - a kind of brilliant mind of our century buys up all the desert lands around the fault for next to nothing, and no one understands why he is doing this. Meanwhile, it is assumed that with the help of the upcoming nuclear explosion the fault will begin to move and cause the split of the entire American continent. The diabolical machinations of this brilliant monster are thwarted by another superhero, who with his superpower neutralizes the atomic charge and prevents a catastrophe.

The plot of this action movie is rather sparse, but it shows to what extent the idea of ​​the danger associated with the San Andreas Fault is alive in the minds of Americans. This was greatly facilitated by the demonstration on American television of a documentary about San Francisco called “About the City That Must Perish.” Scientists are taking a very serious look at what might happen if an earthquake as strong as the one in 1906 were to hit a city of several million people today. Some of them believe that sooner or later a catastrophe will happen anyway and the San Andreas Fault will completely destroy the city.