Prior to this, new alarms have been installed in some important locations in Chicago. In order to prevent children from playing, all fire alarms are locked, and nearby families hold keys. After the fire broke out, the residents immediately unlocked the alarm, but because the alarm was not tested after installation and there was a serious failure, the fire command did not receive the alarm in time. Although the nearby fire brigade arrived immediately after learning about it, its strength was very limited.
At this time, Kate's barn was burning, and the fire set off the barn in the southwest wind, and the fire expanded rapidly. A nearby warehouse and a paint shop immediately caught fire, forming a huge fire wall and rushing to the northeast. Suddenly, about four or five blocks north and east of the fire site also started to catch fire. People are in tears and can only watch their homes burn down. The raging fire shook the hearts of men, women and children. Before long, the fire approached the most densely populated central area. Mars fell from the sky and the roof of the tall Pacific Hotel caught fire first. Seen from a distance, the building looks like a huge torch. Because there is no ladder, the fire truck can only look at the fire and sigh, watching it burn, but unable to save it. Then, the commercial building and the Chicago Chamber of Commerce building caught fire. Under the burning building, people ran wildly, crowded and gathered into a stream of people under the fire. Then, the Chicago Opera House and the First National Bank caught fire. Later, the Chicago Post Office Building became a huge torch. On the court tower downtown, a fireman saw the fire, but misjudged the center of the fire. He shouted to the night shift operator, "The fire has started from Canal Harbor and Hearst Street!" The operator informed the fire headquarters. The headquarters immediately dispatched all firefighters to the corner a mile away from the fire. By the time the firemen saw the whole fire, there was no fire center and Chicago was in flames.
Just 40 minutes later, a fire broke out in the Chicago water plant in the distance, and the city's water supply system was interrupted and the water supply stopped immediately. At this time, many people are jumping into the huge pool of the water plant to avoid being burned to death. When the fire spread to the waterworks, people who stayed in the water began to panic. Some people began to jump out of the pool and then ran to the Illinois River in the distance. As the fire approached, many firefighters in Chicago had to give up fighting because they had no water source to put out the fire.
Faced with such a fierce fire, many people were unprepared and caught off guard. At that time, the southwest wind was blowing, and the fire was rushing to all the flammable materials nearby with the wind. Soon, people can't tell the wind direction, and they feel the wind blowing from all directions. So at that time, some people said that this was not an ordinary wind, but a tornado. The tornado lifted the flame into the sky and spread it in all directions. The relentless fire engulfed two more blocks, and the heat wave quickly formed a hurricane with a speed of 70 miles per hour. At about 10: 00 pm, the fire spread to St. Paul's Catholic Church in the sixth block north of Kate's house, and then the nearby Betham flour mill and furniture factory 1000 bundles of about 500,000 square meters of wood caught fire. The huge flame spread rapidly, ravaged the block and swallowed everything. Then, the fire spread rapidly. The family was awakened in the middle of the night and left home with all ages. Because most buildings are made of wood, wherever the fire goes, all buildings burn and collapse like sickles cutting grass. After another 20 minutes, 1500 buildings in 20 blocks of Chicago caught fire, 500 families had to abandon their homes and flee, and about 60 thousand people fled Chicago. At that time, the streets were crowded with carriages loaded with all kinds of luggage, and there were people fleeing and firefighters going to put out the fire everywhere.
At this time, Chicago was in a state of chaos and panic. As the fire spread northward in two strands, it formed a sea of fire. 1 1 30, the fire has spread to the other side of the river, engulfing the newly built carriages and stables in Pamerigon. Under the billowing smoke, countless broken sparks flying in the air kept splashing down, and everywhere, new kindling was planted. Men and children from miles away came to help, but the effect was getting smaller and smaller.
People completely underestimated the destructive power of the fire. Fierce flames have deformed the trunk and wheels of the train, collapsing like the remains of a dragon and being ugly. A pile of pig iron nearby has melted into a pool of red molten iron. In the middle of the night, an explosion occurred at a gas station in Chicago, which triggered a series of explosions of methane gas in nearby ammunition depots and sewers. The court building burst into flames, and the big clock above it was jingled and collapsed.
Director Robert of Chicago Fire Department is directing the fire fighting hopelessly. The poor fire truck can only be a drop in the bucket, and the distant river can't put out such a raging fire. Chicago has become a fire city, and the tap water in the nearby stream is boiling. The fire has gone out of control, and the fire has formed a powerful swirling fire wave with the soaring flames of the gas station, rushing frantically to high-density residential areas and commercial centers. Then, the stone buildings in the financial center of La Salle Street were swallowed up, and the stones fell off one after another, and the copper beams and iron columns melted rapidly and merged into a creepy metal liquid flow. Firefighters had to fight and retreat.
At the same time, firefighters in another place are exhausted and are going to the court building for rescue. At about 1 30 in the morning, a log flew like a gun and penetrated the prison near the court building, causing it to burn quickly. 350 criminals held at the bottom were released immediately. They immediately robbed a nearby jewelry store and then ran away. The fire has reached its limit. In the business district, the blazing flames are enough to make people 20 miles away read newspapers. People in the northern suburbs stood high, and according to the fire in the air, they found that there were 100 high-rise buildings burning. The stone building was burnt to a pile of rubble in just a few minutes.
Joe Medill, editor-in-chief of the Chicago Tribune, is fully directing the rescue of his printing factory. The staff worked hard in the blazing heat, and the reporters wrote on the hot table. But before this newspaper was printed, the printing machine was melted. Workers fled the workshop one by one.
In order to prevent the fire from spreading, firefighters blew up two buildings, but failed. The firewood that flew in just added fuel to the fire. At this time, more than 654.38+million people are screaming, cursing, praying, ravaging and robbing this troubled city. The 425 police officers in Chicago are overwhelmed and unable to save all this. Thousands of citizens were forced to jump into Lake Michigan, and many people were immersed in the water for several hours. Others cover their wives, children and property with sand, or soak them in ponds, exposing only their eyes and noses to avoid fires. About 30,000 people are hiding behind Linkin Park's graveyard.
The next day, the fire continued to burn, devouring buildings, factories, houses and shops, and more people were forced into the lake. Hundreds of miles across the lake, the heat wave is also rolling in the Dutch city, and the citizens' hair is burnt. From Harrison Street to Michigan Street, a full 30-hour fire razed two-thirds of Chicago. Many people think that Chicago, as the most prosperous metropolis in the midwest of the United States, will be erased from the earth. Afterwards, people quickly found the first suspect, a cow.
It was it that knocked over a kerosene lamp and set the cowshed on fire first. At that time, people believed in this conclusion. However, many people declared: "This cow is not the real perpetrator. It is hard to imagine that the fire started in one place, but it quickly swept through the whole city, let alone on a calm and sunny day. " Later, people discovered some other strange situations: there was an isolated metal ship frame beside a small river, which was at least 100 meters away from the nearest building, and there were no other combustible materials around it, but it mysteriously melted into a piece.
Witnesses said that on that terrible night, even the marble caught fire; Others say that a house is on fire, and a house far away from it suddenly catches fire, just like an invisible man setting fire in sequence. After the fire broke out, the relevant departments found out that not only Chicago was affected, but also some towns near Chicago were affected. At the same time, forests and prairies in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan, Kansas and Indiana caught fire. To sum up, "the fire in the cowshed" obviously cannot be justified. Some scientists in the former Soviet Union hold different opinions. They think that there is only a soft accumulation of all kinds of "ice" and tiny hard fine dust on the comet, and there is nothing that can cause a fire. The earth also passed through the tail of a comet more than once, without causing any accidents or "poisoning" the atmosphere with toxic gases. As for meteorites, although they will burn and melt after flying into the atmosphere, they are only confined to the thin surface of meteorites (less than 1 mm), and the interior of meteorites is always very cold. They think the cause of the Chicago fire should be found on the ground. So, some people think it was caused by a short tornado.
At present, there are still different views on this in international forums, but one day, people will find out the culprit of this fire.