City Firestorms
The same underlying combustion physics can also apply to man-made structures such as cities during war or disaster.
Firestorms are thought to have been part of the mechanism of large urban fires such as the Great Fire of Rome, the Great Fire of London, the 1871 Great Chicago Fire, and the fires resulting from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Firestorms were also created by the firebombing raids of World War II in cities like Hamburg and Dresden. Of the two Nuclear bombing raids during the war only the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima resulted in a firestorm.
In contrast, experts suggest that due to the nature of modern U.S. city design and construction a firestorm is unlikely after a Nuclear detonation.
| City / Event | Date of the firestorm | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bombing of Hamburg (Germany) | 27 July 1943 | 46,000 dead. A firestorm area of
approximately 4.5 square miles (12 km2) was reported at Hamburg. |
| Bombing of Dresden (Germany) | 13 February 1945 | up to 25,000 dead. A firestorm area of
approximately 8 square miles (21 km2) was reported at Dresden. |
| Firebombing of Tokyo (Japan) | 9–10 March 1945 | Firestorm covering 16 square miles (41 km2). 267,171 buildings destroyed, 83,793 dead. The most devastating air raid in history with destruction greater than the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima, although with fewer casualties. Despite Tokyo commonly being assumed to be a firestorm event, it is more accurately termed a line fire conflagration, and not a true firestorm, due to the high ambient surface wind speed at the time of the firebombing in Tokyo preventing a true firestorm from forming. High ambient winds prior to and during the Tokyo fire overrode the fires ability to create its own wind system, with winds from every point of the compass. Instead the fire was fanned solely by the strong unidirectional ambient wind during the fire, and the fire damage although large, burnt across the city in a linear direction, with a thin fire front, much like a candle. Strong surface winds prior to and during a fire cause flames to slant forward, and fire to spread largely only in the direction of the wind.
Since these fires are characterized by little outward radial spread, it is clear that, in the general case firestorms will not develop in the presence of strong ground winds, as these ambient winds largely prevent the fire from creating its own wind system, and therefore these fires, however large the eventual destruction, are not true firestorm events. |
| Bombing of Kassel in World War II | 22 October 1943 | 9,000 dead. 24,000 Dwellings destroyed. Area burned 23 square miles (60 km2); the percentage of this area which was destroyed by conventional conflagration and that destroyed by firestorm is unspecified. Although a much larger area was destroyed by fire in Kassel than even Tokyo and Hamburg, the city fire caused a smaller less extensive firestorm than that at Hamburg. |
| Bombing of Darmstadt in World War II | 11 September 1944 | 8,000 dead. Area destroyed by fire 4 square miles (10 km2), again the percentage of this which was done by firestorm remains unspecified. 20,000 dwellings destroyed. |
| Bombing of Ube, Yamaguchiin World War II | A momentary fire storm of about 0.5 square miles (1.3 km2) was reported at Ube, Japan. The reports that the Ube bombing produced a firestorm, along with computer modelling, has set one of the four physical conditions which a fire must meet to develop into a true firestorm. The size of the Ube firestorm is regarded as the lower size limit of a firestorm. Glasstone and Dolan: The minimum requirements for a fire storm to develop: no.4 A minimum burning area of about 0.5 square miles (1.3 km2). —Glasstone and Dolan (1977). | |
| Atomic bombing of Hiroshima (Japan) | 6 August 1945 | Firestorm covering 4.4 square miles (11 km2). No estimate can be given of the number of fire deaths, since the fire area was largely within the blast damage region. |
Read more about this topic: Firestorm
Famous quotes containing the word city:
“Blind Beggar: How do you know so much about city ordinances?
Inspector Clouseau: What sort of stupid question is that? Are you blind?
Blind Beggar: Yes.”
—Blake Edwards (b. 1922)