Great Fire of 1892

The Great Fire in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, on July 8, 1892, is remembered as the worst disaster ever to befall that city. Previous "Great Fires" had occurred in St. John's in 1819 and 1846.

At approximately 4:45 in the afternoon on July 8, 1892, a pipe dropped in Timothy O'Brien's stable at Freshwater Road at the top of Carter's Hill began what would become the worst fire in St. John's history. Initially, the fire did not cause any widespread panic, however a series of catastrophic coincidences caused the fire to spread and devour virtually all of the east end of the city, including much of its major commercial area before being extinguished.

Rev. Moses Harvey witnessed the initial stages of the fire and remarked to his friend that it "was a bad day for a fire. A high wind from the north-west was blowing, hurling the sparks far and wide on the roofs of the clusters of wooden houses. For a month previous hardly any rain had fallen, and the shingled roofs were like tinder." The situation was exacerbated because of work completed earlier in the day on the water mains. Although water flow was re-established by 3 p.m., two hours before the fire began, water pressure was insufficient to force water up into the higher sections of the city where the fire began. W.J. Kent remarked that the "flames therefore made headway before water was procurable, and as a very high westerly wind was furiously fanning the fire it began to spread rapidly."

An hour into the blaze, the people of St. John's realised that the fire could not be contained in the area of O'Brien's farm. Because locals believed stone walls would withstand the flames, residents moved valuables into numerous stone buildings in the city. One of the most common refuge areas was the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. The nave and transepts of the church were filled with valuable property belonging to numerous families including that of the Anglican bishop of the day, Lleweyn Jones. Unfortunately, the cathedral also fell victim to the ravenous fire. Kent described the burning of the cathedral as follows:

with one fearful rush the demonic fire seized upon the doomed cathedral, and sooner than tongue could tell the immense edifice, a gem of Gothic architecture, the masterpiece of Sir Gilbert Scott and the pride of every Newfoundlander, was a seething mass of flame. With a crash, heard even above the din of the elements the roof fell in, and the result of the labours and offerings of thousands for many years vanished in a cloud of smoke and dust.

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