Great Fire of Bucharest

The Great Fire of Bucharest (Romanian: Focul cel mare) was the largest conflagration ever to occur in Bucharest, Romania, then the capital of Wallachia. It started on March 23, 1847 and destroyed 1850 buildings, a third of the city, including, according to Prince Gheorghe Bibescu, "the most populated and richest part of Bucharest".

The fire destroyed the central commercial part of the city, replacing the small and crowded wooden buildings with two-story brick merchants' and craftsemen's houses, inspired by those in Austria, having their shops and warehouses at the first floor and the habitation at the second floor.

At the time, many of the houses of Bucharest were made out of wood, which, together with the crowded narrow streets, made them prone to fire. The constant danger made this a concern ever since the Phanariote era, when fire watches were organized around the Aghia and the Spătar's residence. During the Organic Regulations era, a modern firemen squad was organized, equipped with Western European pumpers.

The fire started during the afternoon at the house of the Cluceress Zoița Drugăneasca, near the of the Buzău bishopric, at the St. Demetrius Church.

The strong southern wind (austru) helped it to spread in a triangular area with one corner at the house where it started and the two vertices going one towards Curtea Veche and the Artillery building (Pușcăria) and the other towards Lipscani, St. George's Inn and St. George's Monastery. The fire spread towards the outskirts of the city, where it couldn't spread anymore as the yards of the houses were larger and the fire couldn't spread from one house to the next as easily as in the crowded commercial center.

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Wikipedia