A City Ready to Burn On October 8, 1871, the worst, hottest, biggest fire had torn through chicago. It was terrifying and tragic. The wind was howling like wolves. The fire blazed and ran rapid though the street like a cat attacked by a dog. Chicago was never the same. The book The Great Fire by Jim Murphy gives all the reasons why this town was a “city ready to burn”. It was a hot, sunny day in Chicago, as usual, and it was dry. And we all know something dry is good to burn. Well everything in that old town was wooden. Life as many people knew it changed, they were toast, literally! The sidewalks were wooden, the roads, houses, barns, stores, literally everything was wooden! Even the bank was wooden. Did I mention it being dry? There was a drought and that was one of the causes of the fire! The drought caused the fire to become a big mess of flame. No one knew what to do but the firemen did and so they tried their best to put out the fire but the fire got bigger and bigger. People ran rabid through the streets screaming and crying. Women practically had no clothes on holding their children screaming for help. Children and young women had their hair caught on fire. Everything was going crazy. …show more content…
The wind was blowing like wolves running through the streets blowing down houses. The wind made everything worse blowing up the fire and so people took cover. Smoke covered the sky like a blanket at night. Life as people knew it, was gone. Embers were blowing everywhere which made it better for the fire to grow. The wind picked up and everything flew around and the fire was hot and the wind was cool. Soon a little drizzle of rain set out. people jumped for joy and hoped the fire would flame out. The rain came down a little bit harder and just a little drizzle and then the fire was gone. People were relieved that the fire was