Forensic Meteorological Investigation of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904

On Sunday, February 7 through Monday, February 8, 1904 a great, wind-driven conflagration torched 140 acres of the business district in Baltimore, Maryland. With property losses topping $1 billion (adjusted for inflation), the event ranks with the great fires at Chicago in 1871 and Boston in 1872. In the course of about 30 hours, over 1.526 structures spread over 70 city blocks were reduced to ashes destroying 2,500 businesses. This presentation summarizes a forensic meteorological analysis of the synoptic and local weather conditions and their relation to the evolution of the fire throughout this disastrous and historic tragedy.