In 1666, a fire demolished about four-fifths of London. The fire started on September 2 at the house of King Charles II’s baker, Thomas Farrinor, after he forgot to extinguish his oven. The flames raged uncontrollably for the next few days, helped along by the wind, as well as by warehouses full of oil and other flammable substances. Fire-fighting methods of the time were insufficient and approximately 13,200 houses, 90 churches and 50 livery company halls burned down or exploded. But the fire claimed only 16 lives, and it actually helped impede the spread of the deadly Black Plague, as most of the disease-carrying rats were killed in the fire.
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