on Jun 21, 2018
June 25th marks the one hundredth anniversary of the biggest disaster in the history of Cle Elum, Washington. On this day in 1918, a massive fire tore through the mining town, destroying half of the business district and 205 homes.
According to a report by Chief Carr, the origin of the fire was possibly due to a carelessly discarded cigarette into a pile of rubbish outside a movie theater. Property losses were estimated at more than $500,000, with less than 10% being covered by insurance.
For more information regarding this and other moments in fire history, please feel free to reach out to the NFPA Research Library & Archives.
We house all of NFPA's publications, both current and historic. Library staff are available to answer research questions from members and the general public.