The Great Fire of Vancouver

This fascinating photo shows Vancouver in early 1886, just before the Great Fire. It was taken at what would become the intersection of Hastings and Granville, though today there are some obstructions in the way. If you zoom in you can see almost the entire city at the time, back when Vancouver's population was about 3,000, not enough to fill a quarter of Rogers Arena. They were mostly lumberjacks, pioneers and frontiersmen following in the footsteps of "Gassy Jack", the barkeeper honoured as the unofficial founder of Vancouver.

Here we see loggers and a shabby log cabin at what would one day become the intersection of Granville and Hastings. If the 1868 date on the caption is correct, this may be one of the earliest photos ever taken of Vancouver. The entire region was once covered in a thick canopy of evergreen forest, amongst them some of the biggest trees in the world. The dangerous and demanding work of cutting them down consumed the energies of Vancouver's hardy inhabitants in these early years.

This stunning photo was taken from about Hastings and Seymour, mere days before flames consumed the city. The clouds of smoke indicate the slash is being burned to clear the way for new buildings. On June 13, 1886, the great fire was sparked by a clearing fire near Cambie and Cordova, which can be seen on the right side of this photo. There's a good chance that the stumps and debris on the right are responsible for the fire that burned down Vancouver.

This photo was taken just before the fire from the top of the so-called Granville bluff overlooking Burrard Inlet. It offers a striking clue about how a fire so easily could get out of control: Like a city under siege, Vancouver was surrounded by a thick cordon of extremely flammable dead brush. It seems just a little crazy the best solution to get rid of it was to burn it. On June 13, winds blew the clearing fire's sparks high into the air, causing dozens of little fires that exploded into life before the work crews could douse them. It took a mere 15 minutes for the fire to rage out of control.

A photo looking down Water Street in the weeks before the fire. Within minutes absolute bedlam had broken out on Water Street. People ran every which way, some banging on doors to warn anyone who had failed to hear the commotion outside, while others carried their possessions down to Burrard Inlet.

This is a photo of Water Street after the fire when the city has begun to rebuild. As sparks from the Cordova and Cambie fire began showering on these tinder-dry rooftops, people were aghast to see another wall of flame advancing from the south: the Roundhouse clearing fire had gone out of control too and was racing towards the city. The two fires threatened to link up into a single monstrous conflagration. Those who saw it realized at that moment saving the city was a lost cause.

Wah Chong and his family pose in front of their laundry business before the fire. This is roughly the right location, on the south side of Water between Carrall and Abbott. As the fire swept down Water Street it spared practically no buildings, consuming Wah Chong's Laundry and many other businesses asides. Each plank of the wooden sidewalks exploded into flames, the fire advancing faster than a man could run.¹ Hundreds of people dashed across the street, seeking refuge in Burrard Inlet as their homes and businesses burst into flame.

The Sunnyside Hotel, seen rebuilt just after the fire. The hotel was one of the most important buildings in Vancouver at the time; Mayor McLean had just given his election night victory speech from the balcony a couple weeks before the fire. By the time many inside were aware of the fire it was already on top of them. Some made harrowing escapes as flames licked at their heels.

Fire Hall No. 1, seen here, was built just after the fire. In this photo their horse-drawn pump wagon has been decked out for a patriotic event. As the fire spread through the city the barely-equipped volunteer firefighters were all but powerless to intervene. They would learn a hard lesson that day and forever after Vancouver would take firefighting with grave seriousness.

This photo from just one week before the fire shows the maple tree that gave Maple Tree Square its name. Just visible at right is Deighton House, the hotel Gassy Jack had built before his death in 1875, a successor to his ground-breaking Globe Saloon. People watched helplessly from ships, the shallows, and Hastings Mill as the fire swept through the heart of the city. Everything in this photo was burned, including the maple tree.

Once the fire had run its course, the dazed survivors looked across a city that, save a scattered handful of buildings, had been completely razed. Yet they were not alone to deal with this catastrophe. The communities of coastal British Columbia banded together to mount a huge relief effort for the newly-made refugees of Vancouver. Mayor MacLean had a tent set up on this spot at the foot of Carrall Street from which he could direct recovery efforts. This famous photo, posed by the photographer Devine a couple months later, shows the mayor (sitting at middle) and his staff.

Rebuilding started within hours. The Hastings Mill, whose plentiful timber stocks had survived the fire, handed out lumber for free to any Vancouverite looking to rebuild. One of the first businesses to go back up was the Tremont Hotel, seen here. It was erected on the smouldering ashes of the old Tremont Hotel, which you can actually see in the previous photo of Maple Tree Square. It isn't much, but it gave exhausted people a place to have a warm meal and a cold beer out of the blazing hot sun.

Though their city had been destroyed, the boundless optimism of Vancouverites remained undimmed. We see here eight men taking breakfast and coffee in one of the temporary tents erected in the days after the fire. The photo's caption says this was taken at the southeast corner of Hastings and Cordova. They appear remarkably well-kempt and composed, determined to get on with the work of rebuilding. In such hands the city's future was secure.