Editing Great Chicago Fire (section)

==Origin==
[[File:1871 Chicago view before the Great Conflagration.jpg|thumb|right|1871 Chicago view before the 'Great Conflagration']]
[[Image:137 DeKoven Street 1871.png|thumb|right|200px|The O'Leary  family cottage, 137 (now 558) W. DeKoven St. The neighborhood was congested with wooden buildings and industry, causing the fire to spread rapidly. A strong northeastern wind spared the cottage and the buildings to its west. From a stereoptican view by A.H. Abbott, whose studio at 976 (now 2201) N. Clark Street was consumed by the flames.]]
The fire is said to have started at about 8:30&nbsp;p.m. on October&nbsp;8, in or around a small barn belonging to the O'Leary family that bordered the alley behind 137 W. [[DeKoven Street (Chicago)|DeKoven Street]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Pierce |first=Bessie Louise |author-link=Bessie Louise Pierce |title=A History of Chicago: Volume III: The Rise of a Modern City, 1871–1893 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |orig-year=1957 |year=2007 |version=Republished |location=Chicago |page=4 |isbn=978-0-226-66842-0}}</ref> The shed next to the barn was the first building to be consumed by the fire. City officials never determined the cause of the blaze,<ref name="owen">{{cite book |first=L.L. |last=Owens |title=The Great Chicago Fire  |publisher=ABDO |page=7 |isbn=978-1604538076|date=2007-08-01 }}</ref> but the rapid spread of the fire due to a long drought in that year's summer, strong winds from the southwest, and the rapid destruction of the water pumping system explain the extensive damage of the mainly wooden city structures. There has been much speculation over the years on a single start to the fire. The most popular tale blames [[Catherine O'Leary|Mrs. O'Leary's]] cow, which allegedly knocked over a lantern; others state that a group of men were gambling inside the barn and knocked over a lantern.<ref name="JimMurphy"/> Still other speculation suggests that the blaze was related to [[Great Fires of 1871|other fires in the Midwest that day]].<ref name="DonaldMiller"/>

The fire's spread was aided by the city's use of wood as the predominant building material in a style called [[Framing (construction)#Balloon framing|balloon frame]]. More than two-thirds of the structures in Chicago at the time of the fire were made entirely of wood, with most of the houses and buildings being topped with highly combustible [[tar]] or [[Roof shingle|shingle]] roofs. All of the city's sidewalks and many roads were also made of wood.<ref name="JimMurphy">{{cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=Jim |title=The Great Fire |date=1995 |isbn=9780439203074 |publisher=Scholastic Inc |url=https://archive.org/details/greatfire00jimm }}</ref> Compounding this problem, Chicago received only {{convert|1|in|mm}} of rain from July&nbsp;4 to October&nbsp;9, causing severe [[drought]] conditions before the fire, while strong southwest winds helped to carry flying embers toward the heart of the city.<ref name="DonaldMiller">{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Donald |title=City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America |url=https://archive.org/details/cityofcentury00dona |url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0684831381}}</ref>{{rp|144}}

In 1871, the [[Chicago Fire Department]] had 185 [[firefighter]]s with just 17 horse-drawn [[pump|steam pumpers]] to protect the entire city.<ref name="DonaldMiller"/>{{rp|146}} The initial response by the fire department was timely, but due to an error by the watchman, Matthias Schaffer, the firefighters were initially sent to the wrong place, allowing the fire to grow unchecked.<ref name="DonaldMiller"/>{{rp|146}} An alarm sent from the area near the fire also failed to register at the courthouse where the fire watchmen were, while the firefighters were tired from having fought numerous small fires and one large fire in the week before.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Fire Fiend |newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune |page=3 |date=October 8, 1871 |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1871/10/08/page/3/article/the-fire-fiend |access-date=November 27, 2007}}</ref> These factors combined to turn a small barn fire into a conflagration.