The Start of the Great Fire

On September 2, 1666, the Great Fire of London ignited in a bakery on Pudding Lane, leading to catastrophic destruction. The baker, Thomas Fariner, struggled to extinguish the flames that engulfed his establishment and ultimately had to abandon his maidservant as he escaped with his children. The fire rapidly spread across the city due to the densely packed timber-framed buildings and an unusually hot summer, which had left the area parched. Within days, a third of London was reduced to ashes, displacing over 100,000 residents and marking the beginning of a monumental disaster in the city’s history.