The novel '' The Great Fire '' is about the great fire that happened in Chicago . The huge fire started in the O'Learys ' barnyard and lasted for thirty hours . Daniel " Pegleg " Sullivan was the first to notice the fire and ran to save the cows in the barn and to tell the O'Learys that their property was on fire . William Lee , a neighbor of the O'Learys , hurried to the drugstore to turn in a fire alarm , but Bruno Goll , the owner of the drugstore , did n't allow him because all the fire trucks had left . Lee went back to his house to get his baby and wife out . Goll claimed that he turned in the alarm after Lee left the drugstore , but no alarm was recorded at the central alarm office . The fire started to spread to other parts of the neighborhood and destroyed everything in its path . After several minutes , the fire trucks were sent to box 242 , which was almost a mile away from the barn where the fire had started . After that , the fire trucks were sent again to the wrong location and the fire continued to spread . The fire advanced from the O'Learys ' barn towards Jefferson Street before the firefighters finally showed up to the right location of the fire . They were exhausted from multiple fires over the past week and did n't have enough energy to stop the fire from spreading to other parts of the city . The residents of the area took whatever valuables they could from their houses and ran away from the fire . Dorsey , a fireman , ran to the drugstore and pulled the lever to sound the fire alarm , but no one responded and the fire continued to grow with the power of the wind . It burned more houses and injured many firefighters . The fire was now headed towards north and east Chicago . The fire grew so big that the trucks were n't able to extinguish it . They had to leave the burned area in order to protect the other areas of the city . The people were all running away in different directions . Claire , whose house was burned down , lost her family and ran into a dead end . She was trapped between the fire and the houses . She ran to the tallest house , jumped to the other side of the street , and kept running towards the south side of the city . To prevent the fire from moving towards the south side of the city , the firefighters blew up the houses and helped the residents of that area flee towards Lincoln Park , where they spent the night . As the fire kept moving towards other parts of the city , it started to rain , which gave the people of the city hope . By morning the fire that devastated the city was no more . It had completely destroyed many parts of the city , caused 100,000 to become homeless , and killed about 300 people , with many reported missing . After the fire , the people of Chicago began to rebuild the city and received aid from other states . The United States Army put up tents for the people that lost their houses . Later , the residents of the city accused the O'Learys of starting the fire , which caused them to have to sell their property and leave Chicago because of fear that they might be killed by the angry citizens of Chicago . Before the great fire that devastated it , Chicago was known as the Queen City of the West and the Gem of the Prairie . Now , it was nothing but dust
huge fire
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Fire (children's novel)