‘Fire! Fire!’ exhibit recounts how devastating 17th century inferno reshaped London

“London’s burning, London’s burning, fetch the engines, fetch the engines…”

It was celebrated in rhyme, mentioned in Samuel Pepys’ diary and was a regular backdrop to movies and TV shows set in the past. The Great Fire of London of 1666 started small on Sept. 2, but raced through the cobbled streets, destroying a quarter of the medieval city and sending 200,000 fleeing into the fields by Sept. 5. It was finally harnessed the next day.

Although property destruction was enormous, the number of fatalities — about 16, according to various sources — was amazingly small.

A new exhibit called “Fire! Fire!” at the Museum of London will mark the 350th anniversary of a disaster that changed London. It will showcase some archaeological artifacts and eyewitness accounts, some on display for the first time.

The interactive exhibit looks at life on the eve of the fire in the Pudding Lane bakery, then transports you into the dramatic events of the blaze via sets and panoramas of a London in flames.

A warped terra-cotta ceramic roof tile and padlocks and keys melted into clumps of iron show how hot temperatures reached — estimated at more than 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. Never-before-seen letters from a mailman who saved his neighborhood letters and a brother who saved family books tell how they then watched buildings burn.

About 70,000 people lost their homes, and 87 churches, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, were lost. A 17th century fire engine fully restored from just the original barrel and pump is here, a sad reminder that many of the cumbersome contraptions couldn’t get down the narrow streets.

There’s also an overview of how London recovered, and Christopher Wren’s rebuilt St. Paul’s Cathedral out of ashes – though the official death toll of the poor and unknown was certainly more than the handful officially announced, and myths about how the inferno started are still alight today…

Info: “Fire! Fire!” runs through April 17. Advance online tickets cost about $10.50 for adults and $5.25 for children. The Museum of London is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily and is free.

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