On 9 November 1872, a fire began in the basement of a commercial warehouse on Summer Street in Boston. It burned until midday the next day, consuming about 65 acres of the downtown, 776 buildings and much of the financial district, with damage estimated at $73.5 million. It remains one of the costliest fires in American history. The fire spread quickly through tightly packed buildings with wooden mansard roofs. Fire crews were slowed by narrow streets and by the horse flu epidemic that year, which had left the horses that pulled fire engines too sick to work, so firefighters pulled the equipment by hand. Water pressure and the hydrants' fittings were also inadequate.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.