Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917

1917 fire which destroyed two thirds of Thessaloniki, Greece

The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 (Μεγάλη Πυρκαγιά της Θεσσαλονίκης, 1917) destroyed two thirds of the city of Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, leaving more than 70,000 homeless. The fire burned for 32 hours and destroyed 9,500 houses within an extent of 1 square kilometer. Half the Jewish population emigrated from the city as their livelihoods were gone. Rather than quickly rebuilding, the government commissioned the French architect Ernest Hébrard to design a new urban plan for the burned areas and for the future expansion of the city. His designs are still evident in the city, most notably Aristotelous Square, although some of his most grandiose plans were never completed due to a lack of funds. French navy official Dufour de la Thuillerie writes in his report that "I saw Thessaloniki, a city of more than 150,000 people, burn". Due to both lack of water and indifference, the initial fire was not put out. Eventually, an intense wind carried the fire to the neighboring houses, and it continued throughout central Thessaloniki. As the centre of operations for Allied Forces in the Balkans during World War I, Thessaloniki had no fire service and its water supply was requisitioned by foreign soldiers – which, along with the intense wind, is why the Great Fire attained historic proportions. Initially the fire followed two directions, to the Residency via the road of Agiou Dimitriou, and to the market via the Leontos Sofou road. The Residency was saved by its employees, who hurried to help. The wind strengthened and continued to spread the fire towards the center of the city. In the early morning of the next day (6/19 August), the wind changed direction and the two fronts of the fire destroyed the whole commercial center. At 12:00, the fire passed around the grounds of the church of Haghia Sophia without burning it, and continued eastward up to the road of Ethnikis Amynis (former name: Hamidie), where it stopped. On the evening of that day the fire completely died out.

There was not enough water for firefighting because (to serve their camps and hospitals in the suburbs of the city) the Allied forces controlled water reserves, which were reduced due to the drought of that summer and the high water consumption of the growing population. More significantly, the city government did not have an organized fire brigade; a few firefighting teams were privately owned by insurance companies that protected only their subscribers. The private firefighters were found to be unorganized and equipped with old or no equipment. Additionally, Allied detachments, while trying to stop the fire and attempting to create Fire Safe Zones, accidentally exploded entire blocks and exacerbated the fire. The Allied forces rejected the idea of interrupting the water supply of their camps and hospitals to use for firefighting. General Maurice Sarrail visited the region of Diikitiriou for a few hours during the afternoon of the first day but he did not return. Several reports noted that French soldiers looted stores and businesses and prevented householders from rescuing their goods. The next day, General Sarrail ordered the execution of two French soldiers who were arrested for selling stolen jewels. The British soldiers assisted in the firefight as long as they could, using military lorries to transport fire victims and their goods to refugee settlements. (Drivers of French cars reportedly asked for pourboire tips, for the same service.)

The fire destroyed 32% of Thessaloniki, about 1 square kilometer. The burned region was between the roads of Aghiou Dimitriou, Leontos Sofou, Nikis, Ethnikis Amynis, Alexandrou Svolou, and Egnatia (from Aghia Sofia). This region is reported in official documents as "burned zone" (πυρίκαυστος ζώνη, pirikafstos zoni) and in the popular narrations simply as "the burned" (τα καμμένα, ta kammena). The extent of material damage within Thessaloniki was calculated to be worth 8,000,000 golden pounds. Included among buildings that were burned were the Post Office, the telegraph office, the town hall, the water supply, and gas company headquarters, the Ottoman Bank, the National Bank of Greece, the deposits of the Bank of Athens, parts of the Saint Demetrius church, the monastery of Saint Theodora and another church, the Saatli Mosque, 11 other mosques, the seat of the chief rabbi with all its archive, 16 of the 33 synagogues, and the printing houses of most newspapers. Thessaloniki had the highest number of published newspapers in Greece, but after the fire most did not manage to rebuild their businesses and publish again. Approximately 4,096 of the 7,695 shops within the city were destroyed and 70% of the workforce was unemployed.

The people affected by the fire totaled approximately 73,447. The Pallis Report identified the homeless by the three religious communities of Thessaloniki: 52,000 Jews, 10,000 Orthodox and 11,000 Muslims. The care for the fire victims started immediately: Greek authorities constructed 100 houses to shelter 800 families. The British authorities established three settlements with 1,300 tents, where they accommodated 7,000 homeless. The French authorities set up a settlement for 300 families, and built the Union of French Ladies, a smaller camp for 100 families. Together they transported 5,000 people by train for free and relocated the refugees to Athens, Volos and Larissa. The Greek authorities set up distribution points providing free bread to 30,000 individuals. The American, French, and British Red Cross distributed food among the homeless. Nearly half the city's Jews, having lost both homes and shops, soon emigrated to western countries, mainly France and the United States, while some emigrated to Palestine. Pericles A. Argyropoulos, the major government representative, founded the Administration for Victims of Fire for the care of thousands of fire victims; and the government approved credit of 1,500,000 drachmas for the first needs. Simultaneously, the Central Committee for Donations was organized, with a line of sub committees for the collection of donations and the distribution of money and goods.

After the destruction of the city, insurance companies sent their agents to survey the damage. There were rumours that Germans or French had caused the fire by arson, but these were disproved. The total amount of insurance contracts was about 3,000,000 golden pounds. The majority of insurance companies within the region were British. The insurance company, North British and Mercantile Insurance, had to compensate 3,000 insurance contracts. The Court deemed the fire was caused by accidental reasons. Under the pressure of Greek and foreign authorities along with the Court, all of the insurance policies were completely paid.

Only a few days after the fire, the Venizelos government announced that it would not allow reconstruction of the city as it was. They intended to create a new city instead, according to an urban plan. The Minister of Transports Alexandros Papanastasiou was given the lead and founded the "International Committee for the New Plan of Thessaloniki". He appointed as chairman the French architect and archeologist Ernest Hébrard, who supervised development of the plan. Other members included the British landscape architect Thomas Hayton Mawson, the French engineer and architect Joseph Pleyber, the architects Aristotle Zachos and Konstantinos Kitsikis, the port planner Angelos Ginis and the city’s mayor Konstantinos Angelakis. Delivered to the General Administration of Macedonia on 29 June 1918, the plan was to redevelop the city along European lines. It went through many changes, but established improved transportation routes, squares and other amenities to support a large population.