1837 Surat fire

Surat was under British East India Company in 1837. During the summer, on 24 April 1837, Monday, at 5pm, a house of one of the leading Parsis in Machhalipith neighbourhood was caught on fire. A jar of boiling pitch had been spilt and some of the wood work of the house was caught in flames.[1] The neighbours had refused to allow water from their wells to extinguish the fire.[2] The fire quickly spread to neighbouring houses which were densely packed and had timber frameworks and wooden eaves overhanging the narrow streets. Within a few hours, the fire spread to an area of three miles due to heavy wind from the north. At night, the large masses of smoke lit by the fire was visible from a distance of twenty to thirty miles. On 25 April, at daybreak, the fire spread to other direction due to wind from the southwest. At noon, about 2 pm, the fire was at its height. The fire declined thereafter and ended in the morning on 26 April. The fire had destroyed houses in an area of 9​³⁄₄ miles, about three fourth of the city.[1][3]

Apart from more than 500 people who died in the fire,[2][3] more 49 dead were found; including seven people who died due to change of the direction of fire on 25 April, 32 people who died while saving their property and 10 people who had tried to save themselves by jumping in a pond or well.[1]

The total economic loss could not be estimated. Total 9373 houses were destroyed. Of them, 6250 were in the city and 3123 in the suburbs. Placing average cost of house at ₹500, total loss amounted ₹4,686,500.[1][5]

The British Government granted ₹50,000 for relief while and private donors collected ₹125,000 in Bombay.[1] GB£1,000 were collected in London for relief work.[6]

After fire, Surat was affected by a heavy flood in August 1837. Due to these disasters, Parsi, Jain and Hindu traders moved to Bombay. Later Bombay became the major port of the west coast of India surpassing Surat. The city was continued to be affected by several fires in subsequent years.[1]

• 2019 Surat fire