Urban conflagrations such as the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 & the Great Boston Fire of 1872 terrorized the citizens of nineteenth-century American cities although rebirth in the aftermath offered a chance to shape the future. Ultimately urban dwellers & planners created sweeping changes in the methods of constructing buildings planning city streets engineering water distribution systems underwriting fire insurance & firefighting itself. The practical knowledge gained from fighting nineteenth-century fires gave form & function to modern fire protection efforts. Changes in materials & building design resulted directly from tragedies such as fires in fireproof hotels. Thousands of buildings burned millions of dollars were lost the fire insurance industry faltered & a tradition of volunteerism died out before municipal authorities accepted the necessary changes. The great fires formed a crucible of learning for firefighters engineers architects & underwriters. Bruce Hensler shows how the modern American fire service today is a direct result of the lessons of history.