Great Oulu fire of 1916

[1] The fire started during the night of July 19 in an outbuilding located at the back corner of Kirkkokatu 39.

The fire destroyed nearly all of the buildings in the city block delimited by the streets of Kirkkokatu, Sepänkatu, Isonkatu and Albertinkatu[1] that the district of Vanhatulli was located on; the block is currently home to Oulu’s Mannerheim Park.

The buildings across the streets from the city block were also damaged to varying degrees, which just barely meets the requirements for being an urban fire; otherwise, this would have been classified as a block fire.

The buildings located on the corner of Isokatu and Albertinkatu were gutted and had to be razed afterwards.

A proposal to widen the streets was also considered, but it would have cost too much to buy the houses from their owners, so the plan was abandoned.