Fire: A Hot Time Tonight!
Oct. 8-10, 1871 AD
1871 1871
87.41W41.52N
NAT

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
	Fire.  It is one of man's oldest friends -- and enemies.
	Controlled, it can cook food, smelt metals, warm homes, generate electricity, and propel automobiles, trucks, airplanes and rockets.
	Uncontrolled, it can devastate cities and forests, killing people and animals and destroying property.
	One of the biggest and most famous fires in the United States was the Great Chicago fire of 1871, which burned three-and-a-half square miles in the heart of the city.
	The blaze is often attributed to Mrs. O'Leary's cow, who is said to have knocked over the lantern as she was milked one night.  A popular song had it that the cow was annoyed and said, as she knocked over the lantern, "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!"
	For a fire to exist, fuel, oxygen and heat must be present.  Combustion can occur even with low levels of heat, but it is very slow.  With greater amounts of heat, combustion occurs more rapidly.  When the temperature reaches the ignition point, heat is generated more rapidly than it can dissipate and the fuel bursts into flame.