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Fire is a chemical reaction that gives off light and heat. It is an example of the chemical process. Fire is useful, but also very dangerous because it can cause houses, trees and many other things to burn into ashes. Forest fires are very harmful. They can destroy a huge area in a matter of minutes. Every year people die by accident from fire. Fire can be made in many different ways. Some possible ways are rubbing sticks together for a long time, using flint and steel, or using matches. However, the Sun does not make fire. Instead, it crushes together hydrogen atoms to release energy through the process of nuclear fusion. Fire is very hot. A person should never touch fire, because fire may burn anything that gets too close. If human skin touches fire, the skin may burn, which can take some time to heal and to remove the scar. If a fire gives off a large amount of smoke, a person's mouth should be covered with a wet cloth, since people can faint when they breathe in too much smoke. Even a spark, such as from a cigarette, should be kept away from any fuels that very easily catch and spread fire, like gasoline, or cause an explosion, like gunpowder. The Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a large fire that started on Sunday October 8, 1871 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The fire started out as nine separated fires. It burned until Tuesday October 10, 1871 when rain started to fall. The fire destroyed 3.3 square miles (8.5 square kilometers) and $192,000,000 in property. About 100,000 people were left homeless. Three hundred people died. Because of a large fire the night before, firefighters were too tired to quickly put out these fires. No one is sure what caused the fire. A legend says that it started when a cow knocked over a lantern in Catherine O'Leary's barn on De Koven Street. The oldest structure left standing in the area where the fire burned is the Couch family tomb. This stone tomb was built in 1858. Not all of the city was destroyed. Important places like the Stock Yards, where animals were slaughtered, were not damaged. Neither was the railroad system. The second red star of the Chicago flag represents the fire. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers (123 women and 23 men) who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Italian and Jewish immigrant women and girls aged 14 to 23; of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was 43-year-old Providenza Panno, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and Rosaria "Sara" Maltese.