Astoria’s Great Fire of 1922

In the early morning hours of Dec. 8, 1922, fire tore through Oregon’s oldest city.

Astoria’s fire likely began near 11th Street and quickly spread through the downtown business district.

Despite a drizzle of rain and light snow, the blaze jumped from building to building. Within an hour of the first alarm, an entire block turned to ash. Newspapers described it as an “inferno.”

“The heat was terrible,” the Oregon Journal reported. “In the path of the on-coming flames people ran through the streets carrying children and what few goods they could gather.”