Fire at Rio de Janeiro Olympic Velodrome (Brazil)
A fire broke out at the Olympic Velodrome in Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Park on April 8th, 2026 morning, damaging...
Case Histories
Posts describing accidents and damage to cultural heritage fall into this category
The Uffizi Cyberattack: a Warning for Heritage Institutions, but not a simple story
On 2026, the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, became the focus of a cyberattack story that quickly moved beyond technical disruption...
When Historic Spaces Become Event Venues: The Fire Risk Hidden Behind Special Occasions
From the Braidense controversy to Turin’s lesson, why dinners, catering, and temporary setups can turn a heritage interior into a...
The Cappella della Sindone Fire in Turin: When Restoration, Temporary Uses, and Fire Load Turn a Masterpiece into a Catastroph
The 1997 Turin fire shows how fragile heritage buildings become when temporary installations, electrical uncertainty, and delayed detection meet a...
Widespread damage to Iran’s cultural heritage reported amid military conflict: 56 sites affected
According to a statement released by Iran's Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts on 14 March 2026, at least...
Glasgow Central Blaze: B‑Listed Heritage Dome Collapse and Suspected Lithium‑Ion Cell Involvement
On March 8, 2026, a major fire on Union Street, beside Glasgow Central Station, has severely damaged and partly collapsed...
Strikes Damage UNESCO Golestan Palace: Shockwave Impacts on Tehran’s Historic Jewel
The Golestan Palace in Tehran, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013, suffered significant damage from shockwaves and debris caused...
Cultural and Historic Heritage Losses in the World: 2026 List
FireRiskHeritage.net acknowledges that this list may not be fully representative of all fires affecting historic and cultural buildings worldwide. Media...
Historic Saint-Paul Church Fire, Montreal (Canada): Total Loss
Early Monday 23 February 2026, ~1:40am, a fire engulfed the former Saint-Paul Church (Sud-Ouest borough, Montreal). The historic church, converted...
Niscemi (Italy), when the Earth takes back Memory
In the town of Niscemi, in southern Sicily, a slow-moving landslide has been advancing for months, carving cracks through streets...
The Reconstruction of the Glasgow School of Art following the Second Fire
In the evening of June 15, 2018, a catastrophic fire engulfed the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School...
Two Fires in Rome’s Historic Centre: Specific Risks in Churches
On Sunday 25 January 2026, two separate fires within minutes of each other affected churches in the very heart of...
Wildfires in Chile Damage Historic Heritage
Large-scale wildfires and other widespread emergencies are usually narrated in terms of hectares burned, people evacuated, houses destroyed and victims....
The Hidden Vulnerability: Fire Risk in Cultural Heritage Storage Facilities
On October 1, 2025, a devastating fire broke out at the main warehouse of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) in Bhiwandi,...
Fire Safety Lessons from the 2026 Crans-Montana Bar Fire for Heritage and Historic Venues
The New Year’s Eve fire at Le Constellation in Crans-Montana is a tragic reminder that crowd-intensive venues in heritage settings...
New Year’s Eve Fire in a Historic former Church in Amsterdam
In the early hours of January 1, 2026, a violent fire devastated the Vondelkerk, the neo-Gothic church overlooking Vondelstraat, a...
The Laborie Estate Fire – Heritage Resilience and WUI in Paarl (South Africa)
Date of Incident: December 20, 2025 Location: Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa Site Classification: Grade II Provincial Heritage Site (Cape Dutch Werf) Laborie Wine...
Fire and Destruction of a Traditional Village in Sumba (Indonesia)
Kampung Adat Waru Wora in West Sumba is a village that suffered a devastating fire on 5 December 2025 that...
Heritage Sites Destroyed by Floods in Sumatra
Since late November 2025, extreme monsoon rains, intensified by deforestation resulting from logging and mining activities, have caused catastrophic floods...
Rebuilding a Canadian Heritage Village with Fire-Resilient Principles
On June 30, 2021, during a record-breaking heat dome, the Village of Lytton, British Columbia (Canada) — home to about...
New Zealand Heritage Wildfire
In early December 2025, a human-caused wildfire ignited within Tongariro National Park, a dual World Heritage landscape recognized for its...
Suspicious Fire Destroys Abandoned Church in Scotland
The overnight fire that on December 7, 2025 engulfed the 182-year-old Pollokshaws Parish Church on Shawbridge Street serves as a...
