Fire is a serious threat to urban centers in the eighteenth century.
Most houses in Northern Europe are made of wood, and are often built very close to adjoining structures.
Open fires are used for cooking, heating, and light.
When a fire breaks out, firefighting mainly dependson bucket or pail teams, in addition to fire axes and equipment to tear downs houses for firebreaks.
Like most major cities at this time, Stockholm does not have any professional firefighters.
As cities have expanded in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, fires have become more threatening, as with the Great Fire of London, the Great Fire of Copenhagen in 1728, and the Great Fire of Bergen in 1702.
The increased fire threat also applies to Sweden.
Throughout the seventeenth century, Sweden had experienced over thirty devastating fires that had destroyed many cities and villages.
In addition, the Russians had burned down more than twenty cities or towns between 1714 and 1721, during the Great Northern War.
In 1751, the year before Karlstad burned for the third time since 1616, a violent fire (Klarabranden) had destroyed at least a hundred buildings in Stockholm.
The fire had originated in Norrmalm during a whole gale and grew into a firestorm.
Some copper plates, glowing with heat from the fire, blew above Riddarfjärden (an arm of the sea Mälaren), at least four hundred meters, and, in turn, had set fire to buildings on Södermalm, as well.
