The circumstances as to how the fire raged out of control is understandable, but the lingering question, why not extinguish the fire before it spread. During the seventeenth centuries, London had no organized fire protection system. Indeed, basic firefighting methods of the day consisted largely of sheer manpower, the only tools for fighting the fire were buckets, hooks and hand held pumps as well as ladders. If fact, the method was not to extinguish but to contain and allow the fire to burn itself out, by demolishing nearby structures therefore creating fire breaks to slow the fire spread. In addition, Gunpowder could be used to blow up buildings and create fire
