This picture shows people trying to stop the fire using a water squirt and buckets. Other firefighting methods at this time included basic ladders and fire hooks to pull down burning thatch.
In 1666 there was no organised fire brigade. Firefighting at the time was very basic and there was little skill or knowledge involved. They used leather buckets, axes and water squirts which had little effect on the fire.
Samuel Pepys was a diarist of this period and Clerk to the Royal Navy. On observing the fire he recommended to the King that they needed to pull down the buildings, as it may have been the only way to stop the fire. The Mayor was ordered to pull down the houses using fire hooks but the fire continued to spread.
The fire couldn't spread across London Bridge because it was already destroyed by a previous fire.
When people evacuated their homes, they buried or hid what they couldn't carry underground.
