War and destruction
· Kopli
Fires of the Kopli Lines
Repeated fires in the Kopli Lines destroyed timber houses and raised hard questions about protecting both people and heritage.
In a district of ageing, partly vacant wooden buildings, fire became a serious risk. Each incident caused its own harm: potential danger to people, lost homes and fewer surviving traces of a shipyard workers’ settlement. Without investigation findings for individual incidents, there is no basis for giving every fire one cause or culprit. A missing house is itself a mark on the streetscape, but former residents’ memories give the loss its human scale.
Practical information
Address: Kopli tänav
See the Kopli Lines from the public street. Do not enter vacant buildings or unsafe construction sites.