A pyromaniac, ex-employee of a city oil refinery creates an explosion at the facility which starts a chain-reaction of fires that engulf the entire city.
The corrupt city mayor, William Dudley (Leslie Nielsen) has allowed an oil refinery to be built in the town's center, far from any river, lake or reservoir. On one typically hot summer day, Herman Stover (Jonathan Welsh), a dangerously disturbed employee at the refinery, has been denied an expected promotion and in addition, finds himself fired after refusing a departmental transfer.
The disgruntled ex-employee decides to take his revenge by sabotaging the oil refinery. He opens the valves to the storage vats and their interconnecting pipes, flooding the area and sewers with gasoline and chemicals, setting off a flame that causes massive explosions at the refinery, destroying it and spreading a mushroom-cloud of flame, a blaze which engulfs an entire city.engulfing the entire metropolis. People try to either fight the fire or flee as it spreads throughout the city.
The newly built hospital, which went up during the mayor's crooked administration, is shoddily built and poorly equipped. The head doctor Frank Whitman (Barry Newman) and his staff treat thousands of casualties from the fire while the city Fire Chief Albert Risley (Henry Fonda) keeps in constant contact with the fire companies fighting a losing battle against the fires, and Maggie Grayson (Ava Gardner), an alcoholic reporter, sees it as her chance to make it nationwide with her coverage of the story of the "City on Fire".
Diana Brockhurst-Lautrec (Susan Clark), a wealthy socialite, and widow of the late governor who is the namesake of the hospital, is currently and secretly involved with Mayor Dudley to further advance her rank up the social circles.
The womanizing Dr. Whitman also meets with Diana before the hospital's dedication ceremony, having known her previously. Herman Stover arrives at the hospital during the dedication ceremony, having left the refinery before the explosion to stalk Diana, and having known her since attending high school. Diana finds herself, along with the mayor, assisting Dr. Whitman and head nurse Andrea Harper(Shelley Winters) with treating the large number of casualties arriving at the hospital. No one finds out that Stover is responsible for the citywide fire, and Stover is not sane enough to understand or regret his actions.
The hospital becomes surrounded by the fire. Chief Risley orders his son, fire Captain Harrison Risley (Richard Donat) and his firemen to create a "water tunnel", a channel of firehoses across a burning street to evacuate the hospital. Despite some casualties of the hospital staff and patients, the evacuation is successful. Stover is one of the casualties when, distraught and in a daze after Diana rejects him, is killed by falling debris from a building. Nurse Harper is also killed when she attempts to rescue Stover. Diana, Mayor Dudley, and Dr. Whitman are the last ones to make it out of the hospital before it is consumed by the fire.
The following day, a quarry outside the city is set up as a makeshift camp for the thousands of people rendered homeless by the fire as it is finally brought under control. There, Dr. Whitman and Diana acknowledge their love for each other, while Mayor Dudley gives a press statement that the real heroes are the people of the city. Maggie Grayson, still reporting from the studio, signs off her broadcast and leaves with her assistant Jimbo (James Franciscus) on a date for assisting her throughout her coverage. Chief Risley leaves his headquarters with his staff telling them that it takes only one man to destroy a city.
A 1979 Canadian disaster action film produced by Sandy Howard & Harold Greenberg, directed by Alvin Rakoff, written by Jack Hill, Dave Lewis, and Celine La Freniere, cinematography by René Verzier, starring Barry Newman, Susan Clark, Shelley Winters, Leslie Nielsen, James Franciscus, Ava Gardner, Jonathan Welsh, Sonny Forbes, and Henry Fonda. Céline La Frenière's debut as a writer. Released by AVCO Embassy Pictures.
The shoot was constructed in the east end of Montreal, Canada, and required several urban blocks that could be set on fire. The production team scouted Atlanta, Edmonton, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. Montreal was eventually chosen to represent the fictional unnamed American city. Principal photography began in 1978 and was the largest film set in Canada to that date.
45,000 gallons of fuel were set ablaze during filming. Shell Oil, which owned a $600-million refinery, granted permission for the production to use it for the location, as a gesture of raising awareness about safety issues (the dangers of locating oil refineries near cities).
On 4/16/1947, a fire on the SS Grandcamp docked in Texas City, caused the ship to blow up, which ignited several oil refineries, and detonated a couple thousand tons of ammonium nitrate. The ensuing fires and explosions killed almost 600 people in Texas City. t=The Texas City disaster triggered the first class-action lawsuit against the US government, on behalf of 8,485 dead and injured victims.