The Great Fire of Rome raged for six days. It wiped out 10 of the city’s 14 districts…
Nearly three-quarters of Rome burned before officials got the blaze under control.
If you’ve ever heard how Emperor Nero “fiddled while Rome burned”… this is that fire.
In Nero’s time, Rome was the world’s biggest city. It housed around 1 million people. And because its buildings were so densely packed, small fires could quickly grow into big ones…
In the early 1930s, one University of Illinois scholar investigated Rome’s Republic era. (That’s the period from roughly 510 B.C.E. to 30 B.C.E.)
The researcher found records of 15 big fires in Rome over this period. He classified seven as “widespread conflagrations.” And seven others wiped out at least one important building.
All these recorded fires likely represent just a fraction of the actual number, too. Fires were so common that Roman writers only recorded the ones that damaged important buildings.
Rome is just one example of mankind’s history of disastrous fires…
The second capital city of the Roman Empire was Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). It later became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. And it had the same problem as Rome…
The city’s history includes so many fires that historians can’t keep track of them all.
The worst was the Great Fire of 1660. It lasted for more than two days and destroyed two-thirds of Constantinople. In the end, roughly 280,000 homes burned to the ground.
London has struggled with many historic fires, too. One blaze destroyed the city’s iconic bridge in 1135. Then, in 1212, another massive fire killed an estimated 3,000 people.
The biggest disaster happened more than four centuries later…
The Great Fire of London broke out on September 2, 1666. It destroyed more than 13,000 houses (about 15% of the city’s housing) in four days. And it left 100,000 people homeless.
Here in the U.S., we struggled with the same problems as well…
New York City suffered its own “great fires” in 1835 and 1845. The Great Chicago Fire in 1871 killed 300 people. And like the London fire, it left about 100,000 folks without homes.
These days, we don’t appreciate how good we have it…
Our ancestors spent thousands of years worrying about losing their homes while trying to stay warm. But now, city-destroying fires like the ones in Rome or London don’t happen.
Houses aren’t nearly as combustible anymore.
It may not seem exciting, but keep in mind that we developed a couple of incredible building materials in the 20th century…
A scientist invented modern fiberglass by accident in the 1930s. And importantly, it didn’t take long for homebuilders to realize that it serves as a fantastic thermal insulator…
Fiberglass is cheap to make. Even better, it’s noncombustible. Unlike a lot of other options, it doesn’t need any additional chemical treatments to make it fire-resistant.
Spray foam is another modern marvel that’s easy to take for granted…
It’s a type of plastic (specifically, polyurethane) that expands to 100 times its liquid size after mixing different materials. Its popularity surged starting in the 1980s.
Since it’s sprayable, it’s great for sealing a house’s nooks and crannies for insulation. It’s now one of the best energy savers we have. And it’s a lot safer than what early humans were forced to use.
Wood is still the main building block for most houses today – like it was thousands of years ago. But thanks to other modern-day building materials, we’ve taken a huge step forward in making safer homes.
Sure, I’ll admit that insulation isn’t anywhere near as exciting as the gee-whiz tech stories we always hear about nowadays.
But big investment opportunities are often hiding in these kinds of “boring” corners of the market.
In fact, our one-of-a-kind Power Gauge system recently spotted one such opportunity with a “boring” insulation company. It’s one that’s still solving humanity’s fire problem.
Most folks have probably never heard of this company. But it’s the “best of the best” in keeping our homes warm.
Its stock has already soared more than 80% over the last year. And since our system sees the potential for even greater upside ahead, I recently recommended the stock to paid subscribers of our Power Gauge Investor newsletter.
Now, I can’t give you all the details of this recommendation. It wouldn’t be fair to paying subscribers.
However, my point is simple…
Investment opportunities are all around us – even in the most boring corners of the market.
That’s why I developed the Power Gauge. It helps me spot the best investment opportunities no matter where they are.
Good investing,
Marc Chaikin
P.S. When it comes to the Power Gauge, we’re leveraging it in a special way right now…
In short, it’s all related to my newest prediction about what could be coming to the market on May 15. That means time is short to prepare for a turning point in the markets that could double your money six different times – if you put your money to work in the right place.
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