History may not exactly repeat, but it often rhymes. The above description sounds eerily similar to the effects of the inferno in Lahaina. Of course, Dresden was a major European cultural center in the midst of a world war, while Lahaina is a small town in Hawaii, so there the comparison ends.
The recent conflagration in Maui’s Lahaina Town shocked the nation. Some have called it an act of war—if so, one might argue that it has a predecessor.