inferno

plural infernos

1. A place or situation resembling Hell.

   At each sudden explosion in the inferno below they sprang back from the brink [of the volcanic crater].

   1899, D. C. Worcester, The Philippine Islands and Their People

   1 more example

   When Jurgis had first inspected the packing plants with Szedvilas, he […] found that each one of these lesser industries was a separate little inferno, in its way as horrible as the killing beds, the source and fountain of them all[, and t]he workers in each of them had their own peculiar diseases.

   1906, Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

2. A large fire; a conflagration.

   The inferno ripped through the forest, destroying anything in its path.

   2 more examples

   Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within,[…]most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities.

   2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion

   Unfortunately for Admiral Kurita, this is where the good news ends. The fire started by New Jersey's hit amidships has spread, and there is now a towering inferno that occupies the middle third of the Japanese battleship.

   2021 May 5, Drachinifel, 34:59 from the start, in Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?, archived from the original on 08 Aug 2022