I'm pretty sure most cultures through the modern period had this shift from fire the creator to fire the destructor. When urban cities were getting crowded and

I'm pretty sure most cultures through the modern period had this shift from fire the creator to fire the destructor. When urban cities were getting crowded and a fire could ravage almost all of London, people were often more terrified of waking up to a fire consuming their very combustible homes than of being robbed in the middle of the night. Breweries and bakeries often set whole neighborhoods alight and arson or even the threat of arson caused citizens to become a furious lynching mob very fast. Though we don't have such big risks anymore since electricity and safer building materials, we inherited some of their fear.[1] [1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/books/review/24LEWISKR.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/books/review/24LEWISKR.htm...