three-alarm fire

three-alarm fire

1. A fire that is so large or intense that it requires the presence of many firefighting units to try to contain it. A three-alarm fire is the reason we heard all of those sirens last night
2. Someone or something that is very intense or stressful. Boy, this project has really become a three-alarm fire with all the other problems it's created.
See also: fire
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a three-alarm fire

and a five-alarm fire
n. someone or something very exciting. Work was a nightmare today. A five-alarm fire with crisis after crisis.
See also: fire
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • a three-alarm fire
  • a five-alarm fire
  • five-alarm fire
  • under fire
  • have a/(one's) finger on the button
  • draw (someone's) fire
  • draw fire
  • draw someone's fire
  • put out a/the fire
  • a fire under (someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
PLEASANT HILL - More than three weeks after a three-alarm fire destroyed three residences in the Bella Casa Mobile Home Park, the ruins of the homes have yet to be removed.
"The fire just crested the hill and is burning several homes right now; it's a three-alarm fire. There are a lot of resources going to the scene to try to get a handle on this," Rose said, local daily Spokesman (http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/jul/17/three-alarm-fire-has-engulfed-several-homes-north-/) reported.
AUBURN -- A raging three-alarm fire Thursday afternoon left a homeowner on Rydberg Terrace with nothing but burned rubble where his house once stood.
The three-alarm fire on July 10 on Branch Street in Lowell claimed seven lives.
Texas, reported on December 27 that a Harris County resident had a three-alarm fire at his townhome complex the day after Christmas.
Sure, there were minor blazes--one due to a tenant mistaking his wall heater for a way to dry out his wet bath towel and the other due to a faulty alarm clock of all things--but a three-alarm fire? Nope.
In June 2008, a three-alarm fire destroyed part of the studio's backlot and a vault housing video duplicates of many of the studio's films.
A three-alarm fire that gutted a warehouse in Midtown could have been avoided, according to city fire officials, if the owner had simply installed First Alert's SA340 smoke detector, now with dual ionization.
5, 2008, a three-alarm fire broke out at the facility at 41 Opechee St., causing over $3.3 million in damage.
A three-alarm fire broke out last night on the second floor of Macklowe Properties' 30-story office tower under construction at 510 Madison Avenue at 53rd Street, a New York Fire Department spokesperson said.
A three-alarm fire broke out Friday on the top floors of the Monte Carlo hotel-casino, causing no major injuries but forcing visitors and employees to evacuate, CNN reported, quoting authorities.
The three-alarm fire started shortly after noon on June 23, and burned for more than two hours.
BERKELEY, CALIF.: A three-alarm fire broke out in the scene shop of Berkeley Repertory Theatre in late June causing damages of $500,000-$1 million to the company's building.
Members of the organization rush to any two- or three-alarm fire or multi-jurisdictional drill and dispense beverages and food to help support firefighters.