Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/244

234 FIRE 1816. August 10. 12,000 houses and 3000 shops in the finest quarter were destroyed. 1818. August 13. A fire destroyed several thousand houses. 1826. A fire destroyed 6000 houses. 1848. 500 houses and 2000 shops destroyed. Loss estimated at 3,000,000. 1865. A great fire destroyed 2800 houses, public buildings, &c. Over 22,000 people were left homeless. 1870. June 5. The suourb of Pera, occupied by the foreign popu lation and native Christians, was swept by a fire which destroyed over 7000 buildings, many of them among the best in the city, including the residence of the foreign legations. Loss estimated at nearly 5,000,000. 1797. Scutari, the town of 3000 houses totally destroyed. 1763. Smyrna, 2600 houses consumed. Loss, 200,000. 1772. 3000 dwellings burned. 3000 to 4000 shops, &c., consumed. Loss, 4,000,000. 1796. ,, 4000 shops, mosques, magazines, &c., burned. 1841. ,, 12,000 houses were burned. INDIA. 1631. Rajmahal. Palace and great part of the town burned. 1799. Manilla, vast storehouses were burned. 1833. ,. 10,000 huts were burned, March 26. 30,000 people rendered homeless, and 50 lives lost. 1803. Madras, more than 1000 houses burned. 1803. Bombay. Loss by fire of 600,000. CHINA AND JAPAN. 1822. Canton was nearly destroyed by fire. 1806. Yokohama, two-thirds of the native town and one-sixth of the foreign settlement destroyed. 1872, Ycddo, A fire occurred in April during a gale of wind, de stroying buildings covering a space of 6 square miles. 20,000 persons were made homeless. 1873. ,, A fire destroyed 10,000 houses. UNITED STATES. 1679. Boston. All the warehouses, 80 dwellings, and the vessels in the dockyards were consumed. Loss, 200,000. A fire caused a loss estimated at 100,000. A fire consumed 100 buildings, February V 20. ,, 96 buildings were burned. Loss, 42,000. , , Great fire, November 9-10. By this fire the richest quarter of Boston was destroyed. The firo commenced at the corner of Summer and Kingston streets. The area burned over was 65 acres. 776 buildings, comprising the largest granite and brick warehouses of the city, tilled with mer chandise, were burned. The loss was about 15,000,000. Before the end of the year 1876 the burned district had been rebuilt more substantially than ever. Charleston. A fire caused the loss of 100,000 ,, 300 houses were burned. ,, One-half the city was burned on April 27. 1158 buildings destroyed. Loss, 600,000. Portsmouth (Maine), 102 buildings destroyed. ,, 397 buildings destroyed. Savannah, 463 buildings were burned. Loss, 800,000. New York. The great fire of New York began in Mer chant Street, December 16, and burned 530 buildings in the business part of the city. 1000 mercantile firms lost their places of business. The area burned over was 52 acres. The loss was 3,000,000, ,, A fire in the business part of the city, July 20, destroyed 300 buildings. The loss was 1,500,000. 35 persons were killed. Pittsburg. A large part of the city burned, April 11. 20 squares, 1100 buildings destroyed. Loss, 2,000,000. Nantucket was almost destroyed. Albany. 600 houses burned, August 17. Area burned over 37 acres, one-third of the city. Loss, 600,000. St Louis. 23 steamboats at the wharves, and the whole or part of 15 blocks of the city burned, May 17. Loss, 600,000. More than three-quarters of the city was burned, May 4. 2500 buildings. Loss, 2,200,000. ,, 500 buildings burned. Loss, 600,000. Philadelphia. 400 buildings burned, July 9. 30 lives lost. Loss, 200,000. 50 buildings burned, February 8. 20 per sons killed. Loss, 100,000. Washington. Part of the Capitol and the whole of the Congressional Library were burned. San Francisco. On May 4-5 a fire destroyed 2500 build ings. A number of lives lost. More than three-fourths 1760. 1787. 1794. 1872. 1778. 1796. 1838. 1802. 1813. 1820. 1835. 1845. 1845, 1846, 1848, 1849. 1851. 1851. 1850. 1865. 1851. 1851. of the city destroyed. Loss upwards of 2,000,000. In June another fire burned 500 buildings. Loss estimated at 600,000. 1857. Chicago. A fire destroyed over 100,000. 14 lives lost. 1859. ,, Property destroyed worth 100,000, Sept. 15. 1866. ,. Two fires on August 10 and November 18. Loss, 100,000 each. 1871. ,, The greatest fire of modern times. It began in a barn on the night of the 8th of October and raged until the 10th. The area burned over was 2124 acres, or f! i. miles, of the very heart of the city. J50 lives were lost, 98,500 pei sons were made homeless, and 17,430 buildings were consumed. The buildings were one-third in number and one-half in value </i the buildings of the city. Before the end of 1875 the whole burned district had been rebuilt. The loss was estimated at 39,000,000. 1862. Troy (N.Y. ) was nearly destroyed by fire. 1866. Portland, Great fire on July 4. One-ha^ of the city Avas burned ; 200 acres were ravaged ; 50 buildings were blown up to stop the progress of the fire. Loss, 2,000,000 to 2,250,000. 1871. October. Forest and prairies fires in Wisconsin and Michigan. 15,000 persons were made homeless ; 1000 lives lost. Loss estimated at 600,000. BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. 1815. Quebec was injured to the extent of 260,000. 1845. ,, 1650 houses were burned, May 28. One-third of the population made homeless. Loss from 400,000 to 750,000. Another fire, on June 28, consumed 1300 dwellings. 6000 persons were made homeless. 30 streets destroyed. In surance losses, 60,770. 1866. ,, 2500 houses and 17 churches iu French quarter burned. 1825. New Brunswick. A tract of 4,000,000 acres, more than 100 miles in length, was burned over ; it included many towns. 160 persons killed, and 875 head of cattle. 590 buildings burned. Loss about 60,000. Towns of Newcastle, Chatham, and Douglastown destroyed. 1837. St John (New Brunswick). 115 houses burned, January 13, and nearly all the business part of the city. Loss, 1,000,000. 1877. ,, Great fire on June 21. The area burned over was 200 acres. 37 streets and squares totally or in part destroyed ; 10 miles of streets ; 1650 dwellings. 18 lives lost. Total loss, . 2, 500, 000. Two-fifths of the city burned. 1846. St John s (Newfoundland) was nearly destroyed, June 9. Two whole streets burned upwards of one mile long. Loss estimated at 1,000,000. 1850. Montreal. A fire destroyed the finest part of the city on June 7. 200 houses were burned. 1852. ,, A fire on July 9 rendered 10,000 people desti tute. The space burned was one mile in length by half a mile in width, including 1200 houses. Loss, 1,000,000. SOUTH AMERICA. 1536. Cuzco was nearly consumed. 1861. Mcndoza. A great fire followed an earthquake which had destroyed 10,000 people. 1862. Valparaiso was devastated by fire. 1863. Santiago. Fire in the Jesuit church ; 2000 persons, mostly women and children, perished. "WEST INDIES. 1752. Pierre (Martinique) had 700 houses burned. 1782. Kingston (Jamaica) had 80 houses burned. Loss, 500,000. 1795. Montego Bay (Jamaica). Loss by fire of 400,000. 1805. St Thomas. 900 warehouses consumed. Loss, 6, 000, 000. 1808. Spanish Town (Trinidad) was totally destroyed. Loss estimated at 1,500,000. 1828. Havana lost 350 houses ; 2000 persons reduced to poverty. 1843. Port Republicain (Hayti). Nearly one-third of the town was burned. Such great fires as the above are due, first, to the com bustible contents of buildings and of the materials they are built of, and to radical defects in the method of construc tion, and, secondly, to the want of proper means and appliances for promptly extinguishing fires and perventing the spread of them. Wooden buildings crowded together in narrow crooked streets, insufficient supply or absolute want of water, no fire-engines or only the feeblest machines for pumping water, and no organized or trained and dis ciplined body of firemen, were the conditions in earlier times, and in some countries they are the conditions still.