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FIRE AND FIRE EXTINCTION
[STATISTICS
1751. | Stockholm, 1000 houses destroyed. |
1759. | Stockholm,„ 250 houses burned. Loss, 2,000,000 crowns. |
1775. | Abo, 200 houses and 15 mills burned. |
1827. | Abo,„ 780 houses burned, with the university. |
1790. | Carlscrona, 1087 houses, churches, warehouses, &c., destroyed. |
1802. | Gothenburg, 178 houses burned. |
1858. | Christiania. Loss estimated at £250,000. |
1865. | Carlstadt (Sweden), everything burned except the bishop's residence, hospital and jail. 10 lives lost.
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Russia
1736. | St Petersburg, 2000 houses burned. |
1862. | St Petersburg,„ great fire. Loss, £1,000,000. |
1752. | Moscow, 18,000 houses burned. |
1812. | Moscow,„ The Russians fired the city on September 14 to drive out the army of Napoleon. The fire continued five days. Nine-tenths of the city was destroyed. Number of houses burned, 30,800. Loss, £30,000,000.
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1753. | Archangel, 900 houses burned. |
1793. | Archangel,„ 3000 buildings and the cathedral burned. |
1786. | Tobolsk, nearly destroyed. |
1788. | Mitau, nearly destroyed. |
1812. | Riga, partly destroyed. |
1834. | Tula, destructive fire. |
1848. | Orel, large part-of the town destroyed. |
1850. | Cracow, large part of the town burned. |
1864. | Novgorod, large amount of property destroyed. |
Turkey
The following fires have occurred at Constantinople:— | |
1729. | A great fire destroyed 12,000 houses and 7000 people. |
1745. | A fire lasted five days. |
1750. | In January, 10,000 houses burned; in April, property destroyed estimated from £1,000,000 to £3,000,000. Later in the year 10,000 houses were destroyed. |
1751. | 4000 houses were burned. |
1756. | 15,000 houses and 100 people destroyed. During the years 1761, 1765 and 1767 great havoc was made by fire. |
1769. | July 17. A fire raged for twelve hours, extending nearly 1 m. in length. Many of the palaces, some small mosques and nearly 650 houses were destroyed.
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1771. | A fire lasting 15 hours consumed 2500 houses and shops. |
1778. | 2000 houses were burned. |
1782. | August 12. A fire burned three days: 10,000 houses, 50 mosques and 100 corn mills destroyed; 100 lives lost. In February, 600 houses burned; in June, 7000 more.
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1784. | August 5. A fire burned for 26 hours and destroyed 10,000 houses, most of which had been rebuilt since the fires of 1782. In the same year, March 13, a fire in the suburb of Pera destroyed two-thirds of that quarter. Loss estimated at 2,000,000 florins.
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1791. | Between March and July 32,000 houses are said to have been burned, and as many in 1795.
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1799. | In the suburb of Pera 13,000 houses were burned and many magnificent buildings.
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1816. | August 16. 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.
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1870. | June 5. The suburb of Pera, occupied by the foreign population 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.
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1797. | Scutari, the town of 3000 houses totally destroyed. |
1763. | Smyrna, 2600 houses consumed. Loss, £200,000. |
1772. | Smyrna,„ 3000 dwellings burned. 3000 to 4000 shops, &c. consumed. Loss, £4,000,000. |
1796. | Smyrna,„ 4000 shops, mosques, magazines, &c., burned. |
1841. | Smyrna,„ 12,000 houses were burned. |
India
1631. | Rajmahal. Palace and great part of the town burned. |
1799. | Manilla, vast storehouses were burned. |
1833. | Manilla,„ 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. |
1866. | Yokohama, two-thirds of the native town and one-sixth of the foreign settlement destroyed.
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1872. | Yeddo. A fire occurred in April during a gale of wind, destroying buildings covering a space of 6 sq. m. 20,000 persons were made homeless.
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1873. | Yeddo,„ 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.
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1760. | Boston,„ A fire caused a loss estimated at £100,000. |
1787. | Boston,„ A fire consumed 100 buildings, February 20. |
1794. | Boston,„ 96 buildings were burned. Loss, £42,000. |
1872. | Boston,„ Great fire, November 9–10. By this fire the richest quarter of Boston was destroyed.
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The fire 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, filled with merchandise, 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. | |
1778. | Charleston (S.C.). A fire caused the loss of £100,000. |
1796. | Charleston„ 300 houses were burned. |
1838. | Charleston„ One-half the city was burned on April 27. 1158 buildings destroyed. Loss, £600,000. |
1802. | Portsmouth (N.H.), 102 buildings destroyed. |
1813. | Portsmouth (N.H.),„ 397 buildings destroyed. |
1820. | Savannah, 463 buildings were burned. Loss, £800,000. |
1835. | New York. | The great fire of New York began in Merchant 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.
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1845. | New York.„ | A fire in the business part of the city, July 20, destroyed 300 buildings. The loss was £1,500,000. 35 persons were killed. |
1845. | Pittsburg. A large part of the city burned, April 11. 20 squares, 1100 buildings destroyed. Loss, £2,000,000.
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1846. | Nantucket was almost destroyed. |
1848. | Albany. 600 houses burned, August 17. Area burned over 37 acres, one-third of the city. Loss, £600,000.
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1849. | St Louis. 23 steamboats at the wharves, and the whole or part of 15 blocks of the city burned, May 17. Loss, £600,000.
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1851. | St Louis.„ More than three-quarters of the city was burned, May 4. 2500 buildings. Loss, £2,200,000.
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1851. | St Louis.„ 500 buildings burned. Loss, £600,000 |
1850. | Philadelphia.400 buildings burned, July 9. 30 lives lost. Loss, £200,000. |
1865. | Philadelphia.„ 50 buildings burned, February 8. 20 persons killed. Loss, £100,000. |
1851. | Washington. Part of the Capitol and the whole of the Congressional Library were burned. |
1851. | San Francisco. On May 4–5 a fire destroyed 2500 buildings. A number of lives lost. More than three-fourths of the city destroyed. Loss, upwards of £2,000,000. In June another fire burned 500 buildings. Loss estimated at £600,000.
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1857. | Chicago. A fire destroyed over £100,000. 14 lives lost. |
1859. | Chicago.„ Property destroyed worth £100,000, Sept. 15. |
1866. | Chicago.„ Two fires on August 10 and November 18. Loss, £100,000 each. |
1871. | Chicago.„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 313 sq. m., of the very heart of the city. 250 lives were lost, 98,500 persons were made homeless, and 17,430 buildings were consumed. The buildings were one-third in number and one-half in value of 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 (Maine). Great fire on July 4. One-half of the city was 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.
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1871. | October. Forest and prairie fires in Wisconsin and Michigan. 15,000 persons were made homeless; 1000 lives lost. Loss estimated at £600,000.
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British North America
1815. | Quebec was injured to the extent of £260,000. |
1845. | Quebec„ 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. Insurance losses, £60,770.
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1866. | Quebec„ 2500 houses and 17 churches in French quarter burned. |
1825. | New Brunswick. A tract of 4,000,000 acres, more than 100 m. 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.
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1837. | St John (New Brunswick). 115 houses burned, January 13, and nearly all the business part of the city. Loss, £1,000,000.
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