Part 41

The most interesting and practical part of our subject is the inquiry into the various causes of fires. Mr. Braidwood comes here to our aid with his invaluable yearly reports--the only materials we have, in fact, on which fire insurance can be built up into a science, a feat which we have not accomplished to nearly the same extent as with life assurance, although the Hand-in-Hand office was founded so far back as 1696. Thus we have the experience of upwards of 150 years, if we could only get at it, to enable the actuary to ascertain the doctrine of chances in this momentous subject, which at present is little better than a speculation. An analysis of the reports, from the organization of the Fire Brigade in 1833 to the close of 1853, a period extending over 21 years, affords the following result:

Abstract of List of Fires and Alarms for Twenty Years, ending 1853.

Year.| Totally |Considerably|Slightly|Total | Alarms. |Total of |Destroyed| Damaged. |Damaged.| of |-------------------|Fires & | | | |Fires.|False|Chimn'y|Total|Alarms. -----|---------|------------|--------|------|-----|-------|-----|-------- 1833 | 31 | 135 | 292 | 458| 59 | 75 | 134| 592 1834 | 28 | 116 | 338 | 482| 57 | 112 | 169| 651 1835 | 31 | 125 | 315 | 471| 66 | 106 | 172| 643 1836 | 33 | 134 | 397 | 564| 66 | 126 | 192| 756 1837 | 22 | 122 | 357 | 501| 82 | 134 | 216| 717 1838 | 33 | 152 | 383 | 568| 79 | 108 | 187| 755 1839 | 17 | 165 | 402 | 584| 70 | 101 | 171| 755 1840 | 26 | 204 | 451 | 681| 84 | 98 | 182| 863 1841 | 24 | 234 | 438 | 696| 67 | 92 | 159| 855 1842 | 24 | 224 | 521 | 769| 61 | 82 | 143| 912 1843 | 29 | 231 | 489 | 749| 79 | 83 | 162| 911 1844 | 23 | 237 | 502 | 762| 70 | 94 | 164| 926 1845 | 23 | 253 | 431 | 707| 82 | 87 | 168| 875 1846 | 25 | 233 | 576 | 834| 119 | 69 | 188| 1,022 1847 | 27 | 273 | 536 | 836| 88 | 66 | 154| 990 1848 | 27 | 269 | 509 | 805| 120 | 86 | 206| 1,011 1849 | 28 | 228 | 582 | 838| 76 | 89 | 165| 1,003 1850 | 18 | 229 | 621 | 868| 91 | 79 | 170| 1,038 1851 | 21 | 255 | 652 | 928| 115 | 116 | 231| 1,159 1852 | 25 | 238 | 660 | 923| 93 | 89 | 182| 1,105 1853 | 20 | 241 | 629 | 900| 72 | 90 | 162| 1,062 -----|---------|------------|--------|------|-----|-------|-----|-------- Total| 535 | 4,298 |10,091 |14,924|1,695|1,982 |3,677|18,601 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

If we examine this table, we find ample evidence that the organization of the Fire Brigade has resulted in an abatement of loss and labour. Taking the average of the last twenty-one years, there has been a decrease of 5·7 in the last year under the head of "totally destroyed." This is the best test of the activity of the Brigade, and really means much more than is obvious at first sight. Within these twenty-one years many tens of thousands of houses have been added to the metropolis; our periphery has been continually enlarging; like a tree, we grow year by year by adding a fresh ring of bricks and mortar. Whilst this increase is going on externally, the central part is growing too. We can afford no dead wood in our very heart: if it cannot expand one way it must another. Accordingly, we find the crowded city extending towards the sky; and if we take into account the immense mass of material added to that which existed, all of which is equally liable to the inroads of fire, we can understand why the total number of conflagrations has increased from 458 in 1833 to 900 in 1853. With such an augmentation of conflagrations, the _decrease_ of houses totally destroyed in 1853 is the highest testimony to the ability and zeal of Mr. Braidwood.

The item "totally destroyed" is mainly made up of houses and factories in which are stored very combustible materials, such as carpenters' and cabinet-makers' shops, oilmen's warehouses, sawmills, &c., where the fire gains such a hold in a few minutes as to preclude the possibility of putting it out. The number is also swelled by houses which are situated many miles from the nearest station; for there are no stations in the outskirts of the town, and very few in the crowded suburbs. We have seen complaints of this want of help in thickly-populated localities; but the companies only plant an establishment where the insurances are sufficient to cover the expense, and people who do not contribute have no more right to expect private individuals to take care of their property than tradesmen in the Strand would have to expect the private watchman outside Messrs. Coutts' bank to look after their shutters. Indeed, it seems to us that the Brigade act very liberally. The firemen never stop to ask whether the house is insured or not; nor are they deterred by distance; and in many cases they have gone as far as Brentford, Putney, Croydon, Barnet, Uxbridge, Cranfordbridge, Windsor Castle, and once to Dover by an express engine. The only difference made by the Brigade between insured and uninsured property is, that after putting out a fire they take charge of the salvage of the former, and leave that of the latter to its owner. The force is, however, very careful to repair immediately any damage they may have done to adjoining property--damage which they commit in the most deliberate manner, regardless of pains and penalties. For instance, _housebreaking_ is almost a nightly crime with the firemen whilst in search of water, who never let a wall or a door stand between them and a supply of this element. It is a proof of the good feeling which prevails on such occasions that, although they are technically guilty of an offence which renders them liable to punishment, no one murmurs, much less threatens proceedings. If the authorities in the great fire of London had acted in a similar manner for the public good, they would have saved the half of the Inner Temple, which was destroyed because, according to Clarendon's account, all the lawyers were absent on circuit, and the constables did not dare to take the responsibility of breaking open their chamber doors!

It is a question whether government ought not to relieve the parish authorities from a duty which they cannot separately perform, and combine their engines into a metropolitan brigade; thus guarding the town from fire as they do from robbery by the police. If people will not protect themselves by insuring, the state should protect them, and make them pay for it. An excellent system prevails in most parts of Germany of levying a rate at the close of the year upon all the inhabitants, sufficient to cover the loss from fires during the past twelvemonth. As every householder has a pecuniary interest in the result, he keeps a bucket and belt, and sallies out to extinguish the conflagration in his neighbour's premises. If the rate were adopted in London, and the present enormous duty on insurances reduced, the cost to each person would be hardly more pence than it is pounds at present to the provident few.

Mr. Samuel Brown, of the Institute of Actuaries, after analyzing the returns of Mr. Braidwood, as well as the reports in the _Mechanics' Magazine_ by Mr. Baddeley, who has devoted much attention to the subject, drew up some tables of the times of the year and hours of the day at which fires are most frequent. It would naturally be supposed that the winter would show a vast preponderance over the summer months; but the difference is not so great as might be expected. December and January are very prolific of fires, as in these months large public buildings are heated by flues, stoves, and boilers; but the other months share mishaps of the kind pretty equally, with the exception that the hot and dry periods of summer and autumn are marked by the most destructive class of conflagrations, owing to the greater inflammability of the materials, than in the damper portions of the year. This, from the desiccating nature of the climate, is especially the case in Canada and the United States, and, coupled with the extensive use of wood in building, has a large influence in many parts of the continent. The following list of all the great fires which have taken place for the last hundred years will bear out our statement:--

Month.| Description of Property, | Place. |Value of Property| Year. | &c. | | Destroyed. | ---------------------------------|--------------|-----------------|------ {Webb's Sugar-house |Liverpool | £4,600 | 1829 {Lancelot's-hey | " | 198,000 | 1833 {Town-hall and Exchange | " | 45,000 | 1795 Jan. {Caxton Printing Office | " | | 1821 {Dublin & Co. Warehouse | " | | 1834 {Suffolk Street | " | 40,000 | 1818 {Mile End |London | 200,000 | 1834 {Royal Exchange | " | | 1838 | | | {York Minster |York | | 1829 {3 West-India Warehouses |London | 300,000 | 1829 {House of Commons |Dublin | | 1792 Feb. {Argyle Rooms |London | | 1830 {Camberwell Church | " | | 1841 {Custom House | " | | 1814 {Hop Warehouse |Southwark | | 1851 {J. F. Pawson & Co.'s }| St. Paul's }| 40,000 | 1853 { Warehouses }|Churchyard }| | {Pickford's Wharf |London | | 1824 {Goree Warehouses |Liverpool | 50,000 | 1846 | | | {New Orleans |United States | dr. 650,000 | 1853 {15,000 houses at Canton |China | | 1820 {13,000 houses |Peru | | 1799 {Manchester |England | | 1792 March {Fawcett's Foundry |Liverpool | £41,000 | 1843 {Oil Street | " | 12,000 | 1844 {Apothecaries' Hall | " | 7,000 | 1844 {Sugar House, Harrington}| " | 30,000 | 1830 { Street }| | | | | | {1,000 Buildings |Pittsburg | dr. 1,400,000 | 1845 {Savannah |United States | dr. 300,000 | 1852 {Parkshead, Bacon Street |Liverpool | £36,000 | 1851 {Windsor Forest |England | | 1785 April {Margetson's Tan Yard, }|London | 36,000 | 1852 { Bermondsey }| | | {1,158 Buildings, }|United States | | 1838 { Charleston }| | | {Horsleydown |London | | 1780 | | | {Dockhead |London | | 1785 {Great Fire, 1,749 houses|Hamburgh | | 1842 {23 Steamboats at }|United States | dr. 600,000 | 1849 { St. Louis }| | | {15,000 Houses |Quebec | | 1845 {York Minster |York | | 1840 May {Duke's Warehouses |Liverpool | | 1843 {Okell's Sugar-house | " | | 1799 {Gibraltar Row | " | | 1838 {Liver Mills | " | £8,700 | 1841 {Billinsgate |London | | 1809 | | | {Rotherhithe |London | | 1765 {Copenhagen |Denmark | | 1759 {Montreal |Canada | dr. 1,000,000 | 1852 {St. John |Newfoundland | | 1846 {Louisville |United States | dr. 100,000 | 1853 June {47 persons, Quebec }|Canada | | 1846 { Theatre }| | | {1,300 houses, Quebec | " | | 1845 {Gutta Percha Co., Wharf}|London | £23,000 | 1853 { Road }| | | {Humphreys' Warehouse, }| " | 100,000 | 1851 { Southwark }| | | | | | {Hindon |Wiltshire | | 1754 {15,000 Houses |Constantinople| | 1756 {12,000 Houses |Montreal | | 1852 {300 Houses |Philadelphia | | 1850 {300 Buildings |North America | dr. 160,000 | 1846 July {302 Stores |New York | dr. 1,200,000 | 1846 {Apothecaries' Hall |Liverpool | | 1845 {Glover's Warehouses | " | £17,000 | 1851 {Dockyard |Portsmouth | | 1770 {Wapping |London | 1,000,000 | 1794 {Ratcliffe Cross | " | | 1794 {Varna |Turkey | | 1854 | | | {Dublin |Ireland | | 1833 {Gravesend |England | 60,000 | 1847 {Walker's Oil Mill |Dover | 30,000 | 1853 {Falmouth Theatre |Falmouth | | 1792 Aug. {Buildings, Albany |United States | dr. 600,000 | 1849 {10,000 Houses |Constantinople| | 1782 {Smithfield |London | £100,000 | 1822 {East Smithfield | " | | 1840 {Bankside | " | | 1814 {Gateshead |England | | 1854 | | | {46 Buildings |New York | dr. 500,000 | 1839 {200 Houses, Brooklyn | " | 150,000 | 1848 {Scott, Russell, & Co., }|London | £80,000 | 1853 { Ship Builders, Mill }| | | { Wall }| | | {St. Paul's Church, }| " | | { Covent Garden }| | | 1795 {60 Houses Rotherhithe | " | | 1791 Sept. {Astley's Amphitheatre | " | | 1794 {Mark Lane | " | 150,000 | 1850 {Covent Garden Theatre | " | | 1808 {Store Street and }| " | | { Tottenham Court Road }| | | 1802 {Macfee's |Liverpool | 40,000 | 1846 {Gorees | " | 400,000 | 1802 {Formby Street | " | 380,000 | 1842 {Cowdray House |Sussex | | 1793 | | | {52 Buildings |Philadelphia | dr. 100,000 | 1839 {Grimsdell's Builders' }|Spitalfields | | 1852 { Yard }| | | {Withwith's Mills |Halifax | £35,000 | 1853 {Robert Street |North Liverp'l| 150,000 | 1838 {Lancelot's-hey |Liverpool | 80,000 | 1854 {Memel Great Fire |Prussia | | 1854 Oct. {London Wall |London | 84,000 | 1849 {20 Houses, Rotherhithe | " | | 1790 {Lancelot's-hey |Liverpool | 30,000 | 1834 {Wapping |London | 100,000 | 1823 {Houses of Parliament | " | | 1834 {Pimlico | " | | 1839 | | | {Royal Palace |Lisbon | | 1794 {New York |United States | | 1835 {20 Houses, Shadwell |London | | 1796 {Aldersgate Street | " | £100,000 | 1783 Nov. {Cornhill | " | | 1765 {Liver Street |Liverpool | 6,000 | 1829 {Wright & Aspinall, }|London | 50,000 | 1826 { Oxford Street }| | | {Hill's Rice Mills | " | 5,000 | 1848 | | | {Dock Yard |Portsmouth | | 1776 {Patent Office and Post }|Washington | | 1836 { Office }| | | Dec. {600 Warehouses |New York | dr. 4,000,000 | 1835 {Fenwick Street |Liverpool | £36,000 | 1831 {Brancker's Sugar-house | " | 34,000 | 1843 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

(_Extracted from the Royal Insurance Company's Almanack, 1854._)

One reason, perhaps, why there is such a general average in the number of conflagrations throughout the year is, that the vast majority occur in factories and workshops where fire is used in summer as well as winter. This supposition appears at first sight to be contradicted by the fact that nearly as many fires occur on Sunday as on any other day of the week. But when it is remembered that in numerous establishments it is necessary to keep in the fires throughout that day, and as in the majority of cases a very inadequate watch is kept, it is at once apparent why there is no immunity from the scourge. Indeed, some of the most destructive fires have broken out on a Sunday night or on a Sunday morning; no doubt because a large body of fire had formed before it was detected. A certain number of accidents occur in summer in private houses from persons on hot nights opening the window behind the toilet-glass in their bedrooms, when the draught blows the blind against the candle. Swallows do not more certainly appear in June, than such mishaps are found reported at the sultry season.

If we watch still more narrowly the habits of fires, we find that they are active or dormant according to the time of day. Thus, during a period of nine years, the per-centage regularly increased from 1·96 at 9 o'clock A.M., the hour at which all households might be considered to be about, to 3·34 at 1 P.M., 3·55 at 5 P.M., and 8·15 per cent. at 10 P.M., which is just the time at which a fire left to itself by the departure of the workmen would have had swing enough to become visible.

The origin of fires is now so narrowly inquired into by the officers of the Brigade, and by means of inquests, that we have been made acquainted with a vast number of curious causes which would never have been suspected. From an analysis of fires which have occurred since the establishment of the Brigade we have constructed the following tables:--

Curtains 2,511 Candle 1,178 Flues 1,555 Stoves 494 Gas 932 Light dropped down Area 13 Lighted Tobacco falling down ditt 7 Dust falling on horizontal Flue 1 Doubtful 76 Incendiarism 89 Carelessness 100 Intoxication 80 Dog 6 Cat 19 Hunting Bugs 15 Clothes-horse upset by Monkey 1 Lucifers 80 Children playing with ditto 45 Rat gnawing ditto 1 Jackdaw playing with ditto 1 Rat gnawing Gaspipe 1 Boys letting off Fireworks 14 Fireworks going off 63 Children playing with Fire 45 Spark from ditto 243 Spark from Railway 4 Smoking Tobacco 166 Smoking Ants 1 Smoking in Bed 2 Reading in ditto 22 Sewing in ditto 4 Sewing by Candle 1 Lime overheating 44 Waste ditto 43 Cargo of Lime ditto 2 Rain slacking ditto 5 High Tide 1 Explosion 16 Spontaneous Combustion 43 Heat from Sun 8 Lightning 8 Carboy of Acid bursting 2 Drying Linen 1 Shirts falling into Fire 6 Lighting and Upsetting Naphtha Lamp 58 Fire from Iron Kettle 1 Sealing Letter 1 Charcoal fire of a Suicide 1 Insanity 5 Bleaching Nuts 7 Unknown 1,323