Note 69 — Chapter VI

Captain Shaw, the Superintendent of the London Fire Brigade, stated in his evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons that sat in 1867, on protection of life and property from fire, that there were 681 fires in London in 1840, one to every 2,800 inhabitants, and one to every 379 houses. In 1850 the number of fires was 868, or one to every 2,673 inhabitants, one to every 347 houses. In 1860 the fires were 1,056, one to every 2,613 inhabitants, one to every 335 houses. The fires in 1865 were unexceptionally high—1,502, or one to every 1,900 inhabitants, one to every 250 houses. In 1866 the number of fires was 1,338. The “heavy fires” are now about 25 per cent. of the whole number, but in 1860 they were above 40 per cent. The average sum spent upon a fire in London for many years has been £18. But fires are much more expensive in America: Brooklyn (opposite New York), costs £35 each fire; Baltimore, £90; Boston, £157; New Orleans, £172. Of 29,069 fires which have occurred in the last 33 years in London, candles caused 11 per cent. of them; curtains nearly 10; gas nearly 8; flues nearly 8; sparks from pipes, 4½; lucifer matches, children playing, smoking tobacco, and stoves, each, 1½ per cent. The Fire Insurance Companies and the Fire Brigade consider one-third of the London fires as involved in suspicion; but Sir Thomas Henry, the Chief Magistrate of Bow Street, does not concur in this opinion.