Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/243

 FIRE 233 FIRE is considered in the present article iu relation to the destruction by it of life and property. History is full of accounts of the devastation it has caused in the towns and cities of nearly every country of the civilized world. The following list embraces the most memorable of the great fires of which records have been preserved: GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 798. London, nearly destroyed. 982. ,, greater part of the city burned. 10815. ,, all houses and churches from the east to the west gate burned. 1212. ,, greater part of the city burned. 16(56. ,, &quot;The Great Fire,&quot; September 2-6. It began in a wooilcu house in Pudding Lane, and burned for three days, consuming the buildings on 43 acres, 400 streets, limes, &c, l;J,&quot;200 houses, with St Paul s church, 86 parish churches, 6 chapels, the guild-hall, the royal exchange, the custom-house, many hos pitals and libraries, 52 companies halls, and a vast number of other stately edifices, together with three of the city gates, four stone bridges, and the prisons of Newgate, the Fleet, and the Poultry and Wood Street Compters. The tire swept from the Tower to Temple church, and from tho N.E. gate to Holborn bridge. Six persons were killed. The total loss of property was estimated at the time to be i 10,730,500. 1794. London, 630 houses destroyed at Wapping. Loss above 1,000,000. 1834. ,, Houses of Parliament burned. 1861. ,, Tooley Street wharves, &c., burned. Loss esti mated at 2,000,000. 1873. ,, Alexandra palace destroyed. 1137. York, totally destroyed. 1184. Glastonbury, town and abbey burned. 1292. Carlisle, destroyed. 1507. Norwich, nearly destroyed ; 718 houses burned. 1544. Lcith, burned. 1598. Tii crton, 400 houses and a large number of horses burned; 33 persons killed. Loss, 150,000. 1612. 600 houses burned. Loss over 200,000. 1731. ,, 300 houses burned. 1700. Edinburgh, &quot; the Great Fire.&quot; 1612. Cork, greater pjw t burned, and again in 1622. 1613. Dorchester, nearly destroyed. Loss, 200,000. 1614. Stratford-on-Avon, burned. 1644. Bcaminstcr, burned. Again in 1684 and 1781. 1675. Northampton, almost totally destroyed. 1683. Newmarket, large part of the town burned. 1694. Warwick, more than half burned; rebuilt by national con tribution. 1707. Lisburn, burned. 1727. Gravcsend, destroyed. 1738. Wellingborough, 800 houses burned. 1743. Crcditon, 450 houses destroyed. 1760. Portsmouth, dockyard burned. Loss, 400,000. 1770. ,, Loss, 100,000. 1802. Liverpool, destructive fire. Loss, 1,000,000. 1827. Sheer ness, 50 houses and much property destroyed. 1854. Gateshead, 50 persons killed. Loss, 1,000,000. 1875. Glasgow. Great fire. Loss, 300,000. FRANCE. 59. Lyons, burned to ashes. Nero offers to rebuild it. 1118. Nantes, greater part of the city destroyed. 1137. Dijon, burned. 1524. Troycs, nearly destroyed. 1720. Rennes, on fire from December 22 to 29, 850 houses burned. 1784. Brest. Fire and explosion in dockyard. Loss 1,000,000. 1862. Marseilles, destructive fire. 1871. Paris. Communist devastations. Property destroyed, 32,000,000. CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN EUROPE. 64. Rome burned during 8 days. 10 of the 14 wards of the city were destroyed. 1106. Venice, greater part of the city was burned. 1577., , lire at the arsenal, greater part of the city mined by an explosion. 1299. Weimar, destructive fire; also in 1424 and 1618. 1379. Mcmel was in large part destroyed, and again in 1457, 1540, 1678, 1854. 1405. Bern was destroyed. 1420. Leipsic lost 400 houses. 1457. Dort, cathedral and large part of the town burned. 1491. Dresden was destroyed. 1521. Ovicdo, large part of the city destroyed. 1543. Komorn was burned. 1634. Furth was burned by Austrian Croats. 260 houses destroyed. Loss, 600,000. Loss, 300,000. 1680. Fiirth was again destroyed. 1686. Landau was almost destroyed. 1758. Pirna was burned by Prussians. 1762. Munich lost 200 houses. 1764. Konigsbcrtj, public buildings, &c., burned. 1769. ,, almost destroyed. 1784. llokitzan (Bohemia) was totally destroyed. 1801. lirody, 1500 houses destroyed. 1859. ,, 1000 houses destroyed. 1803. Poscn, large part of older portion of city burned. 1811. Forest fires in Tyrol destroyed 64 villages and hamlets. 1818. Salzburg was partly destroyed. 1842. Hamburg. A fire raged for 100 hours, May 5-7. During the fire the city was in a state of anarchy. 4219 buildings. Including 2000 dwellings, were destroyed. One-fifth of the popula tion was made homeless, and 100 persons lost their lives. The total loss amounted to 7,000,000. After the fire contributions from all Germany came in to help to rebuild the city. 1861. Glarus (Switzerland), 500 houses burned. NORTHERN EUROPE. 1530. Aalboi-g, almost entirely destroyed. 1541. Aarhmis, almost entirely destroyed, and again in 1556. 1624. Opslo, nearly destroyed. Christiania was built on the site. 1702. Bergen, greater part of the town destroyed. 1728. Copenhagen^ nearly destroyed. 1650 houses burned, 77 streets. 1794. ,, royal palace with contents burned. 1795. ,, 50 streets, 1563 houses burned. 1751. Stockholm, 1000 houses destroyed. 1759. 250 houses burned. Loss, 2,000,000 crowns. 1775. Abo, 200 houses and 15 mills burned. 1827. ,, 780 houses burned, with the university. 1790. Carlscrona, 1087 houses, churches, warehouses, &c., de stroyed. 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. RUSSIA. 1736. St Petersburg, 2000 houses burned. 1862. ,, great fire. Loss, 1,000,000. 1752. Moscow, 18,000 houses burned. 1812. ,, The Kussians 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. 1753. Archangel, 900 houses burned. 1793. ,, 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. Cracoiv, 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 8,000,000. Later ia 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 mile in length. Many of the palaces, some small mosques, and nearly 650 houses were destroyed. 1771. A fire lasting 15 hours consumed 2500 houses and shoj s. 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. 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. 1791. Between March and July 32,000 houses are said to have been burned, and as many in 1795. 1799. In the suburb of Pera 13,000 houses were burned and many magnificent buildings. IX. 30