The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-24 00:00:00

Metropolitan Fires.

The official report of the fires that have occurred
in London in the year 1864 has just been published.
Such a document must always be interesting, and
would be useful, were the .warningsit conveys better
heeded; but, except for a short period after every
great conflagration, the ever present peril amid
which we live in this vast city is generally forgotten,
and the precautions suggested by experience and
even by common sense are neglected. At this
moment the rapid destruction of the Edinburgh
Theatre, and the death of Mr. Lorimer, is producing
scores of these suggestions, and hundreds are ready
to point out how easily the catastrophe might have
been prevented. That fire also recalls the memory of
the great fire at Fenning's wharf, and the manner in
which Mr. Braidwood lost his life. It is probable,
therefore, that the report of the present able Supe-
rintendent of the London Fire-engine Establishment
for the past year will attract more attention than
usual, from the accident of appearing while the pub-
lic is under the influence of such a reminder.

The mere statistics of the subject are very brief,
and not satisfactory, as the number of fires during
the year 1864 exceeded those of the previous year
by 83, and, compared with the average of such
casualties for the last 31 years, the increase is 646.
The inference drawn by Capt. Shaw is that our fires
increase in an undue ratio to the increase in the num-
ber of houses and population. Thus, in a period of
25 years, the population of London has increased at
the rate of 55 per cent. and houses at 47 per cent.
But the annual number of fires in the same period
has more than doubled. This is not a pleasing an-
nouncement ; but there is a gleam of consolation
in the fact that the ratio of increase seems to have
reached its limit. The number of London fires used
to be doubled in every period of 18 years. Since
1840 it has required 22 years to produce the same
increase, " and at that point they seem for the pre-
sent to have taken their stand."
The services of the Fire Brigade were required
during the past year at 1,715 fires. Of these 101
were false alarms, 127 were " chimney alarms,"and
1,487 were " fires " within the official definition of
the accident. But these are again subdivided. The
cases of total destruction or serious damage were 402

—the t
of term L'oBs.
slightly
Butd these returns by n
amaged ' 'appliestoto means
elarger
number
represent the whole of the danger London passed
through in 1864. There is a " usual average" of
accidents which the Fire Brigade treats with in-
difference, though the estimated number is rather
alarming to more sensitive nerves. These are the
fires "of which no exact record is kept," as they
were too trifling to require the attendance of the
firemen. But, as some of these small fires might
have been fed into large ones, we suppose we ought
to congratulate ourselves on having escaped so well,
as there was no less than 4,000 of them, which we
are told is the " usual average." To these must be
added more than 6,000 chimneys on fire, andwehave
10,000 cases of this class of accident in the year which

by good luck had no consequences worth special
notice. Taking the year through, the services of the
establishment are called for once every five hours.
The organisation of the Fire Brigade has been
much improved within the last few years. The
steam-engine has incontestably proved its supe-
riority over the hard-worked machine. Capt. Shaw
states that it is no longer advisable to maintain
horses to draw the old engines,
which might as
well be drawn, as they must be worked, by hand.
The horse-power should be applied to the transport
of light Warn machines, and the hand-engine em-