Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-25
A CENTURY OF FIRES.
High Figures Of the Losses and ths
Insurance Payments.

~> s~~ASO 4 a AuSuI6.
From the Journal OF Fire
Al ie'o DAVID ID. Dana published in Bos-
'ou MS work called The Fireman." In
WHICH, ne gives list Of what he denoml.
mates large fires today they would No cali.
co connagrations) which had occurred In
this country in the previous fifty years TIL.
record, as matter Of fact. begins u,,h III.
nre IN Boston, March 20, 1890; but this ia
the only city where any data are given nre-
vious to the year 1900, hence the lis, given
oy Dana may be said to represent the fire
loss for the first half century from What
were called large fires Dana does NOT
enumerate any fire where the loss was less
than 10000. There are however. a very
few-possibly not over per ceht-as low an
THIS Inquire, and from that point the upper
limit is 100000.
There were two fires In the first half of
the nineteenth century which reached this
$l7,OOO,OO0 figure, one being the fire in New
York city in 1885, while the other was the
nre in San Francisco in 1851. Dana's statis-
tics appear to be quite compiete-probably
as complete as could be gathered. The ag-
gregate produced by his researches makes a
total of $4,000, 600, caused by so-caIled
large or confagration fires
Flfty years later-or, to be exact, forty
eight years-the national board Of fire UNI
derwriters, in its report for 1906 publish
a list of what 1t calls conflagrat tons.
which occurred between 1866 and 1906. In
other words, they practically cover the fifty
years succeeding Dana's record No fire
enumerated by the nationaf board involved
loss of less than 100000. and the largest
were, OF course, the well-known Chicago
fire of 1871, Of s165. 600, 900. and the Boston
fire of the succeeding year, of $4,000 600,
while the third is the Baltimore fire of 1904
with loss of $4,000 600. The total amounts
to 1857 100000.
1t should be noted that the minimum fire
enumerated by the national board is twen-
ty-flve times greater than the minimum fire
enumerated by Dana, and yet, in the Sec
ond half century. with a minimum twenty
five times higher than In the first century,
the loss from large fires or CONGREGATIONS
is nearly three times as large as il was in
the earlier period. The maximum fire emu
merated in the first period is 81 600 COO
while in the second period it is (Chicago)
S165, 100000. or practically ten times as
large.
The statistics for the last period are from
the national board of fire Underwriters up
to the close of 1905. Since then the San
Francisco conflagration has occurred and
with fire loss of $3.50, 100000 a new maxi
mum Is established. This maximum is if
teen times greater for the latter period as
compared with the earlier. The first period
has twenty-siX fires with losses equal to or
in excess of 81, 100000, whi!e the second pc
riod has, to the close of 1905, seventy-eight
such fires. These million-dollar fires thus
show an Increase of three times for the lat
ter compared with the earlier period.
The totals given above are the total fire
or property loss, as distinguished from the
insurance loss. The first represents the
total loss caused by fire, while the latter
is that portion OF the loss which is returned
to the insured by the insurer. In the long
run the insurance. loss is about 60 per cent
of the total property loss. Thus, for a Pc
Rod of thirty years-1s75 to 1904, inclusive
the Chronicle fire tables report property
loss of $4,000, 600, 600, while the insurance
loss was 81, POI, 900, 600, which is 81 per cent.
During this same perfod-1S75 to 1904. in
clusive-the property loss from large or con-
fiagration fires, as listed by the national
board, amounted to 1912 100000, and the in
surance loss, being 60 per cent of this, was
$163, 900 00O-pra ctically ~ per cent of either
the property or insurance loss caused by all
fires.