The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-09-05
A CENTURY or FIRES.
High Figures of the Losses and the
Insurance Payments.


Insurance Payments.
In 1858 David j.. Dana published
in Boston his work called THE Fire
man." IN which he gives a list of
what he denominates large fires Ito.
day they i,ould be called conhagra-
tions) which had occurred in this
country In the previous fifty years.
The record as matter of fact, be-
gins with the fire in Boston, March
20, 1860; but this is the only city
where any data are given previous to
the year 1900, hence the list given by
Dana may be said to represent the
fire loss for the first half, ce..tury
from what were called large fires.
Dana does not enumerate any lire
where the loss was less than 0,000.
There are, however, a very few--pos-
sibly not over five per cent.-as low
as this figure, and from that point
the upper limit is 17,000,000.
There were two fires in the first
half of the nineteenth century which
reached this $17,000,000 figure, one
being the fire in New York City in
San Francisco in 1851. Dana's sta.
tistics appear to be quite complete
probably as complete as could be
gathered The aggregate produced
by his researches makes total of
$191 100000, caused by so-called
large or confiagration fires.
Fifty years later-or, to be exact,
fnr NJ - toht hA
Nard of Fire Underwriters, in their
>ort for 1906, publish list of
wnat they call conflagrations, which
occurred between 1866 and 1906.
In other words, they practically cover
the fifty years succeeding Danas
record. No fire enumerated by the
National Board involved a loss of
less than 100000, and the largest
we're, of course, the well known Chi
cago fire of 1871, of S165, 100000,
and the Boston fire of the succeeding
year, of $70,000,000, while the third
is the Baltimore fire of 1904, with a
loss of $50,000,000. The total
amounts to S557, 100000.
1t should be noted that the mini
mum fire enumerated by the National
Board is twenty-five times greater
than t.-o minimum fire enumerated
h. Dana; and yet, in the second half
century with minimum twenty-five
times higEcr than in the first CEN
tury, the loss from large fires or con-
fiagrations is nearly three times as
large as it was in the earlier period.
The maximum fire enumerated in the
first period is $17,000,000, while in
the second period it is (Chicago)
$165, 900, 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 con-
flagration has occurred and with a
fire loss of $3.50, 100000 new max
imum is established. This maximum
is fifteen times greater for the latter
| period, as compared with the earlier.
| The first period has twenty-slX fires
! with losses equal to or in excess OF
| $1,000,000, while the second period
| has to the close of 1905, seventy
| eight such fires These million dol
lar fires thus show an increase oi
three times for the latter, as COM
pared with the earlier period.
The totals given above are the
total fire or property loss, as dis.
tinguished from the insurance loss
The first represents the total loss
caused by fire, while the latter is
that portion of the loss which is re-
turned to the insured by the insurer.
In the long run the insurance loss is
about sixty per cent. of the total
J property loss. Thus, for period of
thirty years-1S75 to 1904, inclu-
sive-the Chronicle flre tables report
property loss of S3,600,000, 700,
while the insurance loss was $2,207,-
| 100000, which is 1iXty-one per cent.
During this same period-1S75 to
! 1904, inclusive-the property loss
! from large or conflagration fires, as
| listed by the National Board, amount
cd to $272. 100000, and the insur-
ance loss, being sixty per cent. of
this, was s163,000, 0,0O0-practically
seven and one-half per cent. of either
the property or insurance loss caused
| by all fires.-Journal of Fire.