insignificant. Paris, which does not cover a fifth part of the ground of
London, and is not much more than a third as populous, boasts 800
_sapeurs-pompiers_: we make up, however, for want of numbers by activity.
Again, our look-out is admirable: the 6,000 police of the metropolis,
patrolling every alley and lane throughout its length and breadth, watch
for a fire as terriers watch at rat-holes, and every man is stimulated by
the knowledge, that if he is the first to give notice of it at any of the
stations it is half a sovereign in his pocket. In addition to the police,
there are the thousand eager eyes of the night cabmen, and the houseless
poor. It is not at all uncommon for a cabman to earn four or five
shillings of a night by driving fast to the different stations and giving
the alarm, receiving a shilling from each for the "call."
In most continental cities a watchman takes his stand during the night on
the topmost point of some high building, and gives notice by either
blowing a horn, firing a gun, or ringing a bell. In Germany the quarter is
indicated by holding out towards it a flag by day, and a lantern at night.
It immediately suggests itself that a sentinel placed in the upper gallery
of St. Paul's would have under his eye the whole metropolis, and could
make known instantly, by means of an electric wire, the position of a
fire, to the head-station at Watling Street, in the same manner as the
Americans do in Boston. This plan is, however, open to the objection, that
London is intersected by a sinuous river, which renders it difficult to
tell on which bank the conflagration is raging. Nevertheless, we imagine
that the northern part of the town could be advantageously superintended
from such a height, whilst the southern half might rest under the
surveillance of one of the tall shot-towers on that bank of the Thames.
The bridges themselves have long been posts of observation, from which a
large portion of the river-side property is watched. Not long ago there
was a pieman on London Bridge, who eked out a precarious existence by
keeping a good look-out up and down the stream.
Watling Street was chosen as the head-quarters of the Fire Brigade for a
double reason: it is very nearly the centre of the City, being close to
the far-famed London Stone, and it is in the very midst of what may be
termed, speaking igneously, the most dangerous part of the metropolis--the
Manchester warehouses. As the Fire Brigade is only a portion of a vast
commercial operation--Fire Insurance--its actions are regulated by
strictly commercial considerations. Where the largest amount of _insured_
property lies, there its chief force is planted. It will, it is true, go
any reasonable distance to put out a fire; but of course it pays most
attention to property which its proprietors have guaranteed. The central
station receives the greatest number of "calls;" but as a
commander-in-chief does not turn out for a skirmish of outposts, so Mr.
Braidwood keeps himself ready for affairs of a more serious nature. When
the summons is at night--there are sometimes as many as half a dozen--the
fireman on duty below apprises the superintendent by means of a gutta
percha speaking-tube, which comes up to his bedside. By the light of the
ever-burning gas, he rapidly consults the "London Directory," and if the
call should be to what is called "a greengrocer's street," or any of the
small thoroughfares in by-parts of the town, he leaves the matter to the
foreman in whose district it is, and goes to sleep again. If, however, the
fire should be in the City, or in any of the great west-end thoroughfares,
he hurries off on the first engine. Five minutes is considered a fair time
for an engine "to horse and away," but it is often done in three. Celerity
in bringing up aid is the great essential, as the first half hour
generally determines the extent to which a conflagration will proceed.
Hence the rewards of thirty shillings for the first, twenty for the
second, and ten for the third engine that arrives, which premiums are paid
by the parish. All the engines travel with as few hands as possible: the
larger ones having an engineer, four firemen and a driver, and the
following furniture:--
"Several lengths of scaling-ladder, each 6-1/2 feet long, all of which
may be readily connected, forming in a short space of time a ladder of
any required length; a canvas sheet, with ten or twelve handles of
rope round the edge of it for the purpose of a fire-escape; one
10-fathom and one 14-fathom piece of 2-1/2-inch rope; six lengths of
hose, each 40 feet long; two branch-pipes, one 2-1/2 feet, and the
other from 4 to 6 feet long, with one spare nose-pipe; two 6-feet
lengths of suction-pipe, a flat rose, stand-cock, goose-neck,
dam-board, boat-hook, saw, shovel, mattock, pole-axe, screw-wrench,
crow-bar, portable cistern, two dog-tails, two balls of strips of
sheepskin, two balls of small cord, instruments for opening the
fire-plugs, and keys for turning the stop-cocks of the water-mains."
The weight of the whole, with the men, is not less than from 27 to 30
cwt., a load which in the excitement of the ride is carried by a couple of
horses at the gallop.
The hands to work the pumps are always forthcoming on the spot at any hour
of the night, not alone for goodwill, as every man--and there have been as
many as five hundred employed at a time--receives one shilling for the
first hour and sixpence for every succeeding one, together with
refreshments. In France the law empowers the firemen to seize upon the
bystanders, and compel them to give their services, without fee or reward.
An Englishman at Bordeaux, whilst looking on, some few years since, was
forced, in spite of his remonstrances, to roll wine-casks for seven hours
out of the vicinity of a conflagration. We need not say which plan answers
best. A Frenchman runs away, as soon as the _sapeurs-pompiers_ make their
appearance upon the scene, to avoid being impressed. Still such is the
excitement, that there are some gentlemen with us who pursue the
occupation of firemen as amateurs; providing themselves with the
regulation-dress of dark-green turned up with red, and with the
accoutrements of the Brigade, and working, under the orders of Mr.
Braidwood, as energetically as if they were earning their daily bread.
The fascination of fires even extends to the brute creation. Who has not
heard of the dog "Chance," who first formed his acquaintance with the
Brigade by following a fireman from a conflagration in Shoreditch to the
central station at Watling Street? Here, after he had been petted for some
little time by the men, his master came for him, and took him home; but he
escaped on the first opportunity, and returned to the station. After he
had been carried back for the third time, his master--like a mother whose
son _will_ go to sea--allowed him to have his own way, and for years he
invariably accompanied the engine, now upon the machine, now under the
horses' legs, and always, when going up-hill, running in advance, and
announcing the welcome advent of the extinguisher by his bark. At the fire
he used to amuse himself with pulling burning logs of wood out of the
flames with his mouth. Although he had his legs broken half a dozen times,
he remained faithful to his pursuit; till at last, having received a
severer hurt than usual, he was being nursed by the fireman beside the
hearth, when a "call" came, and at the well-known sound of the engine
turning out, the poor brute made a last effort to climb upon it, and fell
back dead in the attempt. He was stuffed and preserved at the station, and
was doomed, even in death, to prove the fireman's friend: for one of the
engineers having committed suicide, the Brigade determined to raffle him
for the benefit of the widow, _and such was his renown, that he realized_
123_l._ 10_s._ 9_d._
The most interesting and practical part of our subject is the inquiry into
the various causes of fires. Mr. Braidwood comes here to our aid with his
invaluable yearly reports--the only materials we have, in fact, on which
fire insurance can be built up into a science, a feat which we have not
accomplished to nearly the same extent as with life assurance, although
the Hand-in-Hand office was founded so far back as 1696. Thus we have the
experience of upwards of 150 years, if we could only get at it, to enable
the actuary to ascertain the doctrine of chances in this momentous
subject, which at present is little better than a speculation. An analysis
of the reports, from the organization of the Fire Brigade in 1833 to the
close of 1853, a period extending over 21 years, affords the following
result:
Abstract of List of Fires and Alarms for Twenty Years, ending 1853.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Year.| Totally |Considerably|Slightly|Total | Alarms. |Total of
|Destroyed| Damaged. |Damaged.| of |-------------------|Fires &
| | | |Fires.|False|Chimn'y|Total|Alarms.
-----|---------|------------|--------|------|-----|-------|-----|--------
1833 | 31 | 135 | 292 | 458| 59 | 75 | 134| 592
1834 | 28 | 116 | 338 | 482| 57 | 112 | 169| 651
1835 | 31 | 125 | 315 | 471| 66 | 106 | 172| 643
1836 | 33 | 134 | 397 | 564| 66 | 126 | 192| 756
1837 | 22 | 122 | 357 | 501| 82 | 134 | 216| 717
1838 | 33 | 152 | 383 | 568| 79 | 108 | 187| 755
1839 | 17 | 165 | 402 | 584| 70 | 101 | 171| 755
1840 | 26 | 204 | 451 | 681| 84 | 98 | 182| 863
1841 | 24 | 234 | 438 | 696| 67 | 92 | 159| 855
1842 | 24 | 224 | 521 | 769| 61 | 82 | 143| 912
1843 | 29 | 231 | 489 | 749| 79 | 83 | 162| 911
1844 | 23 | 237 | 502 | 762| 70 | 94 | 164| 926
1845 | 23 | 253 | 431 | 707| 82 | 87 | 168| 875
1846 | 25 | 233 | 576 | 834| 119 | 69 | 188| 1,022
1847 | 27 | 273 | 536 | 836| 88 | 66 | 154| 990
1848 | 27 | 269 | 509 | 805| 120 | 86 | 206| 1,011
1849 | 28 | 228 | 582 | 838| 76 | 89 | 165| 1,003
1850 | 18 | 229 | 621 | 868| 91 | 79 | 170| 1,038
1851 | 21 | 255 | 652 | 928| 115 | 116 | 231| 1,159
1852 | 25 | 238 | 660 | 923| 93 | 89 | 182| 1,105
1853 | 20 | 241 | 629 | 900| 72 | 90 | 162| 1,062
-----|---------|------------|--------|------|-----|-------|-----|--------
Total| 535 | 4,298 |10,091 |14,924|1,695|1,982 |3,677|18,601
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
If we examine this table, we find ample evidence that the organization of
the Fire Brigade has resulted in an abatement of loss and labour. Taking
the average of the last twenty-one years, there has been a decrease of 5·7
in the last year under the head of "totally destroyed." This is the best
test of the activity of the Brigade, and really means much more than is
obvious at first sight. Within these twenty-one years many tens of
thousands of houses have been added to the metropolis; our periphery has
been continually enlarging; like a tree, we grow year by year by adding a
fresh ring of bricks and mortar. Whilst this increase is going on
externally, the central part is growing too. We can afford no dead wood in
our very heart: if it cannot expand one way it must another. Accordingly,
we find the crowded city extending towards the sky; and if we take into
account the immense mass of material added to that which existed, all of
which is equally liable to the inroads of fire, we can understand why the
total number of conflagrations has increased from 458 in 1833 to 900 in
1853. With such an augmentation of conflagrations, the _decrease_ of
houses totally destroyed in 1853 is the highest testimony to the ability
and zeal of Mr. Braidwood.
The item "totally destroyed" is mainly made up of houses and factories in
which are stored very combustible materials, such as carpenters' and
cabinet-makers' shops, oilmen's warehouses, sawmills, &c., where the fire
gains such a hold in a few minutes as to preclude the possibility of
putting it out. The number is also swelled by houses which are situated
many miles from the nearest station; for there are no stations in the
outskirts of the town, and very few in the crowded suburbs. We have seen
complaints of this want of help in thickly-populated localities; but the
companies only plant an establishment where the insurances are sufficient
to cover the expense, and people who do not contribute have no more right
to expect private individuals to take care of their property than
tradesmen in the Strand would have to expect the private watchman outside
Messrs. Coutts' bank to look after their shutters. Indeed, it seems to us
that the Brigade act very liberally. The firemen never stop to ask
whether the house is insured or not; nor are they deterred by distance;
and in many cases they have gone as far as Brentford, Putney, Croydon,
Barnet, Uxbridge, Cranfordbridge, Windsor Castle, and once to Dover by an
express engine. The only difference made by the Brigade between insured
and uninsured property is, that after putting out a fire they take charge
of the salvage of the former, and leave that of the latter to its owner.
The force is, however, very careful to repair immediately any damage they
may have done to adjoining property--damage which they commit in the most
deliberate manner, regardless of pains and penalties. For instance,
_housebreaking_ is almost a nightly crime with the firemen whilst in
search of water, who never let a wall or a door stand between them and a
supply of this element. It is a proof of the good feeling which prevails
on such occasions that, although they are technically guilty of an offence
which renders them liable to punishment, no one murmurs, much less
threatens proceedings. If the authorities in the great fire of London had
acted in a similar manner for the public good, they would have saved the
half of the Inner Temple, which was destroyed because, according to
Clarendon's account, all the lawyers were absent on circuit, and the
constables did not dare to take the responsibility of breaking open their
chamber doors!
It is a question whether government ought not to relieve the parish
authorities from a duty which they cannot separately perform, and combine
their engines into a metropolitan brigade; thus guarding the town from
fire as they do from robbery by the police. If people will not protect
themselves by insuring, the state should protect them, and make them pay
for it. An excellent system prevails in most parts of Germany of levying a
rate at the close of the year upon all the inhabitants, sufficient to
cover the loss from fires during the past twelvemonth. As every
householder has a pecuniary interest in the result, he keeps a bucket and
belt, and sallies out to extinguish the conflagration in his neighbour's
premises. If the rate were adopted in London, and the present enormous
duty on insurances reduced, the cost to each person would be hardly more
pence than it is pounds at present to the provident few.
Mr. Samuel Brown, of the Institute of Actuaries, after analyzing the
returns of Mr. Braidwood, as well as the reports in the _Mechanics'
Magazine_ by Mr. Baddeley, who has devoted much attention to the subject,
drew up some tables of the times of the year and hours of the day at which
fires are most frequent. It would naturally be supposed that the winter
would show a vast preponderance over the summer months; but the difference
is not so great as might be expected. December and January are very
prolific of fires, as in these months large public buildings are heated by
flues, stoves, and boilers; but the other months share mishaps of the kind
pretty equally, with the exception that the hot and dry periods of summer
and autumn are marked by the most destructive class of conflagrations,
owing to the greater inflammability of the materials, than in the damper
portions of the year. This, from the desiccating nature of the climate, is
especially the case in Canada and the United States, and, coupled with the
extensive use of wood in building, has a large influence in many parts of
the continent. The following list of all the great fires which have taken
place for the last hundred years will bear out our statement:--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Month.| Description of Property, | Place. |Value of Property| Year.
| &c. | | Destroyed. |
---------------------------------|--------------|-----------------|------
{Webb's Sugar-house |Liverpool | £4,600 | 1829
{Lancelot's-hey | " | 198,000 | 1833
{Town-hall and Exchange | " | 45,000 | 1795
Jan. {Caxton Printing Office | " | | 1821
{Dublin & Co. Warehouse | " | | 1834
{Suffolk Street | " | 40,000 | 1818
{Mile End |London | 200,000 | 1834
{Royal Exchange | " | | 1838
| | |
{York Minster |York | | 1829
{3 West-India Warehouses |London | 300,000 | 1829
{House of Commons |Dublin | | 1792
Feb. {Argyle Rooms |London | | 1830
{Camberwell Church | " | | 1841
{Custom House | " | | 1814
{Hop Warehouse |Southwark | | 1851
{J. F. Pawson & Co.'s }| St. Paul's }| 40,000 | 1853
{ Warehouses }|Churchyard }| |
{Pickford's Wharf |London | | 1824
{Goree Warehouses |Liverpool | 50,000 | 1846
| | |
{New Orleans |United States | dr. 650,000 | 1853
{15,000 houses at Canton |China | | 1820
{13,000 houses |Peru | | 1799
{Manchester |England | | 1792
March {Fawcett's Foundry |Liverpool | £41,000 | 1843
{Oil Street | " | 12,000 | 1844
{Apothecaries' Hall | " | 7,000 | 1844
{Sugar House, Harrington}| " | 30,000 | 1830
{ Street }| | |
| | |
{1,000 Buildings |Pittsburg | dr. 1,400,000 | 1845
{Savannah |United States | dr. 300,000 | 1852
{Parkshead, Bacon Street |Liverpool | £36,000 | 1851
{Windsor Forest |England | | 1785
April {Margetson's Tan Yard, }|London | 36,000 | 1852
{ Bermondsey }| | |
{1,158 Buildings, }|United States | | 1838
{ Charleston }| | |
{Horsleydown |London | | 1780
| | |
{Dockhead |London | | 1785
{Great Fire, 1,749 houses|Hamburgh | | 1842
{23 Steamboats at }|United States | dr. 600,000 | 1849
{ St. Louis }| | |
{15,000 Houses |Quebec | | 1845
{York Minster |York | | 1840
May {Duke's Warehouses |Liverpool | | 1843
{Okell's Sugar-house | " | | 1799
{Gibraltar Row | " | | 1838
{Liver Mills | " | £8,700 | 1841
{Billinsgate |London | | 1809
| | |
{Rotherhithe |London | | 1765
{Copenhagen |Denmark | | 1759
{Montreal |Canada | dr. 1,000,000 | 1852
{St. John |Newfoundland | | 1846
{Louisville |United States | dr. 100,000 | 1853
June {47 persons, Quebec }|Canada | | 1846
{ Theatre }| | |
{1,300 houses, Quebec | " | | 1845
{Gutta Percha Co., Wharf}|London | £23,000 | 1853
{ Road }| | |
{Humphreys' Warehouse, }| " | 100,000 | 1851
{ Southwark }| | |
| | |
{Hindon |Wiltshire | | 1754
{15,000 Houses |Constantinople| | 1756
{12,000 Houses |Montreal | | 1852
{300 Houses |Philadelphia | | 1850
{300 Buildings |North America | dr. 160,000 | 1846
July {302 Stores |New York | dr. 1,200,000 | 1846
{Apothecaries' Hall |Liverpool | | 1845
{Glover's Warehouses | " | £17,000 | 1851
{Dockyard |Portsmouth | | 1770
{Wapping |London | 1,000,000 | 1794
{Ratcliffe Cross | " | | 1794
{Varna |Turkey | | 1854
| | |
{Dublin |Ireland | | 1833
{Gravesend |England | 60,000 | 1847
{Walker's Oil Mill |Dover | 30,000 | 1853
{Falmouth Theatre |Falmouth | | 1792
Aug. {Buildings, Albany |United States | dr. 600,000 | 1849
{10,000 Houses |Constantinople| | 1782
{Smithfield |London | £100,000 | 1822
{East Smithfield | " | | 1840
{Bankside | " | | 1814
{Gateshead |England | | 1854
| | |
{46 Buildings |New York | dr. 500,000 | 1839
{200 Houses, Brooklyn | " | 150,000 | 1848
{Scott, Russell, & Co., }|London | £80,000 | 1853
{ Ship Builders, Mill }| | |
{ Wall }| | |
{St. Paul's Church, }| " | |
{ Covent Garden }| | | 1795
{60 Houses Rotherhithe | " | | 1791
Sept. {Astley's Amphitheatre | " | | 1794
{Mark Lane | " | 150,000 | 1850
{Covent Garden Theatre | " | | 1808
{Store Street and }| " | |
{ Tottenham Court Road }| | | 1802
{Macfee's |Liverpool | 40,000 | 1846
{Gorees | " | 400,000 | 1802
{Formby Street | " | 380,000 | 1842
{Cowdray House |Sussex | | 1793
| | |
{52 Buildings |Philadelphia | dr. 100,000 | 1839
{Grimsdell's Builders' }|Spitalfields | | 1852
{ Yard }| | |
{Withwith's Mills |Halifax | £35,000 | 1853
{Robert Street |North Liverp'l| 150,000 | 1838
{Lancelot's-hey |Liverpool | 80,000 | 1854
{Memel Great Fire |Prussia | | 1854
Oct. {London Wall |London | 84,000 | 1849
{20 Houses, Rotherhithe | " | | 1790
{Lancelot's-hey |Liverpool | 30,000 | 1834
{Wapping |London | 100,000 | 1823
{Houses of Parliament | " | | 1834
{Pimlico | " | | 1839
| | |
{Royal Palace |Lisbon | | 1794
{New York |United States | | 1835
{20 Houses, Shadwell |London | | 1796
{Aldersgate Street | " | £100,000 | 1783
Nov. {Cornhill | " | | 1765
{Liver Street |Liverpool | 6,000 | 1829
{Wright & Aspinall, }|London | 50,000 | 1826
{ Oxford Street }| | |
{Hill's Rice Mills | " | 5,000 | 1848
| | |
{Dock Yard |Portsmouth | | 1776
{Patent Office and Post }|Washington | | 1836
{ Office }| | |
Dec. {600 Warehouses |New York | dr. 4,000,000 | 1835
{Fenwick Street |Liverpool | £36,000 | 1831
{Brancker's Sugar-house | " | 34,000 | 1843
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(_Extracted from the Royal Insurance Company's Almanack, 1854._)
One reason, perhaps, why there is such a general average in the number of
conflagrations throughout the year is, that the vast majority occur in
factories and workshops where fire is used in summer as well as winter.
This supposition appears at first sight to be contradicted by the fact
that nearly as many fires occur on Sunday as on any other day of the week.
But when it is remembered that in numerous establishments it is necessary
to keep in the fires throughout that day, and as in the majority of cases
a very inadequate watch is kept, it is at once apparent why there is no
immunity from the scourge. Indeed, some of the most destructive fires have
broken out on a Sunday night or on a Sunday morning; no doubt because a
large body of fire had formed before it was detected. A certain number of
accidents occur in summer in private houses from persons on hot nights
opening the window behind the toilet-glass in their bedrooms, when the
draught blows the blind against the candle. Swallows do not more certainly
appear in June, than such mishaps are found reported at the sultry season.
If we watch still more narrowly the habits of fires, we find that they are
active or dormant according to the time of day. Thus, during a period of
nine years, the per-centage regularly increased from 1·96 at 9 o'clock
A.M., the hour at which all households might be considered to be about,
to 3·34 at 1 P.M., 3·55 at 5 P.M., and 8·15 per cent. at 10 P.M., which is
just the time at which a fire left to itself by the departure of the
workmen would have had swing enough to become visible.
The origin of fires is now so narrowly inquired into by the officers of
the Brigade, and by means of inquests, that we have been made acquainted
with a vast number of curious causes which would never have been
suspected. From an analysis of fires which have occurred since the
establishment of the Brigade we have constructed the following tables:--
Curtains 2,511
Candle 1,178
Flues 1,555
Stoves 494
Gas 932
Light dropped down Area 13
Lighted Tobacco falling down ditt 7
Dust falling on horizontal Flue 1
Doubtful 76
Incendiarism 89
Carelessness 100
Intoxication 80
Dog 6
Cat 19
Hunting Bugs 15
Clothes-horse upset by Monkey 1
Lucifers 80
Children playing with ditto 45
Rat gnawing ditto 1
Jackdaw playing with ditto 1
Rat gnawing Gaspipe 1
Boys letting off Fireworks 14
Fireworks going off 63
Children playing with Fire 45
Spark from ditto 243
Spark from Railway 4
Smoking Tobacco 166
Smoking Ants 1
Smoking in Bed 2
Reading in ditto 22
Sewing in ditto 4
Sewing by Candle 1
Lime overheating 44
Waste ditto 43
Cargo of Lime ditto 2
Rain slacking ditto 5
High Tide 1
Explosion 16
Spontaneous Combustion 43
Heat from Sun 8
Lightning 8
Carboy of Acid bursting 2
Drying Linen 1
Shirts falling into Fire 6
Lighting and Upsetting Naphtha Lamp 58
Fire from Iron Kettle 1
Sealing Letter 1
Charcoal fire of a Suicide 1
Insanity 5
Bleaching Nuts 7
Unknown 1,323