In 1760 the Portsmouth (Eng.) dock-yards were burned, with a loss of $2,000,000.

In 1764 a fire in Konigsburg, Prussia, consumed the public buildings, with a loss of $3,000,000; and in 1769 the city was almost totally destroyed.

In 1763 a fire in Smyrna destroyed 2,600 houses, with a loss of $1,000,000; in 1772 a fire in the same city carried off 3,000 dwellings, and 3,000 to 4,000 shops, entailing a loss of $20,000,000; and in 1796 there were 4,000 shops, mosques, magazines, etc., burned.

In 1776, six days after the British seized the city, a fire swept off all the west side of New York city, from Broadway to the river.

In 1771 a fire in Constantinople burned 2,500 houses; another in 1778 burned 2,000 houses; in 1782 there were 600 houses burned in February, 7,000 in June, and on Aug. 12, during a conflagration that lasted three days, 10,000 houses, 50 mosques, and 100 corn-mills, with a loss of 100 lives. Two years later a fire, on March 13, destroyed two-thirds of Pera, the loveliest suburb of Constantinople, and on Aug. 5 a fire in the main city, lasting twenty-six hours, burned 10,000 houses. In this same fire-scourged city, in 1791, between March and July, there were 32,000 houses burned, and about as many more in 1795; and in 1799 Pera was again swept with fire, with a loss of 13,000 houses, including many buildings of great magnificence.

In 1784 a fire and explosion in the dock-yards, Brest, caused a loss of $5,000,000.

But the greatest destruction of life and property by conflagrations, of which the world has anything like accurate records, must be looked for within the current century. Of these the following is a partial list of instances in which the loss of property amounted to $3,000,000 and upward:

Dates.Cities.Property destroyed.
1802Liverpool$5,000,000
1803Bombay3,000,000
1805St. Thomas30,000,000
1808Spanish Town7,500.000
1812Moscow, burned five days; 30,800 houses destroyed50,000,000
1816Constantinople, 12,000 dwellings, 3,000 shops.....
1820Savannah4,000,000
1822Canton nearly destroyed.....
1828Havana, 350 houses.....
1835New York (“Great Fire”)15,000,000
1837St. Johns. N. B.5,000,000
1838Charleston, 1,158 buildings3,000,000
1841Smyrna, 12,000 houses.....
1842Hamburg, 4,219 buildings, 100 lives lost35,000,000
1845New York, 35 persons killed7,500,000
1845Pittsburg, 1,100 buildings10,000,000
1845Quebec, May 28, 1,650 dwellings3,750,000
1845Quebec, June 28, 1,300 dwellings.....
1846St Johns, Newfoundland5,000,000
1848Constantinople, 2,500 buildings15,000,000
1848Albany, N. Y., 600 houses3,000,000
1849St. Louis3,000,000
1851St. Louis, 2,500 buildings11,000,000
1851St. Louis, 500 buildings3,000,000
1851San Francisco, May 4 and 5, many lives lost10,000,000
1851San Francisco, June3,000,000
1852Montreal, 1,200 buildings5,000,000
1861Mendoza destroyed by earthquake and fire, 10,000 lives lost....
1862St. Petersburg5,000,000
1862Troy, N. Y., nearly destroyed
1862Valparaiso, almost destroyed
1864Novgorod, immense destruction of property.....
1865Constantinople, 2,800 buildings burned.....
1866Yokohama, nearly destroyed 1865 Carlstadt, Sweden, all consumed but Bishop’s residence, hospital, and jail; 10 lives lost.....
1866Portland, Me., half the city11,000,000
1866Quebec, 2,500 dwellings and 17 churches......
1870Constantinople, Pera suburb26,000,000
1871Chicago, 250 lives lost, 17,430 buildings burned, on 2,124 acres192,000,000
1871Paris, fired by the Commune160,000,000
1872Boston75,000,000
1873Yeddo, 10,000 houses......
1877Pittsburg, caused by riot3,260,000
1877St. Johns, N. B., 1,650 dwellings, 18 lives lost12,500,000

From the above it appears that the five greatest fires on record, reckoned by destruction of property, are:

Chicago fire, of Oct. 8 and 9, 1871$192,000,000
Paris fires, of May, 1871160,000,000
Moscow fire, of Sept. 14-19, 1812150,000,000
Boston fire, Nov. 9-10, 187275,000,000
London fire, Sept. 2-6, 166653,652,500
Hamburg fire, May 5-7, 184235,000,000