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 August 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 August 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 conflagration, 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. 1802—­Liverpool:  $5,000,000 1803—­Bombay:  3,000,600 1805—­St. Thomas:  30,000,000 1808—­Spanish Town:  7,500,000 1812—­Moscow, burned five days; 30,800 houses destroyed:  150,000,000 1816—­Constantinople, 12,000 dwellings, 3,000 shops:  ——­ 1820—­Savannah:  4,000,000 1822—­Canton nearly destroyed:  ——­ 1828—­Havana, 350 houses:  ——­ 1835—­New York ("Great Fire"):  15,000,000 1837—­St. Johns, N. B.:  5,000,000 1838—­Charleston, 1,158 buildings:  3,000,000 1841—­Smyrna, 12,000 houses:  ——­ 1842—­Hamburg, 4,219 buildings, 100 lives lost:  35,000,000 1845—­New York, 35 persons killed:  7,500,000 1845—­Pittsburgh, 1,100 buildings:  10,000,000 1845—­Quebec, May 28, 1,650 dwellings:  3,750,000 1845—­Quebec, June 28, 1,300 dwellings:  ——­ 1846—­St. Johns, Newfoundland:  5,000,000 1848—­Constantinople, 2,500 buildings:  15,000,000 1848—­Albany, N. Y., 600 houses:  3,000,000 1849—­St. Louis:  3,000,000 1851—­St. Louis, 2,500 buildings:  11,000,000 1851—­St. Louis, 500 buildings:  3,000,000 1851—­San Francisco, May 4 and 5, many lives lost:  10,000,000 1851—­San Francisco, June:  3,000,000 1852—­Montreal, 1,200 buildings:  5,000,000 1861—­Mendoza destroyed by earthquake and fire, 10,000 lives lost:  ——­ 1862—­St. Petersburg:  5,000,000 1802—­Troy, N. Y., nearly destroyed:  ——­ 1862—­Valparaiso almost destroyed:  ——­ 1864—­Novgorod, immense destruction of property:  ——­ 1865—­Constantinople, 2,800 buildings burned:  ——­ 1806—­Yokohama, nearly destroyed:  ——­ 1865—­Carlstadt, Sweden, all consumed but Bishop’s residence, hospital
      and jail; 10 lives lost:  ——­
1866—­Portland, Me., half the city:  11,000,000 1866—­Quebec, 2,500 dwellings, 17 churches:  ——­ 1870—­Constantinople, Pera, suburb:  26,000,000 1871—­Chicago—­250 lives lost, 17,430 buildings burned, on 2,124 acres: