As I walk on a sidewalk next to a busy street, two fire engines blast past me with their sirens blaring. Usually when I see or hear a fire engine, I immediately pray that those on the engine and the victims they are rushing to — along with all their families — may feel God’s love surround them, lift them up and give them peace. Talk about being on the front line! These brave men and women distinguish themselves daily with their heroic acts. The pandemic is just one more catastrophe they have to deal with. It takes an enormous amount of courage to put your life on the line EVERY DAY. Many, many thanks to this legion of bold, valiant workers who fearlessly defy the odds and endure daily stress.
History
According to Wikipedia, the history of organized firefighting began in ancient Rome while under the rule of Augustus. Prior to that, there is evidence of fire-fighting machinery in use in Ancient Egypt, including a water pump invented by Greek inventor and mathematician Ctesibius of Alexandria in the third century B.C. which was later improved upon in a design by Greek mathematician and engineer Hero of Alexandria in the first century B.C.
The first ever Roman fire brigade was created by Marcus Licinius Crassus. He took advantage of the fact that Rome had no fire department, by creating his own brigade — 500 men strong — which rushed to burning buildings at the first cry of alarm. Upon arriving at the scene, however, the fire fighters did nothing while Crassus offered to buy the burning building from the distressed property owner, at a miserable price. If the owner agreed to sell the property, his men would put out the fire, if the owner refused, then they would simply let the structure burn to the ground.
Roman Emperor Nero took the basic idea from Crassus and then built on it to form the Vigiles in 60 A.D. to combat fires using bucket brigades and pumps, as well as poles, hooks and even ballistae to tear down buildings in advance of the flames. The Vigiles patrolled the streets of Rome to watch for fires and served as a police force. The later brigades consisted of hundreds of men, all ready for action. When there was a fire, the men would line up to the nearest water source and pass buckets hand in hand to the fire. Rome suffered a number of serious fires, most notably the fire on July 19, 64 A.D. which eventually destroyed two thirds of Rome.
In Europe, firefighting was quite rudimentary until the 17th century. In 1254, a royal decree of King Saint Louis of France created the so-called “guet bourgeois” or "burgess watch,” allowing the residents of Paris to establish their own night watches, separate from the king's night watches, to prevent and stop crimes and fires. After the Hundred Years’ War, the population of Paris expanded again, and the city— much larger than any other city in Europe at the time— was the scene of several great fires in the 16th century. As a consequence, King Chares IX disbanded the residents' night watches and left the king's watches as the only one responsible for checking crimes and fires.
London suffered great fires in 798, 982, 989, 1212 and above all in 1666 — the Great Fire of London. It started in a baker's shop on Pudding Lane and consumed about two square miles of the city, leaving tens of thousands homeless. Prior to this fire, London had no organized fire protection system. Afterwards, insurance companies formed private fire brigades to protect their clients’ property. Insurance brigades would only fight fires at buildings the company insured. These buildings were identified by fire insurance marks.
The key breakthrough in firefighting arrived in the 17th century with the first fire engines. Manual pumps, rediscovered in Europe after 1500 — allegedly used in Augsburg in 1518 and in Nuremberg
in 1657 — were only force pumps and had a very short range due to the lack of hoses. German inventor Hans Hautsch improved the manual pump by creating the first suction and force pump and adding some flexible hoses to the pump. In 1672, Dutch artist and inventor Jan Van der Heyden’s workshop developed the fire hose. Constructed of flexible leather and coupled every 50 feet with brass fittings. The length remains the standard to this day in mainland Europe.
The fire engine was further developed by the Dutch inventor, merchant and manufacturer John Lofting (1659–1742) who had worked with Jan Van der Heyden in Amsterdam. Lofting moved to London in or about 1688, became an English citizen and patented the "Sucking Worm Engine" in 1690. There was a glowing description of the firefighting ability of his device in the London Gazette of March 17, 1691, after the issue of the patent. The British Museum has a print showing Lofting's fire engine at work in London, the engine being pumped by a team of men. In the print three fire plaques of early insurance companies are shown, no doubt indicating that Lofting collaborated with them in firefighting. Patents only lasted for fourteen years, and so the field was open for his competitors after 1704.
In 1631, Boston's governor John Winthrop outlawed wooden chimneys and thatched roofs. In 1648, the New Amsterdam governor Peter Stuyvesant appointed four men to act as fire wardens. They were empowered to inspect all chimneys and to fine any violators of the rules. The city burghers later appointed eight prominent citizens to the "Rattle Watch" — these men volunteered to patrol the streets at night carrying large wooden rattles. If a fire was seen, the men spun the rattles, then directed the responding citizens to form bucket brigades. On January 27, 1678 the first fire engine company went into service with its captain (foreman) Thomas Atkins. In 1736, Benjamin Franklin established the Union Fire Co. in Philadelphia.
The United States did not have government-run fire departments until around the time of the American Civil War. Prior to this time, private fire brigades competed with one another to be the first to respond to a fire because insurance companies paid brigades to save buildings. Underwriters also employed their own Salvage Corps in some cities.
The first known Black female firefighter in the U.S., Molly Williams, took her place with the men on the drag ropes during the blizzard of 1818 and pulled the pumper to the fire through the deep snow. She was held as a slave belonging to a New York City merchant by the name of Benjamin Aymar who was affiliated with the Oceanus Engine Company #11 in 1818. During her time in the company she was called Volunteer No. 11. Williams made a distinguished presence in her sturdy work clothes of calico dress and checked apron and was said to be "as good a fire laddie as many of the boys.”
On 1 April 1853, Cincinnati, Ohio featured the first professional fire department made up of 100% full-time employees, and it was the first in the world to use steam fire engines.
In 2015, 70% of firefighters in the United States were volunteers. Only 4% of calls regarded actual fires, while 64% regarded medical aid, and 8% were false alarms.
Modern development
The first fire brigades in the modern sense were created in France in the early 18th century. In 1699, a man with bold commercial ideas — Charles François du Mouriez du Périer — solicited an audience with King Louis XIV. Greatly interested in Jan Van der Heyden's invention, he successfully demonstrated the new pumps and managed to convince the king to grant him the monopoly of making and selling "fire-preventing portable pumps" throughout the kingdom of France. The first Paris Fire Brigade, known as the "Company of Pump Guards," was created in 1716. On March 11, 1733, the French government decided that the interventions of the fire brigades would be free of charge. This was decided because people always waited until the last moment to call the fire brigades to avoid paying the fee, and it was often too late to stop fires. From 1750 on, the French fire brigades became paramilitary units and received uniforms.
In North America, Jamestown, Virginia was virtually destroyed in a fire in January 1608. There were no full-time paid firefighters in America until 1850. Even after the formation of paid fire companies in the United States, there were disagreements and often fights over territory. New York City companies were famous for sending runners out to fires with a large barrel to cover the hydrant closest to the fire in advance of the engines. Often fights would break out between the runners and even the responding fire companies for the right to fight the fire and receive the insurance money that would be paid to the company that fought it. During the 19th century and early 20th century volunteer fire companies served not only as fire protection but as political machines. The most famous volunteer firefighter politician is "Boss" Tweed, head of the notorious Tammany Hall political machine, who got his start in politics as a member of the Americus Engine Company Number 6 —"The Big Six" — in New York City.
Napoleon Bonaparte is generally attributed as creating the first “professional” firefighters — known as “Sappers-Firefighters” — from the French army. A sapper — also called pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses, as well as working on road and airfield construction and repair. Created under the Commandant of Engineers in 1810, the company was organized after a fire at the ballroom in the Austrian Embassy in Paris which injured several dignitaries.
The first organized municipal fire brigade in the world was established in Edinburgh, Scotland, when the Edinburgh Fire Engine Establishment was formed in 1824, led by James Braidwood. London followed in 1832 with the London Fire Engine Establishment.
The first horse-drawn steam engine for fighting fires was invented in England in 1829, but it was not accepted in structural firefighting until 1860. It continued to be ignored for another two years afterwards. Self-propelled steam-powered fire engines were introduced in 1903, followed by internal combustion engine fire apparatuses which began to be produced as early as 1905, leading to the decline and disappearance of horse-drawn, hand-pumped and steam-powered fire engines by the mid-1920s.
Best firefighters in the world
According to the January 31, 2017 article “Italy’s firefighters crowned the best in the world” in The Local, the Vigili del Fuoco were named the world's best firefighters at a competition known as the “firefighting Oscars,” in recognition of their work in assisting the earthquake-hit population of central Italy.
A series of major earthquakes over 6.0 magnitude rocked the mountainous Marche, Abruzzo and Lazio regions in 2016, the first one leaving 299 people dead, most of them from the town of Amatrice. Four more quakes in January caused chaos due to heavy snowfall at the same time, which left some families and entire villages isolated.
Italian teams assisted tens of thousands of people affected by the quakes, rescuing survivors from rubble, and working on reconstruction in the damaged towns. They also helped thousands more who were isolated by heavy snowfall in mid-January and led rescue efforts at the avalanche-hit Hotel Rigopiano in Abruzzo.
Largest fire department in the world
The Tokyo Fire Department is a fire department headquartered in Ōtemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The TFD was formed on March 7, 1948, and is responsible for protecting the Tokyo metropolis Area. The fire department is the largest urban fire department in the world. Covering the 23 wards of Tokyo and parts of western Tokyo, it provides assistance in case of fires, biological, chemical, and radioactive hazards, as well as earthquakes and flooding. It has 489 pumpers, 259 ambulances, 86 aerial ladder trucks, 86 special trucks, 93 command units, 40 rescue trucks, 20 motorcycles, 10 fireboats and 7 helicopters.
Largest U.S. fire department and second largest in the world
The New York City Fire Department is a department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection, technical rescue services, primary response to biological, chemical and radioactive hazards, and emergency medical services responses to the five boroughs of New York City.
It is the largest municipal fire department in the United States and the second largest in the world after the Tokyo Fire Department. The FDNY employs approximately 10,951 uniformed firefighters, 4,301 uniformed EMTs, paramedics and 2,096 civilian employees. It serves more than 8.5 million residents within a 302 square mile area.The FDNY headquarters is located at 9 Metro Tech Center in Downtown Brooklyn, and the FDNY Fire Academy is located on Randalls Island.
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