John-Paul Mudd

English 11-6

Mrs. Harbison

1/23/2011

Fighting the fears of fire

            On September 11^th 2001, the world witnessed a great organization in action; that organization is the Fire Department.  Since the time of Augustus
Caesar and the great city of Rome the fire service has been doing the same
thing putting out fires and savings lives; obviously, firefighting has come a
long way since ancient Rome.  It
all started in the year 23 B.C. in Rome during the ruling of Augustus
Caesar.  Fire was a major problem during
this time, there were no cars to crash, no toxins to ingest, and no one had a
clue what a heart attack was; people used fire to cook, keep warm, and do other
day to day tasks and with the cramped space many fires broke out in the city on
a day to day basis.  The first fire
brigade was made of six hundred slaves assigned to the city gates and once a
fire was discovered they would rush to the fire and attempt to put it out; but
when it came to going inside the burning building and putting the fire out or
saving people the majority of them refused. 
This led to the eradication of the use of slaves and led to the use of
free men called Vigils.  This fire
brigade was made up of 7,000 free men up against a city of one million or more
at any given time. (Fire Service History)

            After the fall of the great Roman Empire, organized firefighting was lost and did not recover itself until the 1600's.  When
the French Normans took over England they established certain times during a
twenty-four hour period in which a person could have an active fire and when
that person could not.  These times were
called "curfews" and were enforced after the sun set; anyone who was
caught with a burning fire after sunset were punished by regulators who
traveled about the city looking for fires. 
The use of the curfew system greatly reduced the chances of fire in
England and proved to be a well worthwhile idea.  (Fire Service
History)

In 1666, the city of London experienced a crippling fire that led its leaders to the idea of a better fire service.   Therefore, they
began to buckle down, by establishing fire companies around the city; they
informed citizens that they were now legally obliged to have fire-fighting
tools such as: buckets, ladders, shovels, and squirts on hand in case a fire
broke out.  (Fire Service History)

Another spawn of the great fire of London was the invention of the first fire insurance company.  These companies had three basic
roles in the fire- service; they were to train fire fighters, mark protected
houses, and to train local men how to respond and make an early dent in the
fire while the fire company in the area responded.  A unique thing about early fire fighting that
not a lot of people know about is that early fire fighting was not about
“putting the wet stuff on the red stuff” it was about the money that came with
being the first on scene at an insured house. 
If a person lived in a house that was not insured a fire company did not
respond to that person’s house and they were on their own.  This practice of only fighting fires at
insured house lasted too long and died after the great Chicago fire in
1871.  (Fire
Service History)

            In the year 1607 the first fire was recorded in the history of America in Jamestown Virginia.  Public officials soon found that a fire brigade was needed despratly by
the city.  But before they would fund a
fire brigade they would put laws in to help prevent fires.  These laws made every chimney a brick mason
one instead of a wooden one, and roofs were no longer allowed to be thatch;
because the material was so flammable that when even a small fire broke out the
roof would light up and the house would be beyond saving in a matter of
seconds.  Many people were leary about
these new laws and would not comply to them. 
To deter people from ignoring these laws fire wardens which would be
equal to a modern day fire marshall were sent around the city to inspect homes
and businesses to make sure buildings throughout the city were up to code.  If buildings were not up to code then the
owner of the building was either punished, or fined.  City officials also assigned citizens to
serve on a local fire watch also called the rattle watch; the rattle watch was
basically any man walking through the street with a rattle or noise making
device and if a fire was spotted they would sound the rattle and alert the
volunteer firefighters.  (Fire Service
History)

            Everybody knows Ben Franklin as the father of electricity and the printing press; but what many people do not know is that he is also the father of Philidelphias first fire brigade. 
After taveling to a city with a volunteer fire brigade and seeing how
much of a difference they made he began to wonder why his city did not have
one.  After he returnd to philly he began
publishing fire safety tips in his news paper. 
He also pushed for more licensed chiney sweeps in the city to reduce possibility
of fires breaking out because of failing chimneys.  Franklins idea of a fire brigade was one that
mirrors todays fire department; he wanted a fire brigade that would stay with
their engine and when a run came in they rode out together.  On december 7^th 1736 benjamin
franklin established the Union fire company; they were equipted with leather
buckets and hand woven baskets to carry supplies.  After the establishment of the Union fire
company many other companies started to pop up all around the city such as: the
Heart- in- Hand, The Britannia, and The Fellowship fire companies.  Thanks to the skill of men like Benjamin
Franklin the city of Philidelphia became one of the safest cities in the world.

            In the 20^th century the fire service began to make innovative changes that only made it better.  In its baby years the fire departments engines were pulled by the crew themselves; in later years engines were hauled
by horses while the crew either ran to the fire or rode on the back near the
pump.  Pumps also used to be hand pumped
and water was thrown onto the fire with buckets.  The innovation of truck powered pumps did not
come until about the beginning of the twentieth century  when combustion engines were used to power
the trucks in stead of horses.   

In the time between the 1850’s and the 1920’s fire fighting matured rapidly and proficiently.  Starting with the conversion from all volunteer fire departments to all paid fire departments.