The history of fire fighting
The history of fire and firefighting goes back thousands of years. Since the time man first learned how to start a fire, fire-related accidents have happened time and time again. Over time, we have established many agencies, forces, and groups to fight fires and help people recover from the loss of life and money that a conflagration causes. Throughout this article, we would be focusing on those moments in history that have led us to change the way we have perceived fire and firefighting. We will show how we have established different units to combat the different afflictions caused by the fires and how we have improved our efforts over the years.
Man had learned to control fire thousands of years ago, and the archaeological evidence found in Egypt and China bears witness to this fact. According to historical sources, Caesar formed the first firefighting team to protect Rome against fires.
Throughout the history of the United States, there have been massive fires; the first in Jamestown in 1608, just a year after its founding. This was a massive conflagration and led to huge loss of life, property and money. This left the people with only two options, return to England or face the brunt of angry Indians and the belligerent winter cold. This was the first major fire in the history of the United States, and many more followed.
Boston was founded in 1630, and this city has probably seen the most conflagrations in the United States. The fires of 1631, 1654 and 1676 affected Boston again and again. These fires represented losses that have not yet been accounted for today. The fires were so severe that they led the administration to seriously think about fire suppression and prevention. All of this led to the formation of new codes and rules regarding fire fighting, including laws regarding the use of open spaces, fire-resistant building material, and the formation of fire-fighting departments. These were the first ‘written’ rules relating to fire prevention and extinction.
Again, it was after Boston’s first great conflagration in 1631 that a law was passed in Massachusetts in 1638 banning smoking in public places to reduce the devastation caused by fire and banning public display of fire-causing items. Peter Stuyvesant was the first American governor to form a firefighting association in the form of “Fire Wardens” in 1648, who were supposed to protect the new establishments that were being established in New Amsterdam (now New York). The ‘Fire Wardens’ were the first firefighting group in America. Some of the responsibilities of fire wardens include ensuring the safe exit of all those trapped in hell, escorting especially people with disabilities to the pre-defined safe exit, ensuring that all doors, windows and all equipment that could cause a future fire should be extinguished as long as there is no danger to the personal safety of firefighters. Most of the rules and responsibilities established for firefighters have served as the basis for most of the existing rules and guidelines, especially in the US.
Because Boston had witnessed some of the most devastating conflagrations of the 17th century, the first paid fire, engine, and fire department were established here in the latter part of the same century.
Following in the footsteps of the Boston administration, the New York administration also established the Volunteer Fire Department in 1737. According to internal US government records, about 73% of all firefighters in the US have entered via VFD o Volunteer Fire Departments. The main difference between volunteer firefighters and regular firefighters lies in the fact that volunteer firefighters do not actually work fixed shifts and do not reside in fire stations; rather they are called as and when they are needed. Since the inception of the New York Volunteer Fire Department, firefighters have come to serve the nation again and again through this medium.
From here, awareness of fires, firefighting, and the need to suppress potential fire hazards grew, and Benjamin Franklin established an insurance company that covered fire losses, and became known as the American Fire Insurance Company. .
This was the starting point of the long dispute between insurance companies and their clients in the United States. The first major incident that occurred after dozens of fire insurance companies, claiming to cover all losses sustained due to fire, sprung up in abundance, was in December 1835 in New York, when the Great Fire of New York left thousands of homeless and jobless people and most of the insurance companies that had covered the buildings involved went bankrupt due to the Great Fire.
After this incident, stricter measures were put in place to ensure that insurance companies covering fire losses were not overstating insurance beyond what they were capable of covering in the near future. Laws related to this issue were also applied and put into practice.
Uniformity was felt in the practices that firefighters follow and establish a congruence between fire prevention and fire insurance. This led to the formation of the National Fire Underwriting Board, which was founded in 1866 and was responsible for investigating matters related to fire losses, how insurance companies covered them, and catching defaulters, if any.
This led to a win-win situation for firefighters, insurance companies, and the general public where none of the three parties involved in an arson, conflagration, or natural fire could be fooled by any of them. Later, this guild, which was made up of many companies and dealers, came together and formed what is now known as the Insurance Service Office. The ISO is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey and contains more than 11 billion insurance records to date.
Firefighters and firefighters have been put to the test time and time again and the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 and the Wisconsin wildfire the following year were two such situations. These two incidents led to 1/4 of insurance companies and firefighting houses going out of business and it was a huge blow to the morale of the firefighting administration as a whole in the US.
One incident that led to the modification of existing rules on how to prevent fires and what kind of warning signs and measures were used was the Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago, Illinois in December 1903, which killed more than 600 people. Supposedly, the building was totally fireproof according to the preventive measures existing at the time. When investigated, it was revealed that although the building was carved from a fully fireproof material, there were some flaws in the construction that caused hell to break out. Additionally, mixed signals showing that a firefighting emergency exists and the inability of security to combat stampedes and fires were the main reasons for these catastrophic results. This led to some basic modifications to existing laws at the time, including some obvious things like doors that open outward rather than inward, the mandatory installation of fire alarm systems, and a mandatory fire exit drill that had to be performed weekly for security employees to make them capable of fighting such situations.
Firefighting, as we know today, is not just limited to fighting and preventing fires, but firefighters are seen as those heroes who have come to the rescue of many lives trapped in dangerous situations, whether it is a child trapped in a building of great height. or an old woman trapped in a sewer. The role of firefighters has changed over the years, and a major incident in history that led to this metamorphosis was the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. This earthquake lasted more than 90 minutes and destroyed more than 500 city blocks, killing more than 600 people. Firefighters were tasked with saving the lives of people trapped in rubble, under rubble, or caught in a fire. The traditional roles changed from here and gave way to the new roles of firefighters, which evolved from firefighters to heroes for many.
Even after so many drills were held, preventive measures taken, and so many rules established, devastating fires continued to occur from time to time, reminding us of the importance of involving the latest technologies and ideas in firefighting. One such incident, which occurred in modern times, was the Boston nightclub fire, which engulfed the Coconut Grove nightclub, leaving 500 dead and going down as the worst nightclub fire in history.
Things changed with the times, and after the Boston Nightclub incident, the use of technology and the quiet use of modernity in firefighting equipment led to the phasing out of traditional equipment. Gasoline-powered firefighting engines were introduced in 1900, and the last steam engine was retired in 1932 in New York. The concept of paid firefighters was also introduced, and he caught up with the department very quickly. Wes Barnes was the first paid fire chief in the city of Jefferson and received a salary of $45 a year.
In the series of new changes related to firefighting and prevention, ‘Sparkey,’ the fire dog was introduced as the NFPA mascot as a symbol of national security in 1950. The story behind Sparkey is an interesting one. Sparkey was a shy puppy, who would sit outside a school fence and want to play with the children, but being shy, this Dalmatian stayed away. One day, while he was following these children to his houses, he saw that the children’s house was on fire. The dog went barking to the fire station to call the firemen, and this made Sparkey the symbol of national security.
It has not been a smooth ride for firefighters and their respective departments. During the 9/11 attack on the WTC twin towers and the days after, there have been some tragic days for firefighters. During the incident, many firefighters, most of whom were volunteer firefighters, went missing or lost their lives. There were skeptical opinions about the then mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, regarding the lack of preparation of the firefighters he had sent on duty, so that many of them had to lose their lives. Whatever the end result, the firefighters fought the circumstances with all their vigor in that situation as well, and were the silent heroes of so many lives they had saved.