The History of the Fire Service

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The History of the Fire Service

• Standard 4
• By Emory Arnold

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Fire Service

• Fire Fighting is one of the worlds most
  honorable but hazardous occupations.
• It is the duty of every fire department to
  practice life safety, incident stabilization, and
  property conservation

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Fire Service

• As new firefighters enter the fire service they
  fit into one of three categories
• Career
• Paid on call
• volunteer

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Fire Service

• Whenever there is an emergency, the fire
  department is one of the first entities to
  respond to mediate the incident
• Fire
• Cave-ins
• Motor vehicle accidents
• Hazardous materials incidents
• Rescue Operations

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Fire Service

• Firefighters are not
• extraordinary people
• they are ordinary people
• that find themselves in
• extraordinary situations.

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Fire Service

• According to the National Fire Protection
  Association (NFPA), there are approximately 1.1
  million fire fighters in the United States.
• 73 are volunteer
• 27 are paid

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Fire Service
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History of the Fire Service

• Since prehistoric times, controlled fire has
  been a source of comfort and warmed, but
  uncontrolled fire can cause death and destruction.

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History of the Fire Service

• In 24 BC, the Roman emperor Augustus Caeser
  created what was probably the first fire
  department now as the Familia Publica.
• The department was composed of 600 slaves.
• They were stationed around the city to watch for
  and extinguish fires.

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History of the Fire Service

• As slaves the Familia Publica had little
  interest in preserving the homes of there Masters
  and even less desire to take risk.
• So fire continued to be a problem

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History of the Fire Service

• In 60 AD, under the emperor Nero, the Corps of
  Vigiles was developed to give fire protection.
• This group of 7000 free men were responsible for
  firefighting, fire prevention and building
  inspections

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History of the Fire Service

• The Corps adopted the formal rank structure of
  the Roman military, which is still used by fire
  departments today.

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History of the Fire Service

• The first documented fire in North America was
  in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.
• The fire started in the community blockhouse and
  almost burned down the entire settlement.

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History of the Fire Service

• During that time construction consisted of
  entirely combustible material such as straw and
  wood.
• Local ordinance (city law) soon required the use
  of less flammable building material.

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History of the Fire Service

• In 1630, Boston Massachusetts, established the
  first fire regulations in North America as it
  banned Wood chimneys and thatched roofs.
• Regulation also required that chimneys also be
  swept out regularly.

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History of the Fire Service

• Fire Wardens imposed fines on those who did not
  obey the regulations. The money collected was
  used to pay for firefighting equipment.

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History of the Fire Service

• Boston developed the first paid fire department
  in 1679. They also had the first fire stations
  and fire engines.
• The first volunteer fire company was developed in
  1735 in Philadelphia under the leadership of
  Benjamin Franklin.

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History of the Fire Service

• Benjamin Franklin recognized the many dangers of
  fire and continually sought ways to prevent it.
• Benjamin Franklin developed the lighting Rod to
  help draw lighting away from homes, a common
  cause of fires.

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History of the Fire Service

• In 1871 there were two major fires that
  significantly affected the development of both
  the fire service and fire codes.
• The Great fire of Chicago, Illinois
• The Great fire of Peshtigo, Wisconsin

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Great Chicago Fire

• With 60,000 Buildings (40,000 made of wood and
  tar) Chicago was a Booming Town.
• Lax regulations and no rain for three weeks,
  together made perfect recipe for disaster.

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The Great Chicago Fire

• Sunday October 8, 1871 a fire started in a barn
  on the west side of the city.
• The fire department was already exhausted from
  fighting a four block fire earlier in the day.

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The Great Chicago fire

• Errors in judging the location of the fire and
  signaling the alarm resulted in a delayed
  response time.
• The Fire burned for three days.

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The Peshtigo Fire

• Although not as highly publicized as the Chicago
  fire, the Peshtigo fire would go down in the
  pages of history as the deadliest fire in United
  States history.

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The Peshtigo Fire

• Wisconsin had suffer a summer drought.
• Logging operations had left pine branches
  carpeting the forest floor.
• A flash forest fire created a tornado of fire.

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The Peshtigo Fire

• More than 2,200 people lost their lives.
• The fire was so intense that it jumped the 60
  mile wide Green Bay to destroy several hundred
  more square miles of land.

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Closing Tips

• You can find information on the History of the
  fire Service at the
• Media Center
• Public Library
• Internet (use reliable site)
• Local bookstore

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Resource Page

• Essentials of Fire Fighting 4th edition, edited
  by Richard Hall and Barbara Adams. (ISBN
  087939149-9)
• Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills, Jones and
  Bartlett Publishing. (ISBN 0-7637-3454-3)