The History of the Fire Service Standard 4 By: Emory Arnold

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

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

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

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

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

Fire Service

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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)