How Did Firefighting Develop

Firefighting began to be a focus only with the rise of very large cities such as Rome. Earlier cities, such as those in Mesopotamia or the Indus, likely developed ad hoc firefighting departments and respondent to events. As with other institutions, however, the history of firefighting is complicated and influenced by major technical and social change that occurred in different centuries.

Early History

Early fighting developed in the early urban societies of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus. Very likely, however, these were not dedicated fire departments but rather as volunteer or paid individuals who would be responsible in assembling a crew and extinguishing a fire in the city. Few archaeological remains have attested to such firefighters, but laws, such as those from Hammurabi's law code, indicate they existed. There is a law that discussed a firefighter who stole from a house he was putting out a fire from would be punished by death by being thrown into the fire. The law makes it clear though that it is a volunteer. This does not mean there were no paid firefighters but it could mean volunteers may have volunteered because fires gave opportunity for theft.

We don't know the equipment used by the earliest firefighters, but likely it consisted of buckets, wells to extract water, and perhaps carts to move water to where the fire was located. The first documented fire pump dates to the 2nd century BCE, where a pump invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria may have been used in putting out fires in the city of Alexandria.

In the Roman period, the city of Rome grew rapidly and began to have problems with major fires. Initially, fires may have been only extinguished in places where homeowners or property owners could pay the price. Negotiation of the price may have occurred while the fire was burning, although evidence for this is not entirely certain. The first dedicated city-based fire department was developed, perhaps ironically, by emperor Nero, who was blamed for the great fire of Rome. The firefighting capabilities consisted of men assigned as Vigiles, who also served as Rome's police force, that had access to buckets, pumps, and even equipment to tear down buildings to make it easier to stop a fire from spreading. The firefighting force patrolled the streets of Rome and the fact they were responsible for policing and firefighting indicates that the Vigiles were essentially a protection force.

China, Parthian, and Sasanians likely developed similar types of dedicated groups who would be responsible to respond to events such as a fire in the city. Similar to the Roman Vigiles, they may have patrolled the streets as watchmen and simply responded to fire events.

Medieval History and Early Modern History

Technical and social changes for much of the Medieval period were limited in relation to firefighting. This meant that the concept of using watchmen who would respond and call other watchmen or volunteers to then respond to the fire largely persisted in the towns and cities of Europe and other regions. Pumps and wagons were sometimes used, but technically these were not much different from ancient periods. Most of these watches were locally administered by neighborhoods or districts in cities. However, in the 16th century, with the increasingly population of cities such as Paris, we begin to see more centralized watchmen who were responsible to the king and central authorities directly.

The Great London Fire of 1666 began to change how fire was perceived. Insurance companies soon began to cover and insure buildings, which gave them interest in protecting those buildings. These insurance companies in London began to organize their own fire brigades, although these firefighters were mostly interested in protecting buildings they insured. The led to public markers that indicated which buildings were insured by given companies. However, this system was chaotic and buildings would only be saved by specific insurance companies, leaving others to burn. The insurance companies also realized that it was in their interest to put out fires in buildings they did not insure, as that could then help to save buildings they did insure. With London's population growing rapidly in the 18th and early 19th centuries, fires became a major problem for the city as they threatened the destruction of the large city. By around 1700, new pumps were developed in France that did help firefighting across urban places such as Paris.

Napoleon may have been the first ruler to develop a public fire brigade that was funded by the state. The first professional firefighters appeared to have been former military personnel. The city of Cincinnati Ohio was the first city in the United Stated to developed the first public funded fire department. In the United States, similar to Britain and other European countries, firefighting was largely privatized and controlled by insurance companies.The London Fire Engine was established in 1833, reflecting the need to centralize firefighting across an increasingly expanding city. However, this was nothing more than a fire department for insurance company that was only minimally financed by the insurers, where 13 stations serviced the entire city of London. It took 1865 the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act to finally create a formal fire department in the city that was funded with public money, creating the first official fire department for the city.