Ever wonder how long Volunteer and Full Time fire departments have been around?
How long and who founded the first Volunteer fire department?
Heres a synopses of Fire Fighting History
The history of organized firefighting began in ancient Rome while under the rule of Augustus. Prior to that, there is evidence of fire-fighting machinery in use in Ancient Egypt, including a water pump invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria in the third century BC which was later improved upon in a design by Hero of Alexandria in the first century BC. Fast fowarding to the 1600's and the founding fathers of our country. In 1631, Boston's governor John Winthrop outlawed wooden chimneys and thatched roofs.In 1648, the New Amsterdam governor Peter Stuyvesant appointed four men to act as fire wardens.They were empowered to inspect all chimneys and to fine any violators of the rules. The city burghers later appointed eight prominent citizens to the "Rattle Watch" - these men volunteered to patrol the streets at night carrying large wooden rattles.If a fire was seen, the men spun the rattles, then directed the responding citizens to form bucket brigades. On January 27, 1678 the first fire engine company went into service with its captain (foreman) Thomas Atkins. In 1736 Benjamin Franklin (in the image blow) established the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia.
The Union Fire Company, sometimes called Benjamin Franklin's Bucket Brigade, was a volunteer fire department formed in Philadelphia in 1736 with the assistance of Benjamin Franklin. It was the first fire fighting organization in Philadelphia, although it was followed within the year by establishment of the Fellowship Fire Company. The fire company was formed on 7 December 1736 after a series of publications in the Pennsylvania Gazette by Franklin and others pointing out the need for more effective handling of fires in Philadelphia and remained active until approximately 1820.
The United States did not have government-run fire departments until around the time of the American Civil War. Prior to this time, private fire brigades competed with one another to be the first to respond to a fire because insurance companies paid brigades to save buildings. Underwriters also employed their own Salvage Corps in some cities. The first known female firefighter Molly Williams took her place with the men on the dragropes during the blizzard of 1818 and pulled the pumper to the fire through the deep snow.
On April 1 of 1853, Cincinnati, Ohio featured the first fire department made up of 100% full-time paid employees.
