Today’s article will discuss a short history of fire fighting and offer some safety tips for the Holidays. While your Fire Department is on duty or on call 24/7 365 days a year, we would like you to enjoy a safe and secure holiday season with your family and friends and without a visit by your Fire Fighters!
Believe it or not, the first record of an organized fire department was during the age of the Roman Empire around 22 B.C. Wealthy Romans organized permanent fire brigades along military lines in order to protect their property. Despite these efforts, Rome burned many times over the next centuries. After the fall of the Roman Empire, there is no recorded history of an organized effort to protect citizens from the dangers of uncontrolled fires, but the legacy left by the Romans of firefighting as an organized effort with specific tasks by trained and appointed individuals remained.
During the Crusades, several organized groups specialized not in combat, but in saving the wounded by carrying them off the battlefield and into crude hospitals. Specifically, the Knights of Malta and the Order of Saint John were the groups who specialized in saving, rather than taking, lives. Their symbols, the Blue Maltese Cross and Red Cross became symbolic for saving lives and property and remain today as symbols for fire and emergency services.
The Middle Ages saw advances in preventing and controlling fires. In England, for example, early fire regulations and ordinances appeared, such as requiring ladders in homes and buildings and storing buckets and barrels of water for fighting fires. However, it was not until after the Great Fire of London in 1666 that major advances in fire prevention and protections occurred. These advances included creation of organized fire departments, the creation of the fire insurance industry and increasing use of technology to fight or control fires.
We’ll continue this history lesson in future articles and discuss the rise and evolution of fire fighting in America. The new colonies and future United States learned many lessons the hard way as they evolved toward the fire fighting organizations that we see today. (Thanks to the “Firefighter’s Handbook”, 2nd edition for the above abridged history.)
Let’s turn to some Safety Tips for the Holidays. First, enjoy your Thanksgiving Feast but remember that your kitchen may be the most unsafe place in your home, despite the wonderful smells coming from the cooking delights in it. So:
1. Stay in the kitchen when cooking
2. Kid “proof” your kitchen, i.e. keep knives, electrical cords, etc. away from a child’s reach
3. Keep young children away from the stove while cooking
4. Keep your floor clean to avoid tripping or falling over loose objects
The Blanco Volunteer Fire Department wishes you and yours a Very Safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
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