The History of Fire Prevention and Protection Abroad

We don't know for sure how the use of fire was discovered. But ever since man has known fire, he has feared it too. Historians record that in Rome in about 300 BC a band of slaves was given the task of watching for fires from a top of a hill and of warning the citizens of fire. Under Caesar Augustus the first municipal-type fire department appeared. The command structure was almost identical to that is used by fire department today. There were 7 squads that contained from 100 to 1000 men per squad. Each man

within each squad was given a particular task. Each squad had a supervising officer. William 1 of England decreed one of the first recorded fire prevention regulations. The use of the open hearth for heating and cooking within houses created a fire danger to such an extent that he ordered all fires be extinguished at

night and hearth covered. King Richard 1 decreed that walls 16 feet high and 3 feet thick should be built

between the neighboring buildings to prevent fire spread from one building to another.

After September, 2, 1666 further changes in fire prevention regulations took place. On that day the Great Fire of London began and burned for 5 days, leaving 373 acres of ashes. Following that fire the London City Council acted to prevent similar fires. Legislation was passed that required all homes were to be rebuilt of brick or stone. Almost before the settlement of America began, there were serious setbacks

because of fire. The first permanent colony in Virginia was destroyed by fire and then in 1623 the colony in Plymouth suffered by destructive fire. Several reasons explain why fire was such a hazard in the early American colonies: building their homes the English settlers used traditional building methods and materials of rural England. Benjamin Franklin in 1736 recommended the formation of a volunteer fire

company and served as the first fire chief in America. On October, 9, 1871 a sweeping fire destroyed most of the city of Chicago. The power of fire is a never-ending story: but the fight against fire is also a story worth telling

Дата добавления: 2015-07-25