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Fire department

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(Redirected fromFire Department)
"Fire and rescue" redirects here. For the England and Wales fire authorities, seeFire authority.
"Fire brigade" redirects here. For other uses, seeFire brigade (disambiguation).

Fire department vehicles outside a fire station inMiddleborough, Massachusetts,United States

Afire department(North American English) orfire brigade(Commonwealth English),[note 1]also known as afire company, fire authority,fire district,fire and rescue,orfire servicein some areas, is an organization that providesfire preventionandfire suppressionservices as well as otherrescueservices.

Fire departments are most commonly apublic sectororganization that operate within a municipality, county, state, nation, or special district. Private and specialist firefighting organizations also exist, such as those foraircraft rescue and firefighting.[1]

A fire department contains one or morefire stationswithin its boundaries, and may be staffed byfirefighters,who may beprofessional,volunteers,conscripts,oron-call.Combination fire departmentsemploy a mix of professional and volunteer firefighters.[2]In some countries, fire departments may also run anambulance service,staffed by volunteer or professionalEMS personnel.

Organization[edit]

Areal photograph of a public display by theGerman Fire Services

Fire departments are organized in a system of administration, services, training, and operations; for example:

  • Administration is responsible for supervision, budgets, policy, andhuman resources.
  • Service offers protection, safety, and education to the public.
  • Training prepares people with the knowledge and skills to perform their duties.
  • Operations performs tasks to mitigate harm to persons, property, and the environment.

A fire service is normally set up where it can have fire stations,fire enginesand other relevant equipment strategically deployed throughout the area it serves, so thatdispatcherscan send fire engines, fire trucks, orambulancesfrom the fire stations closest to the incident. Larger departments have branches within themselves to increase efficiency, composed of volunteers, support, and research.

  • Volunteers give additional support to the department in a state of emergency.
  • Support organizing the resources within and outside of the department.
  • Research is to give advantages in new technologies for the department.

Jurisdiction[edit]

Fire Station No. 1 inLos Angeles,California,United States, one of over 100 stations in theLos Angeles Fire Department

Most places are covered by apublic sectorfire department, which is established by a local or national government and funded by taxation. Even volunteer fire departments may still receive some government funding.

The typical size of a fire department varies greatly by country. In the United States, firefighting is usually organized on a municipal level. Some municipalities belong to "fire protection districts" that are served by the same fire department, such as theSan Ramon Valley Fire Protection District.Austria,Germanyand Canada also organize fire services at a municipal level. InFrance,fire services mostly cover onedepartment.In the United Kingdom, most fire services cover one or morecounties,while Scotland and Northern Ireland each have a single fire service. In Australia, state governments run the fire services, although three states have separate agencies for metropolitan and rural areas. Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, and the Philippines have national fire and rescue services.

Responsibilities[edit]

Firefighters taking part in a training exercise inVaughan,Ontario,Canada

Fire departments may also provide other emergency services, such asaircraft rescue and firefighting,hazardous materialsmitigation,technical rescue,andwildland firefighting.

In some countries or regions (e.g., the United States, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau), fire departments can be responsible for providingemergency medical services.TheEMSpersonnel may either be cross-trained as firefighters or a separate division ofemergency medical techniciansandparamedics.While some services act only as "first responders" to medical emergencies, stabilizing victims until an ambulance can arrive, other fire services also operateambulance services.

History[edit]

Main article:History of firefighting
Knox Automobileproduced the first modern fire engine in 1905
A 1951DennisP12 fire tender as formerly used by theWiltshire Fire Brigade
AFire and Rescue NSWtruck in 2008
Polish FirefightersfromNowy Sącz,Special Rescue Group withrescue dogs

Ancient Rome[edit]

The earliest known firefighting service was formed inAncient RomebyMarcus Egnatius Rufuswho used his slaves to provide a free fire service.[3]These men fought fires usingbucket chainsand also patrolled the streets with the authority to imposecorporal punishmentupon those who violated fire-prevention codes. The EmperorAugustusestablished a public fire department in 24 BCE, composed of 600 slaves distributed amongst seven fire stations in Rome.[4]

1600s and 1700s[edit]

Fire departments were again formed byproperty insurancecompanies beginning in the 17th century after theGreat Fire of Londonin 1666. The first insurance brigades were established the following year.[5]Others began to realize that a lot of money could be made from this practice, and ten more insurance companies set up in London before 1832: The Alliance, Atlas, Globe, Imperial, London, Protector, Royal Exchange, Sun Union and Westminster.[6]Each company had its ownfire mark,a durable plaque that would be affixed to the building exterior. Although a popular legend says a company's fire brigade would not extinguish a burning building if it did not have the correct fire mark, there is little evidence to support this; evidence shows insurance companies required their firefighters to fight every fire they encountered.[7]

Amsterdamalso had a sophisticated firefighting system in the late 17th century, under the direction of artistJan van der Heyden,who had improved the designs of bothfire hosesand fire pumps.[8]

The city ofBoston, Massachusettsestablished America's first publicly funded, paid fire department in 1678.[9][10][11]

Fire insurance made its debut in the American colonies in South Carolina in 1736, but it wasBenjamin Franklinwho imported the London model of insurance. He established the colonies' first fire insurance company inPhiladelphianamed the Philadelphia Contributionship,[5]as well as its associatedUnion Volunteer Fire Company,which was an unpaid (volunteer) company.[12]

A document dated in 1686 informs about the payment system of four so called "fire servants" (German:Feuerknecht) inVienna,which is the official founding year of the Vienna Fire Department.

In 1754,[13]Halifax, Nova Scotiaestablished theHalifax Regional Fire and Emergency,which is today Canada's oldest fire department.

Plaque with the history of the department inHaddonfield, New Jersey

In 1764,Haddonfield, New Jerseyestablished the second oldest fire company in the United States.

Another early American fire department, staffed by unpaid volunteers,[14]was established in the city ofPetersburg, Virginiain 1773.[15][16]

1800s[edit]

In the 19th century, cities began to form their own fire departments as a civil service to the public, obliging private fire companies to shut down, many merging their fire stations into the city's fire department. In 1833, London's ten independent brigades all merged to form the London Fire Engine Establishment (LFEE), withJames Braidwoodas the Chief Officer.[17]Braidwood had previously been the fire chief inEdinburgh,where the world's first municipal fire service was founded in 1824, and he is now regarded, along with Van der Heyden, as one of founders of modern firefighting.[8]The LFEE then was incorporated into the city'sMetropolitan Fire Brigadein 1865 underEyre Massey Shaw.

In 1879, theUniversity of Notre Dameestablished the first University-based fire department in the United States.[18]

1900s[edit]

The first motorized fire department was organized in 1906 inSpringfield, Massachusetts,whereKnox Automobilehad developed the first modernfire engineone year earlier.[19]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^In theUnited States,a fire brigade is the private firefighting organization of a company or enterprise, operated under rules from theOccupational Safety and Health Administration.

References[edit]

  1. ^Madrigal, Alexis C. (14 November 2018)."Kim Kardashian's Private Firefighters Expose America's Fault Lines".The Atlantic.Retrieved1 November2019.
  2. ^Cote, Arthur E. (2003). "Basics of Fire and Fire Science".Organizing for Fire And Rescue Services.Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 92.ISBN978-0-87765-577-0.
  3. ^"Fire-brigades in the Roman realm".Economypoint.org.Retrieved3 July2010.
  4. ^Coe, Charles K. (February 2009).Handbook of Urban Services: A Basic Guide for Local Governments.M.E. Sharpe. p. 29.ISBN978-0-7656-2294-5.
  5. ^abCote, Arthur E.; Bugbee, Percy (December 1988).Principles of fire protection.Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 6.ISBN978-0-87765-345-5.Retrieved4 October2011.
  6. ^"From Fire Marks to James Braidwood, the Surveyor who set up the Fire Brigade".Independent Surveyors Association.Retrieved4 October2011.
  7. ^"Early insurance brigades".London Fire Brigade. Archived fromthe originalon 20 December 2022.Retrieved21 December2022.
  8. ^abHensler, Bruce (2011).Crucible of Fire: Nineteenth-Century Urban Fires and the Making of the Modern Fire Service.Potomac Books, Inc. pp. 1–2.ISBN978-1-59797-684-8.
  9. ^Klinoff, Robert (2007). "Public Fire Protection".Introduction to Fire Protection, 3rd Edition.Thomson Delmar Learning. p. 59.ISBN978-1-4180-0177-3.
  10. ^"History - City of Boston".February 2016.
  11. ^"Boston History Before 1859".Boston Fire Historical Society.Retrieved9 June2023.
  12. ^IFSTA (2004).Fire Service Orientation and Terminology.Fire Protection Publications, University of Oklahoma.ISBN978-0-87939-232-1.
  13. ^"Museum shows off Canada's oldest fire department's history".The Chronicle Herald.
  14. ^"Petersburg, VA - Official Website - Fire Department History".
  15. ^""Established in 1773, the Petersburg Department of Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Services is one of the oldest organized fire departments in the country"".Archived fromthe originalon 28 June 2017.Retrieved14 October2015.
  16. ^"Petersburg, VA - Official Website - Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Services".
  17. ^"James Braidwood and the London Fire Engine Establishment (LFEE)".London Fire Brigade. Archived fromthe originalon 3 September 2011.Retrieved4 October2011.
  18. ^ENR/PAZ // University Communications: Web // University of Notre Dame."NDFD, nation's oldest university fire department, turns 135".
  19. ^KNOX AUTOMOBILE COMPANYArchived1 October 2015 at theWayback MachineAccessed: 27 April 2012
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