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The history of organized firefighting began in ancient Rome while under the rule of the first Roman Emperor Augustus. [1] Prior to that, Ctesibius, a Greek citizen of Alexandria, developed the first fire pump in the third century BC, which was later improved upon in a design by Hero of Alexandria in the first century BC. [2]
A fire department responds to a fire every 23 seconds throughout the United States. [4] Fire departments responded to 33,602,500 calls for service in 2015. 21,500,000 were for medical help, 2,533,500 were false alarms, and 1,345,500 were for actual fires.
Fire department vehicles outside a fire station in Middleborough, Massachusetts, United States. A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression services as well as other rescue services.
When a fire spreads beyond the building of its origin and spreads throughout the neighborhood, it is called a “conflagration.” Today, a conflagration is a large fire that is beyond the capability of the fire service to contain. [42] The volume of the fire must be cooled before its seat is attacked.
Historically, the fire service blamed poor firefighter physical condition for being the primary cause of cardiovascular related deaths. However, over the last 20 years, studies and research has indicated the toxic gasses put fire service personnel at significantly higher risk for cardiovascular related conditions and death.
On January 1, 1898, the different areas of New York were consolidated, which ushered the Fire Department into a new era. All the fire forces in the various sections were brought under the unified command of the first Commissioner in the history of the Fire Department. This same year, Richmond (now Staten Island) became a part of the City of New ...
The effects of the 1938 Act were short lived (though it was not repealed until 1947), as all local brigades and Auxiliary Fire Service units in Great Britain were merged into the National Fire Service in 1941, which was itself under the auspices of the Civil Defence Service. There was a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland). Before ...
The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalgamation of the wartime national Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and the local authority fire brigades (about 1,600 of them). Prior to this, many police forces were charged with attending fires, with Liverpool City Police being an early example of a Police Fire Brigade. [ 2 ]