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Fire wardens inspected the houses and chimneys, fining for potential hazard. An eight-man team called a Rattle-Watch patrolled the streets at night. When a fire was detected, they shook wooden rattles to alert townspeople. In 1711 the concerned Americans formed the so-called mutual fire societies of approximately twenty members each.
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]
The Grass Fire (1908) by Frederic Remington depicts Native American men setting fire to a grassy plain. Native American use of fire in ecosystems are part of the environmental cycles and maintenance of wildlife habitats that sustain the cultures and economies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Indigenous peoples have used burning ...
Salvage bags were used to quickly collect and save valuables, and bed keys were used to separate the wooden frame of a bed (often the most valuable item in a home at the time) into pieces for safe and rapid removal from the fire. [13] The first American attempt at fire insurance failed after a large fire in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1736.
Fire started by lightning has always been a part of the natural life cycle in the Western U.S., and for centuries Native Americans also carried out controlled burns, referred to as cultural burns ...
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.
The Palisades fire and two other blazes nearby -- Eaton fire north of Pasadena and the Hurst fire in San Fernando Valley -- forced 70,000 Angelenos to abandon their homes and left at least five ...
At this time in history fire was viewed as a threat to timber, an economically important natural resource. As such, the decision was made to devote public funds to fire suppression and fire prevention efforts. For example, the Forest Fire Emergency Fund Act of 1908 permitted deficit spending in the case of emergency fire situations. [3]