Courtesy : en.wikipedia.org

Fire fighting

Firefighting is the act of attempting to prevent the spread of and extinguish significant unwanted fires in buildings, vehicles, and woodlands. A firefighter suppresses fires to protect lives, property and the environment.

Firefighters typically undergo a high degree of technical training.This involves structural firefighting and wildland firefighting. Specialized training includes aircraft firefighting, shipboard firefighting, aerial firefighting, maritime firefighting, and proximity firefighting.

One of the major hazards associated with firefighting operations is the toxic environment created by combustible materials. The five major risks are smoke, oxygen deficiency, elevated temperatures, poisonous atmospheres, and violent air flows. To combat some of these risks, firefighters carry self-contained breathing apparatus. Additional hazards include falls – a constant peril while navigating unfamiliar layouts or confined spaces amid shifting debris under limited visibility – and structural collapse that can exacerbate the problems encountered in a toxic environment.

The first step in a firefighting operation is reconnaissance to search for the origin of the fire and to identify the specific risks.

Fires can be extinguished by water, fuel or oxidant removal, or chemical flame inhibition; though, because fires are classified depending on the elements involved, such as grease, paper, electrical, etcetera, a specific type of fire extinguisher may be required. The classification is based on the type of fires that the extinguisher is more suitable for. In the United States, the types of fire are described by the National Fire Protection Association.

History

Bulgarian firefighters in action, 1930s

Ottawa Fire Department motor pump, Ottawa, Ontario, taken by the Topley Studio, May 1915.

Main article: History of firefighting

The earliest known firefighters were in the city of Rome. In 60 A.D., emperor Nero established a Corps of Vigils (Vigiles) to protect Rome after a disastrous fire. It consisted of 7,000 people equipped with buckets and axes who fought fires and served as police.

Historic tactics and tools

In the 3rd century B.C., an Alexandrian Greek named Ctesibius made a double force pump called a siphona. As water rose in the chamber, it compressed the air inside, which forced the water to eject in a steady stream through a pipe and nozzle.

In the 16th century, syringes were also used as firefighting tools, the larger ones being mounted on wheels. Another traditional firefighting method that survived was the bucket brigade, involving two lines of people formed between the water source and the fire. Typically, men in one of the lines would pass along the full buckets of water toward the fire while in the other line women and children would pass back the empty buckets to be refilled.

In the 17th century the first “fire engines” were made, notably in Amsterdam. In 1721, the English inventor Richard Newsham made a popular fire engine that was essentially a rectangular box on wheels filled using a bucket brigade to provide a reservoir while hand-powered pumps supplied sufficient water pressure to douse fires at a distance.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome did not have municipal firefighters. Instead, private individuals relied on their slaves or supporters to take action. They would not only form bucket brigades or attempt to smother smaller fires, but would also demolish or raze nearby buildings to slow the spread of the fire. However, there is no mention of fires being extinguished, rather they were contained and burned themselves out. Ancient Rome did not have an organized firefighting force until the Vigiles were formed during the reign of Augustus

The first ever Roman fire brigade was created by Marcus Licinius Crassus. Fires were almost a daily occurrence in Rome, and Crassus took advantage of the fact that Rome had no fire department, by creating his own brigade—500 men strong—which rushed to burning buildings at the first cry of alarm. Upon arriving at the scene, however, the firefighters did nothing while Crassus offered to buy the burning building from the distressed property owner, at a miserable price. If the owner agreed to sell the property, his men would put out the fire; if the owner refused, then they would simply let the structure burn to the ground. After buying many properties this way, he rebuilt them, and often leased the properties to their original owners or new tenants.

United Kingdom

Prior to the Great Fire of London in 1666, some parishes in the UK had begun to organize rudimentary firefighting crews. After the Great Fire, Nicholas Barbon introduced the first fire insurance. In order to reduce insurance costs, Barbon also formed his own fire brigade, and other companies followed suit.

By the start of the 1800s, insured buildings were identified with a badge or mark indicating that they were eligible for a company’s firefighting services. Buildings not insured with a particular company were left by its firefighters to burn, unless they happened to be adjacent to an insured building, in which case it was often in the company’s interest to prevent the fire from spreading. In 1833 fire insurance companies in London merged to form The London Fire Company Establishment.

Steam-powered apparatuses were first introduced in the 1850s, allowing a greater quantity of water to be directed onto a fire; in the early 1930s they were superseded by versions powered by an internal combustion engine.

In World War II the Auxiliary Fire Service, and later the National Fire Service, were established to supplement local fire services. Before 1938, there was no countrywide standard for firefighting terms, procedures, ranks, or equipment (such as hose couplings). In the month of August in 1939 with war looking very possible the Fire Service’s act of 1938 came into effect. This unified Great Britain’s fire service and prepared them for the German war machine. During the London Blitz, 700 fire men and 20 fire women , as known during the time period died as a result of heavy bombing, 91 of these perished at the same time defending London. By the end of the London Blitz, 327 firefighters had lost their lives.

Following the war, leaps and bounds came to the fire service striving into the modern era. This included every firefighter being trained with the Mark 4 proto set and reverting to compressed cork helmets.

Firefighting improved even more with the introduction of the Dennis fire appliances that remain iconic in the UK to this day.

Sadly, despite the introduction of more advanced firefighting strategies, tactics, and equipment to British firefighting following the blitz, there have been nearly 300 firefighters killed.

United States

In January 1608, a fire destroyed many colonists’ provisions and lodgings in Jamestown, Virginia. By the mid-1600s, Boston, New Amsterdam (later New York City), and Philadelphia were all plagued by fires, and volunteer fire brigades began to form.

In 1736, Benjamin Franklin founded the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia, which became the standard for volunteer fire organizations. These firefighters had two critical tools: salvage bags and so-called bed keys. 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.

The first American attempt at fire insurance failed after a large fire in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1736. Later in 1740, Benjamin Franklin organized the Philadelphia Contributionship to provide fire insurance, which was more successful. The Contributionship adopted “fire marks” to easily identify insured buildings. Firefighting started to become formalized with rules for providing buckets, ladders, and hooks, and with the formation of volunteer companies. A chain of command was also established.