Fire Service History

The fire service has long-standing traditions dating back to the 18th Century, whether it is the color red on fire apparatus or the shape of their helmets. Some traditions are important in the American fire service while others traditions are dangerous or unneeded practices but still, exist for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest challenges to making changes requires the changing of the culture within the fire service.

The history of the fire service is a long and colorful tale dating all the way back to ancient Rome where it first began. Perhaps one of the most important characters of that time, roughly 250 A.D., was Saint Florian von Lorch, now known as The Patron Saint of the Fire Service. Florian von Lorch was a captain in the Roman Army, who had the reputation of being a brave and fierce soldier. Rome recognized the need for a fire service and more importantly, someone to lead that service. They recognized the need for a strict and disciplined leader and soon called upon Saint Florian to train and lead the new fire service. Florian did such an outstanding job with his new found role that they then promoted him to General. Soon after rising to such a

Serving the community is one of the core values of the Franciscan Tradition, likewise it is equally important to the fire department. With dependence on Our Lord for guidance, the department will endeavor to serve all people with love, compassion, respect, and integrity. As a result, the department is often found educating the community in fire safety, specifically conducting fire drills, and delivering and installing smoke detectors to those in need. The department’s “Get Out Alive” initiative on instructing on how to make egress in case of a fire, becomes more beneficial when the driver is experiencing problems at the pump. The fire service serves every community, for all are God’s children, with love and compassion

One of the most courageous acts of mankind in this world is fire fighting. Not many people may know this, but Benjamin Franklin was the founding father of firefighting. “In 1736, Franklin proposed volunteer fire companies that would gather men quickly to extinguish a blaze.” (Gausted 35) After a huge Philadelphia fire, Franklin founded Philadelphia’s first fire company – the Union Fire Company, the very first fire department. Franklin stated “I sought to explain what caused them and how one could prevent such fires in the future” (McCormick 151) Franklin was very interested in learning more about the situation and was concerned about the health and safety of everyone affected. Without his idea it would have been long before actual fire companies were started.

Their website has a dull appearance, but offers a broad range of links for more information on fire department related topics. A unique link that Lincoln Fire offers not found on the other websites examined is to a fire department evaluation form that has some drop-down boxes and a narrative box for the user to provide more comments or information. The website also has phone numbers listed in several places which are very useful. The Lincoln Fire Department website also provides about informing the public about their accreditations and affiliations to national organizations which add the appearance of a well-trained and highly professional department. The Lincoln Fire Department website also offers links to their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube social media

This very department works with the FDNY, with their history dating back as far as 1854, making it as Louis Garcia & John Mulligan said, “One of the oldest existing investigative agencies in the world.” Why did it begin in 1854? This was because of a man named Alfred E. Baker, a reporter for The New York Herald, who began to conduct investigations and reports of these fires happening in the city. Not too long after, a guy by the name of Alfred Carson began to suggest that someone should be investigating these fires. Many years later the NYC Fire Department was replaced by a State mandated, career volunteer fire department named the Metropolitan Fire District, (now more formally known as the FDNY). By a series of acts, the department took over the Fire Marshal’s office, which also took over the Police department, thus creating the Bureau of Fire Marshal. Finally in the 20th Century, the BFM was formally renamed to the Bureau of Fire Investigation, living up to their motto, “Truth from the

Chicago had an extremely dry season leading up to the fire causing very ignitable conditions. In 1871, the Chicago Fire Department had 185 firefighters and 17 horse-drawn steam engines in the entire city. The fire department responded quickly. However, Matthias Schaffer, the watchman on duty, sent the firefighters to the wrong place, allowing the fire to grow rapidly.

Based on what I read, the answer to protecting firefighter is a combination of policy, procedure implementation, and training. These are important not only to prevent death, but also to prevent any types of injuries. The Jersey City Fire Department (JCFD) trains its members on the Incident Command System and there are procedures for the members to use it (New Jersey Division of Fire Safety, 1993, p. 5). Additionally, they are trained to use the Jersey City Incident Command System (JCICS), based on the National Fire Academy’s system. Better yet, the members of the JCFD use the JCICS on all incidents. The JCICS would help to avoid miscommunication among the emergency personnel. The JCFD also provide firefighters with ladder training daily. The

The institutions we currently have are not very old. Fire regulations came to the Americas in sixteen thirty one, in Boston (“The History of FireFighting”). These were just regulations, there were no organised fire departments at this time. The Modern fire departments we have today in America started to develope in sixteen forty eight, in New York. They appointed fire wardens to be in charge of the various groups of firemen (“The History of FireFighting”). The firemen, in this case, were similar to the Romans. They were not completely organised, but they were ready to put out fires when called upon. Advancement in the fire service continued in England after the Great Fire of London in sixteen sixty six. Insurance companies began creating fire

It is a blistering hot, dry day and everyone in your neighborhood is in their lawn with their barbeques burning and having a good time. All of a sudden, the family pet dog, Sparky, runs by and knocks over the charcoal grill on accident, the ashes land on the dry landscaping adjacent to the house and a blaze begins. Flames spread and start to burn the siding on the house and before you know it, the whole backside of the house is on fire. Now, in a moment like this, who would you call? The local fire department of course! As these men go in a burning building, dawning SCOTTs air packs and full turnout gear, and risking life and limb, how did these firefighting brigades begin?

The firefighters are the parts you usually encounter first in exploring yourself. Their job is to handle the world and protect against the pain of the exiles. (Earley, 2016). Exiles take on pain and burdens from what they experienced as children (or occasionally at other times). Locked away, hidden deep in the psyche, the younger parts are often barely detectable. Acting like Exiles, they are locked away in an earlier time, still feeling the same hurt. We may view theses Exiles as in some sort of time warp unable to understand other parts

When you hear the words “Fire Department” what do you think of? For most people the first thing that comes to mind is a big red truck with flashing lights and loud sirens and horns. Or people in bunker gear, helmets and air packs carrying axes and hoses. But it was not always that way. In the beginning it was nowhere near how it is today.

There has been change throughout generations in firefighting tactics/certification, and in structures. For example, in the mid to early 1900’s, the type of wood to use during construction for one and two family-dwellings changed. Prior to the change, dwellings were built with heavy timber which absorbed more heat. When dwellings were on fire, there was more time to save property and lives. Now with today’s dwellings, the construction is lightweight wood such as cedar. Then with lightweight material and more items to combust which makes the fire grow and spread, without properly having the right flow, there can be backdraft. So with modern fire behavior now, firefighters have to somewhat tell the future. Firefighters now have to take more training

In 1730, a ship caught fire and the fire spread to all warehouses and burned three neighboring houses. This fire incident lead Benjamin Franklin to advocate for help within the community to help extinguish fires in order to protect people and properties. For this reason, in1736, Benjamin Franklin co-founded the Union Fire Company. It was the first formally organized all volunteer fire company in the colonies and was shaped after Boston’s Mutual Fire Societies (Benjamin Franklin History, n. d.).

Firefighting is a hard job with long hours and typically long hours off as well. Firefighters are responsible for saving people’s lives and rescuing people who are trapped inside blazing fires. “Roman Emperor Augustus created regulations for checking and preventing fires they were known as the watchmen.The equipment used in early modern times and ancient Rome was very basic. Their method was very time consuming and most of the water was lost while it bounced around being passed” (“History of FireFighting”).They perform many duties in an independent manner, but working as a team can be a very vital part of being a firefighter. Being a firefighter is a very rewarding job and can also be challenging for many people. In this paper, you will learn about what it takes to become one, career requirements and qualifications, working conditions and salary, typical day, future needs for the career, and the interest in the career.