Fire engine: Encyclopedia II - Fire engine - Brief history of firefighting equipment

Fire engine - Brief history of firefighting equipment

Ctesibius of Alexandria is credited with inventing the first fire pump around the second century B.C. The fire pump was reinvented in Europe during the 1500s, reportedly used in Augsburg in 1518 and Nuremberg in 1657. A book of 1655 inventions mentions a steam engine (called "fire engine") pump used to "raise a column of water 40 feet," but there was no mention of whether it was portable.

Colonial laws in America required each house to have a bucket of water on the front stoop (especially at night) in case of fire, for the initial "bucket brigade" that would throw the water at fires.

Philadelphia obtained a hand-pumped fire engine in 1719, years after Boston's 1654 model appeared there, made by Joseph Jencks, but before New York's two engines arrived from London.

By 1730, Newham, in London, had made successful fire engines; the first used in New York City (in 1731) were of his make (six years before formation of the NYC volunteer fire department). The amount of manpower and skill necessary for firefighting prompted the institution of an organized fire company by Benjamin Franklin in 1727. Thomas Lote built the first fire engine made in America in 1743.

The first fire engine in which steam was used was that of Braithwaite in 1829; Ericsson made a similar one in New York in 1840. John Ericsson is credited with building the first American steam-powered fire engine.

Until the mid-19th Century most fire engines were manoeuvred by men, but the introduction of horse-drawn fire engines condiderably improved the response time to incidents. The first self-propelled steam engine was built in New York in 1841. It was the target of sabotage by fire fighters and its use was discontinued, and motorized fire engines did not become commonplace until the early 20th Century.

For many years firefighters sat on the sides of the fire engines, or even stood on the rear of the vehicles, exposed to the elements. While this arrangement enhanced response time, it proved to be both uncomfortable and dangerous (some firefighters were thrown to their deaths when their fire engines made sharp turns on the road), and today nearly all fire engines have fully enclosed seatings for their crews.

Fire engine - Pumpers

Early pumpers used cisterns as a source of water. Water was later put into wooden pipes under the streets and a "fire plug" was pulled out of the top of the pipe when a suction hose was to be inserted. Later systems incorporated pressurized fire hydrants, where the pressure was increased when a fire alarm was sounded. This was found to be harmful to the system, and unreliable, and today's valved hydrant systems are typically kept under pressure at all times, although additional pressure may be added when needed. Pressurized hydrants eliminate much of the work in obtaining water for pumping through the engine and into the attack hoses. Many rural fire engines still rely upon cisterns or other sources for drafting water into the pumps.

Fire engine - Aerials

As buildings grew in height since the late 19th Century, various means of reaching burning tall structures have been devised. At first, manually-extendable ladders were used; as these grew in length (and weight) these were put onto two large, old-fashioned wheels. When carried by fire engines these ladders had the wheels suspended behind the rear of the vehicle, making it a very distinctive sight which disappeared from some Commonwealth countries only in recent years.

Before long, turntable ladder - which was even longer, mechanically-extendable, and installed directly onto a fire truck - made its appearance. Since the late 1930s, the longest turntable ladders have reached a height of 150 feet (45 metres) - so long, in fact, that some ladders in the USA have been mounted onto semi-trailers (the "Tiller Trucks"), with an extra crew sitting at the back just to steer the rear wheels!

After the Second World War turntable ladders were supplemented by the aerial platform (or the "Cherry Picker") attached onto a mechanically-bending arm (or "snorkel") installed onto a fire truck; while these could not reach the height of the turntale ladder, these platforms could extend into previously unreachable "dead corners" of a burning building.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Brief history of firefighting equipment", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki