Afire department (North American English) orfire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as afire company, fire authority,fire district,fire and rescue, orfire service in some areas, is an organization that providesfire prevention andfire suppression services as well as otherrescue services.
Fire departments are most commonly apublic sector organization that operate within a municipality, county, state, nation, or special district. Private and specialist firefighting organizations also exist, such as those foraircraft rescue and firefighting.[1]
A fire department contains one or morefire stations within its boundaries, and may be staffed byfirefighters, who may beprofessional,volunteers,conscripts, oron-call.Combination fire departments employ a mix of professional and volunteer firefighters.[2] In some countries, fire departments may also run anambulance service, staffed by volunteer or professionalEMS personnel.
Fire departments are organized in a system of administration, services, training, and operations; for example:
A fire service is normally set up where it can have fire stations,fire engines and other relevant equipment strategically deployed throughout the area it serves, so thatdispatchers can send fire engines, fire trucks, orambulances from the fire stations closest to the incident. Larger departments have branches within themselves to increase efficiency, composed of volunteers, support, and research.
Most places are covered by apublic sector fire department, which is established by a local or national government and funded by taxation. Even volunteer fire departments may still receive some government funding.
The typical size of a fire department varies greatly by country. In the United States, firefighting is usually organized on a municipal level. Some municipalities belong to "fire protection districts" that are served by the same fire department, such as theSan Ramon Valley Fire Protection District in California. Austria,Germany and Canada also organize fire services at a municipal level. InFrance, fire services mostly cover onedepartment. In the United Kingdom, most fire services cover one or morecounties, while Scotland and Northern Ireland each have a single fire service. In Australia, state governments run the fire services, although three states have separate agencies for metropolitan and rural areas. Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, and the Philippines have national fire and rescue services.
Fire departments may also provide other, more specialized emergency services, such asaircraft rescue and firefighting,hazardous materials response,technical rescue,search and rescue, andwildland firefighting.
In some countries or regions (e.g., the United States, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau), fire departments can be responsible for providingemergency medical services. TheEMS personnel may either be cross-trained as firefighters or a separate division ofemergency medical technicians (EMTs) andparamedics. While some services act only as "first responders" to medical emergencies, stabilizing victims until an ambulance can arrive, other fire services also operateambulance services.
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The earliest known firefighting service was formed inAncient Rome byMarcus Egnatius Rufus who used his slaves to provide a free fire service.[3] These men fought fires usingbucket chains and also patrolled the streets with the authority to imposecorporal punishment upon those who violated fire-prevention codes. The EmperorAugustus established a public fire department in 24 BCE, composed of 600 slaves distributed amongst seven fire stations in Rome.[4]
Fire departments were again formed byproperty insurance companies beginning in the 17th century after theGreat Fire of London in 1666. The first insurance brigades were established the following year.[5] Others began to realize that much money could be made from this practice, and ten more insurance companies set up in London before 1832: The Alliance, Atlas, Globe, Imperial, London, Protector, Royal Exchange, Sun Union and Westminster.[6] Each company had its ownfire mark, a durable plaque that would be affixed to the building exterior. Although a popular legend says a company's fire brigade would not extinguish a burning building if it did not have the correct fire mark, there is little evidence to support this; evidence shows insurance companies required their firefighters to fight every fire they encountered.[7]
Amsterdam also had a sophisticated firefighting system in the late 17th century, under the direction of artistJan van der Heyden, who had improved the designs of bothfire hoses and fire pumps.[8]
The city ofBoston, Massachusetts established America's first publicly funded, paid fire department in 1678.[9][10][11]
Fire insurance made its debut in the American colonies in South Carolina in 1736, but it wasBenjamin Franklin who imported the London model of insurance. He established the colonies' first fire insurance company inPhiladelphia named the Philadelphia Contributionship,[5] as well as its associatedUnion Volunteer Fire Company, which was an unpaid (volunteer) company.[12]
A document dated in 1686 informs about the payment system of four so called "fire servants" (German:Feuerknecht) inVienna, which is the official founding year of the Vienna Fire Department.
In 1754,[13]Halifax, Nova Scotia established theHalifax Regional Fire and Emergency, which is today Canada's oldest fire department.
In 1764,Haddonfield, New Jersey established the second oldest fire company in the United States.
Another early American fire department, staffed by unpaid volunteers,[14] was established in the city ofPetersburg, Virginia in 1773.[15][16]
In the 19th century, cities began to form their own fire departments as a civil service to the public, obliging private fire companies to shut down, many merging their fire stations into the city's fire department. In 1833, London's ten independent brigades all merged to form the London Fire Engine Establishment (LFEE), withJames Braidwood as the Chief Officer.[17] Braidwood had previously been the fire chief inEdinburgh, where the world's first municipal fire service was founded in 1824, and he is now regarded, along with Van der Heyden, as one of founders of modern firefighting.[8] The LFEE then was incorporated into the city'sMetropolitan Fire Brigade in 1865 underEyre Massey Shaw.
In 1879, theUniversity of Notre Dame established the first University-based fire department in the United States.[18]
The first motorized fire department was organized in 1906 inSpringfield, Massachusetts, whereKnox Automobile had developed the first modernfire engine one year earlier.[19]
