Page 165 - How It Works - Book Of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, Volume 05-15

History

Who were USA’s

fi rst fi remen? put the fi ght in fi refi ghter
How the USA’s volunteers

oday, fi refighters are brave heroes Helmet

who come to our rescue with The reinforced dome
helmets made from
Tefficiency and professionalism, specially treated leather

but that hasn’t always been the case. had an angled brim so
During the late 18th century and early that water could run off
19th century, fi refighters in the USA didn’t the back.

have such a good reputation. Rather than
being employed by the government, they
were typically volunteers who had been
let off military service or jury duty, and Beard
were required to buy their own uniforms Firefighters would soak their

and equipment. beards in water, bite them,
Firehouses became like social clubs then breathe through them to
prevent themselves from
and when news of a fire broke, the inhaling fumes from the fi re.

volunteers would race those from other
fire companies to reach the scene fi rst,

dragging heavy hand-operated water
pumps with them. These competitions
Red shirt
often resulted in the fi refi ghters battling Bright red, bibbed shirts
each other instead of the fi re! helped people identify the
Soon, local gangs began associating fi refighters, and they soon

themselves with the firehouses, and the became a symbol of

fi refighters became involved in party elevated social status.

politics. This resulted in even more
violence, with the fi refi ghters sometimes

starting fires themselves. One
particularly lethal confrontation in 1856
became known as the Know-Nothing
riot, and saw several people killed at
Lexington Market in Baltimore. Speaking trumpet
By the mid-19th century, insurance Excited and noisy crowds
companies and the Republican Party would often come to watch

the fi refighters at work, so
were lobbying for a professional fi re they used brass speaking
service and when horse-drawn, trumpets to
steam-powered water pumps became relay commands.
available, the volunteers were replaced
with paid fi re departments.
Hose
The leather hose had

Fighting fires by hand seams were held together
by metal rivets to stop it
rupturing under the
Before steam-powered fire engines, fi refighters used hand- pressure of the water.

operated pumps to douse fires with water. These machines on
wheels would be pulled through the streets by horse or by the
fi refighters themselves. Some had to be filled by hand, with

so-called ‘bucket brigades’ of local helpers fetching water from
nearby sources, but others were equipped with a suction hose Leather boots
that could draw water directly from municipal hydrants. Knee-high leather boots
The fi refighters would then pump the long levers up were worn mainly to keep

and down to operate a set of pistons inside. The the fi refighters warm and
movement of the pistons would alternately suck water out dry, rather than protect
of the main tank and force it into a separate chamber. The air them from the fl ames.
trapped inside the chamber would maintain a constant pressure
helping to spray the water out through a hose. It requires an
exhausting 60 strokes per minute to pump the water effectively,

so teams of fi refighters would take turns to operate the machine © Corbis; Getty Images
for a few minutes at a time.
How It Works 165