Citizen’s Fire Academy: First fire department was in ancient Rome

For the next four weeks, the Greenville Fire Department will be hosting a citizen’s fire academy. Alongside career and volunteer firefighters and other attendees, I will be learning about the department’s history, not in Greenville but the world in general.

Our first session began with an introduction to the very first signs of an organized fire service, that began in ancient Rome under the rule of Augustus.

The first recorded proof of a fire department was organized by Marcus Licinius Crassus, whose “firemen” were a group of slaves that numbered 500. It is said of Crassus that if a fire was reported, he would offer to buy the land on which the fire burned. If the owner refused to sell, he would forego the assistance he had offered, too.

The first record of an organized fire code in the United States comes from around 145 years before the nation would be formed. In 1631 Boston, the first organized fire codes were put in place, which stipulated that new buildings must be built with fire-resistant materials, such as brick. Before then, most structures had thatched rooves and wooden fire places. It wasn’t until 1648 that the first fire inspectors were appointed to Boston.

Benjamin Franklin is now considered to be the father of the modern fire department. He began by forming Union Fire Company, comprised only of volunteer firefighters. It began in Philadelphia in 1736. Many modern firefighting techniques are attributed to Franklin.

It wasn’t until 1853 that the first career fire department was formed in Cincinnati, Ohio. Until then, firefighting was only done on a volunteer basis.

Under this new fire department, the firefighters could earn a consistent salary and keep a job as long as they were physically able.

Our modern fire department in Greenville is equipped with up-to-date firefighting equipment. In all, our fire department consists of six full-time employees, three part-time, and 22 volunteers. Volunteers receive no pay, working only because they know the importance of the life-saving duties they are responsible for upholding.

It costs nearly $10,000 to outfit a single fighterfighter, and this only includes the equipment they wear.

Greenville Fire Department responds to calls within a 141 square-mile area, which includes everything from auto accidents, search and rescue, general public assistance calls, and of course, fires. If called, they will accompany neighboring departments, inside and out of the county, to help in fighting particularly troublesome fires.