Fascinating fire service story for kids

On the road, a bright red fire truck rushes somewhere with a siren roar. Probably, somewhere there was an ignition, and a team of brave rescuers is in a hurry to eliminate it. Do you guys know the history of the fire service in our country?

First fire brigades

The history of the emergence of a service to combat devastating fires begins in Ancient Russia. Our country has always been rich in forests, so people built houses from wood. Even a small fire in one house instantly spread to neighboring buildings. Entire cities and villages were destroyed, as no measures were taken to extinguish them.

Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Nikolai Dmitrievich "Fire in the village"

The first mention of measures that stop the spread and occurrence of fires are found in the collection of laws "Russian Truth" of the 12th century. Unofficial fire departments appeared during the reign of Ivan III. The Russian ruler recruited fire fighters from the army, but these measures did not even save the capital.

During the entire reign of Ivan III, Moscow completely burned out 10 times! The following rulers did little to develop the fire business, limiting themselves only to issuing decrees on the proper use of stoves. Historians believe that one of the reasons for such destructive fires is popular superstition. People considered fire to be the punishment of God, so they refused to extinguish even their own homes.

The first tsar of Russia, Ivan the Terrible, began to carry out global transformations of the fire service. In the middle of the 16th century, a decree was issued obliging all people to hang vats of water on the roofs of their houses. The archers became firefighters. These warriors were distinguished by good discipline and organization.

Throughout the city there were several settlements (places of residence), which made it possible to quickly send a nearby detachment of archers to eliminate the fire. Firefighters were armed with axes and reeds (long axes in the shape of a crescent), which allowed them to make their way through the rubble. It is worth noting that our country was the first in the world to use military units to fight fire. This experience was later adopted by the countries of Europe and Japan.

Creation of an official civil service

The first version of the fire service appeared under Alexei Tishaish in the twenties of the 17th century. Its number was at first small, just over a hundred people, later the team of firefighters increased to five hundred. The first fire station was the building of the Zemsky Cathedral. The young king issued decrees that fixed the rules of behavior with fire, obliging each yard to have copper pipes and wooden buckets for water supply. Aleksey Romanov introduced harsh punishments for arsonists.

And so the young tsar ascended the throne of Russia, and in the future the first emperor of our country, Peter I. He ordered his beloved city of Petersburg to be completely built of stone, to place buildings at a safe distance from each other.

At first, the protection of the new capital was entirely entrusted to its inhabitants. In 1710 there was a terrible fire that completely destroyed the Great Gostiny Dvor overnight. Peter I ordered the construction of water and observation towers throughout St. Petersburg, and a detachment of drummers was created to quickly detect a fire, sounding the alarm in case of danger.

After the official fire department was established. Its employees were armed with water pipes, axes, helmets, shields, ladders and hooks. And in the second half of the 18th century, a fire wagon train was established - the progenitor of modern fire engines. At the end of the century, firefighters began to be divided into firemen, employees and cabbies.

Creation of fire departments throughout Russia

At the beginning of the 19th century, the government decides to create fire departments not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also in all cities of the Russian Empire. There was a lot of work to be done. It was obvious that using the population in the fight against fires was inefficient. It is necessary to train specialists who quickly and efficiently eliminate fires.

Emperor Alexander I issues a decree dividing St. Petersburg into 11 parts with one brigade for each. Residents were exempted from alternate duty as night watchmen. The staff of specialists was increased to almost a thousand in large cities, new positions appeared.

Most of the fires were due to improper construction of houses.. Now, according to the issued decree, the construction of one-story wooden buildings at a distance of less than 25 meters from each other was prohibited. Two-story wooden houses were also included in the list of violations. The lower floor is necessarily stone. For violations of the established regulations that ensured safety from fire, the builders were responsible.

In 1857, in addition to professional security detachments led by the police, the townspeople created volunteer fire brigades, civilian teams. The city government regulated their work and activities. The volunteer detachments themselves had a clear structure. These associations have the following goals:

Fire brigades appeared even in villages and villages.

There were 5 steam pumps in St. Petersburg, one of them was brought from England. They allowed to pump more water. It was during the described period of the history of Russia that the first fire truck in the country was invented, the production of the necessary equipment, equipment and clothing was established.

The profession of a firefighter at that time was very difficult, exhausting and traumatic. Firefighters worked in one shift for 15-16 hours a day. In addition, almost half of them became disabled and more than twenty percent died.

Fire service in the USSR

Even after the revolution, no less attention was paid to the problem of fires in the country. The public figure Mark Timofeevich Elizarov was appointed by the government as the first head of the USSR on fire safety, who managed to implement many measures to organize fire protection in many cities.

All-Union fire meeting in the capital,