While humanity has had the need to put fires out ever since fire was discovered, the first organized fire service was started by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC. Augustus assembled what were called Vigiles or "Watchmen", which patrolled the streets of Rome looking for fires to put out and also acting as a policing force for the city. The main pieces of equipment used by the Vigiles were buckets, pumps, hooks, ropes, and axes ("Fire Departments"). While the Vigiles of ancient Rome was a good start, fires would continue to spark and destroy the great cities of the world.
London, while experiencing large fires in 798 AD, 982 AD, and 986 AD, did not have an organized fire brigade until after the Great London Fire of 1666. This fire destroyed 2 square miles of the city, turning thousands of residents out into the streets. The first London fire brigades were private and formed by insurance companies to combat the damaging blazes that destroyed their client's properties. At this time, fires were still being fought by passing water buckets. It was not until six years after the Great Fire of London that the fire hose was invented by a Dutchman named Jan Van der Heiden (Wikipedia). From Europe to America fires would burn throughout the ages requiring fire services of one type or another to be formed.
In the British colony of New Amsterdam (later to become "New York City") in 1648 the first Fire Wardens were appointed to patrol and prevent fires by inspecting the chimneys of houses and businesses. In 1736 Benjamin Franklin organized the first volunteer fire department in America known as the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia (Wikipedia). Despite the progression of organized fire service in America, advances were coming more rapidly back in Europe.
In 1725, a man by the name of Richard Newsham of London England developed the first fire engine. This device was simply a cart with manually o
...