Looking back at history, the world's earliest fire brigade originated from the Northern Song Dynasty, indicating that over a thousand years ago, although there were no fire trucks at that time, Chinese residents had developed a sense of fire prevention and awareness. The fire brigade of the Northern Song Dynasty was over 600 years earlier than the fire brigade in London in 1666 and over 800 years earlier than the full-time fire brigade in New York in 1853.
Learning to use fire is a crucial step in the history of human evolution. With the increasingly widespread use of fire, it has become a major problem that people must face and overcome.
Since the introduction of fire trucks at the beginning of the last century, after continuous development and improvement, they quickly became the main force of fire protection work and completely changed the face of human struggle against fire.
Five hundred years ago, there was a fire truck pulled by horses
In 1666, a fire broke out in London, England. The fire lasted for four days and destroyed 1300 houses, including the famous St. Paul's Church. Some medieval buildings were swept away in the fire. People are beginning to attach importance to the fire protection work in cities. Not long after, the British invented the world's first hand pump fire truck and used a water hose to extinguish the fire.
In 1673, Del Hayden of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, invented a soft water pipe made of leather for firefighting. In 1721, Richard Nesham of England invented a wheeled fire extinguisher that was more efficient than flexible water pipes. This type of fire extinguisher has people holding the handle to extinguish the fire, and people pushing the pedal to drive the pump barrel. Together, everyone can continuously spray water to extinguish the fire. Of course, this type of fire extinguisher is also installed on a carriage.
Steam pumps used for fire protection during the Industrial Revolution
Watt improved the Steam engine during the British Industrial Revolution. Soon, Steam engine was also used in fire fighting.
The fire engine powered by a Steam engine appeared in London in 1829. The inventor was John Braithwaite, the Steam engine engineer. However, this kind of vehicle still needs to be pulled by horses, and the rear is equipped with a fire pump which uses coal as fuel, is equipped with a soft water dragon belt, and is driven by a 10 horsepower double cylinder Steam engine.
The world's first specialized fire brigade was established in New York, USA in 1835, initially consisting of only four personnel. They receive prepaid wages and specialize in firefighting work. The following year, the fire brigade increased to 40 people. Later, it was named "Fire Police" and included in the sequence of urban police. The earliest steam powered fire truck in the United States was manufactured in 1841 by a British resident in New York, Pol R. Hogo. It can spray water onto the roof of New York City Hall.
By the end of the 19th century, Steam engine fire engines had been popularized in the West.
The earliest fire trucks were not as good as carriages
By the early 20th century, with the emergence of modern cars, fire trucks quickly adopted internal combustion engines as traction power, but still used steam powered water pumps as fire pumps.
At the car exhibition held in Versailles, France in 1898, the Gambier Company in Lille exhibited the world's earliest fire truck, although it was primitive and imperfect.
In 1901, the fire truck produced by Loyal Calidi Company in Liverpool, England, was adopted by the Liverpool City Fire Brigade. In August of the same year, this fire truck made its first mission. Driver George Beckett didn't wait for all the firefighters to get on the bus before he started the car. Due to the slow speed of the car, the firefighters who did not get on caught up from behind and jumped onto the car. When this fire truck arrived at the scene of the fire, even the subsequent fire carriages arrived. It is said that when it walks, it constantly backfires, so people give it the nickname "Ani farting".
1930
Sixty years ago, people referred to fire trucks as "candle trucks" or "candle trucks". It doesn't come with a water tank, and firefighters can only stand in the car to call the police and rescue. At that time, the "candle truck" did not come with a water tank, only a few water hoses of different heights and a ladder. The most interesting thing is that the firefighters at that time were standing on the car in rows holding handrails. This is indeed very dangerous! "It is said that the fire alarm number back then was 12886.
In the 1920s, fire trucks that relied entirely on internal combustion engines began to emerge. At this time, the structure of the fire truck was simple, mostly modified on the existing truck chassis, with water pumps and additional water tanks installed on the vehicle. The outside of the vehicle was hung with a fire ladder, fire axe, explosion-proof light, and fire hose.
Modern fire trucks are a big family
After more than a hundred years of development, today's fire trucks have become a stunning "big family" of various categories and technological levels.
Water tank fire trucks are still the most commonly used fire fighting vehicles in the fire brigade. In addition to being equipped with fire pumps and equipment, the vehicle also has large capacity water storage tanks, water guns, water cannons, etc., which can transport water and firefighters to the fire site to independently extinguish fires. Suitable for extinguishing general fires.
Using chemical fire extinguishing agents to extinguish special fires instead of using water is a revolution in firefighting methods for thousands of years. In 1915, American National foam Company invented the world's first double powder foam fire extinguishing powder made of Aluminium sulfate and sodium bicarbonate. Soon, this new fire extinguishing material was also used in fire engines.
It can rapidly spray a large amount of high expansion air foam of 400-1000 times, so as to isolate the surface of combustibles from the air, especially suitable for extinguishing oil fires such as oil and its products.
It can put out fires of combustible and Flammable liquid, combustible gas, electrified equipment and general substances. For large-scale chemical pipeline fires, the firefighting effect is particularly significant, and it is a commonly used fire truck in petrochemical enterprises.
With the improvement of modern building standards, there are more and more high-rise buildings, and fire trucks have also undergone changes. Cloud ladder fire trucks have emerged. The multi-level ladder on the ladder fire truck can directly transport firefighters to the location of a fire on a high-rise building for timely disaster relief, which can rescue those trapped in the fire in a timely manner, greatly improving the ability to extinguish fires and provide disaster relief.
Nowadays, fire trucks have become increasingly specialized. For example, carbon dioxide fire trucks are mainly used to extinguish fires involving valuable equipment, precision instruments, important cultural relics, and books and archives; The airport rescue fire truck is dedicated to extinguishing aircraft accidents and rescuing personnel on board; Lighting fire trucks provide lighting for nighttime firefighting and rescue work; Smoke exhaust fire trucks are particularly suitable for extinguishing fires in underground buildings and warehouses, among others.
