The first fire brigades in the modern sense were created in
France in the early
18th century. In 1699, a man with bold commercial ideas,
François du Mouriez du Périer (grandfather of
French Revolution's general
Charles François Dumouriez), solicited an audience with King
Louis XIV. Greatly interested in Jan Van der Heiden's invention, he successfully demonstrated the new pumps and managed to convince the king to grant him the monopoly of making and selling "fire-preventing portable pumps" throughout the kingdom of France. François du Mouriez du Périer offered 12 pumps to the City of Paris, and the first Paris Fire Brigade, known as the
Compagnie des gardes-pompes (literally the "
Company of Pump Guards"), was created in 1716. François du Mouriez du Périer was appointed
directeur des pompes de la Ville de Paris ("director of the City of Paris's pumps"), i.e. chief of the Paris Fire Brigade, and the position stayed in his family until 1760. In the following years, other fire brigades were created in the large French cities. It is around that time that appeared the current French word
pompier ("firefighter"), whose literal meaning is "pumper". On March 11, 1733 the French government decided that the interventions of the fire brigades would be free of charge. This was decided because people always waited until the last moment to call the fire brigades to avoid paying the fee, and it was often too late to stop fires. From 1750 on, the French fire brigades became para-military units and received uniforms. In 1756 the use of a protective helmet for firefighters was recommended by King
Louis XV, but it took many more years before the measure was actually enforced on the ground.
In
North America,
Jamestown, Virginia was virtually destroyed in a fire in January, 1608. There were no full-time paid firefighters in America until 1850. Even after the formation of paid fire companies in the United States, there were disagreements and often fights over territory.
New York City companies were famous for sending runners out to fires with a large barrel to cover the hydrant closest to the fire in advance of the engines.
[citation needed] Often fights would break out between the runners and even the responding fire companies for the right to fight the fire and receive the insurance money that would be paid to the company that fought it.
[citation needed] Interestingly, during the 1800s and early 1900s volunteer fire companies served not only as fire protection but as political machines. The most famous volunteer firefighter politician is
Boss Tweed, head of the notorious
Tammany Hall political machine, who got his start in politics as a member of the Americus Engine Company Number 6 ("The Big Six") in New York City.
Napoleon Bonaparte, drawing from the century-old experience of the
gardes-pompes, is generally attributed as creating the first "professional" firefighters, known as
Sapeurs-Pompiers ("
Sappers-Firefighters"), from the
French Army. Created under the Commandant of Engineers in 1810, the company was organized after a fire at the ballroom in the Austrian Embassy in Paris which injured several dignitaries.
In the UK, the
Great Fire of London in 1666 set in motion changes which laid the foundations for organised firefighting in the future. In the wake of the Great Fire, the City Council established the first fire insurance company , "The Fire Office", in 1667, which employed small teams of Thames
watermen as firefighters and provided them with uniforms and arm badges showing the company to which they belonged.
However, the first organised municipal fire brigade in the world was established in
Edinburgh,
Scotland, when the
Edinburgh Fire Engine Establishment was formed in 1824, led by
James Braidwood. London followed in 1832 with the
London Fire Engine Establishment.
On April 1, 1853, the
Cincinnati, Ohio (USA) Fire Department became the first full-time paid professional fire department in the United States, and the first in the world to use steam fire engines.
