how were fires put out before firefighters?

Question

i hear about these great huge fires in history, the london fire, the washington d.c fire, etc, but it makes me wonder how the hell they put it out. i just find it hard to believe that a pail of water from the wishing well would put a fire when even today we have trouble putting out those huge forest fires out and california that occur without much warning, then again, we still don't know how pyramids were made either......

please fill me in on the pyramid thing, seriously, my boyfriend can barely a dvd case without stuggling, please fill me in, i have never heard any concrete facts on how pyramids were made, just hypethetical ideas on how they may have been made

Answer 1

Based on the results of the fires you mentioned, there was no effective way of putting out fires. London, for instance, burnt to the ground for the most part. People probably fled the town and helplessly watched it burn. They had neither the equipment or expertise to put it out, which was why Benjamin Franklin's fire department idea was so revolutionary.

Answer 2

Actually it was a Bucket Brigade as they called it. There would be a line of people each with a bucket. That way there was always a bucket of water being brought forward and thrown on the fire. Not the greatest method but when you think about it, it is the basis of what we still use. Buildings were also placed apart by a certain length so the fire wouldn't usually spread. As to Forest Fires, well Indians or Native Americans, KNEW THE LAND. They didn't have the forest fires because they knew how to take care of the lands and forests. We don't WANT to do that today. We want a bunch of dead trees around and let them catch fire. Either that or we are anti-logging, view it as you wil.

Answer 3

From a logical attitude, why would they? If the fireplace is sufficiently small that you are able to use a hearth extinguisher to effectively placed out a hearth, there is basically no longer a want for firefighters. If there is not any longer a hearth extinguisher or some type of merchandise to placed a hearth out, firefighters would ought to go back to placed it out, besides the undeniable fact that they possibly does no longer like the idea of doing it. Firefighters specifically cope with higher fires, inclusive of workplace fires, domicile fires, bonfires that take position to lose administration, etc. desire my answer helps, Kevin.

Answer 4

Well, often fires would burn themselves out. When they didn't, you would have the Chicago, London, etc fires. And people would fight the fires using bucket brigades, but as you stated, it was not very effective. Another thing to remember is that buildings and cities were smaller in the past.

And, btw, we do know how the pyramids were made.

Answer 5

I wonder if in the "old days" they thought of destroying buildings in an area where the fire was approaching so it HAD to burn out, there was not more stuff to burn.. Like a fire ditch, or swatch of debris? Did they do that??

Answer 6

firefighters were precisly what u mentiond. a bunch of men with buckets of water. sometimes making long chains and passing buckets of water from one another to put out a fire. also in like egypt and old england and paris they had very simple pumps to cyphen water from one place to another. check out this website.

Answer 7

water lines of people carrying buckets.