It is known that in Russia, where the forest has long been the main building material, one of the worst disasters was fires, often destroying entire cities. And although they were considered the punishment of God, this did not prevent them from decisive struggle. That is why the history of the Russian fire brigade is very rich and goes back centuries.
Attempts to fight fire in previous centuries
Since at all times fires were a serious obstacle to the development of the state, the supreme power, as far as possible, tried to take measures. There are many examples of this, even in bygone centuries. One of the historical documents that has reached us tells how, after the terrible Moscow fire that broke out in 1472, the great Ivan III (Ivan the Terrible’s grandfather), who personally participated in extinguishing it, issued a series of decrees with which, in essence, the development began fire brigade in Russia.
And the Rurikovich, and the Romanovs who replaced them, were also very determined to fight the fire. A whole series of their decrees is known that prescribe building only stone structures in cities (especially in Moscow), erecting them at a safe distance from each other, and taking all measures against fire. For those who, having violated the precepts, became the culprit of a fire disaster, the most severe punishment was provided - so that others could have science.
Fires of old Russia
But no matter how they whipped offenders, no matter how they demanded that in the hot summer months food was cooked only in yards, without lighting a fire in wooden buildings, nothing helped. There can hardly be at least one ancient Russian city that would spare the fire without repeatedly turning his house into ashes, because in those years there was no regular fire service.
In Veliky Novgorod, a fire in 1212 destroyed 4300 yards in a matter of hours, killing many residents. In 1354, Moscow was burning. It took only two hours an all-devouring flame to turn not only the Kremlin, but also the surrounding villages into steaming ruins. The same sadly remembered the year 1547, when another fiery disaster claimed several thousand lives in the Mother See. The creation of a fire department in Russia was an urgent requirement of life and was a response to the challenge posed by the elements.
Birth of a regular fire service
A big step in this direction was taken during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (father of Peter I). In 1649, he saw the light developed by him "Cathedral Code" - a set of laws of the Russian state, operating for almost two hundred years. Eight of his articles were devoted to issues related to fire safety, and not only in cities and villages, but also, importantly, in forests.
In the same year, another important document appeared - “The Order of the City Deanery”. It is with him that the history of the fire brigade of Russia begins, since it prescribes the creation of regular services on a professional basis, the employees of which are set a fixed salary.
It also provided for the introduction of round-the-clock duty, which included a detour of cities and punishment of those who violated the established rules for the treatment of fire. An impetus was given to the development of technical fire extinguishing means - it was recommended to use water-fighting pipes, which became the forerunners of modern water hoses, to combat fire. So a regular fire service appeared in Russia.
The development of firefighting before the revolution
The case, begun by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, was continued by his son, Peter I. During his reign, the history of the fire brigade of Russia reached a new qualitative level. Taking the staging of fire fighting in European countries as a model, he significantly modernized the technical equipment of Russian services by purchasing fire pumps for them abroad, equipped with leather sleeves and copper hoses. In the reign of Peter was created during the St. Petersburg Admiralty and the first fire unit. In Moscow, a full-time fire brigade appeared much later - only in 1804, by order of Tsar Alexander I.
During the reign of the next Romanov - Tsar Nicholas I - regular fire services ceased to be the property of only St. Petersburg and Moscow. Since that time, their creation begins throughout Russia, and the fire department with a towering tower above it becomes an indispensable attribute of each city. Very often this building was the tallest in the city, and even nearby villages could be viewed from it. In case of detection of a fire at the top of the tower, a signal flag was raised, and residents were informed about the scale of the disaster by special balls, the number of which was directly proportional to the area of ignition.
The history of the fire service of Russia in the 19th century was also marked by the creation of a number of enterprises for the production of equipment necessary for fire fighting. Fire pumps and hoses for them, folding stairs and hooks were made in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and with the advent of the first cars - equipment that allowed them to be used to fight fire.
Organization of fire fighting after the revolution
Much attention was paid to the organization of fire protection and came to power in 1917 by the Bolshevik government. Already in April of the following year, it issues a decree and establishes the post of Commissioner for Insurance and Fire Fighting. The first to be appointed to this position is M.T. Elizarov.
The country is obliged to him by the implementation as soon as possible of the measures provided for by the decree, and the creation of an extensive network of fire stations in the country. The following year, by decree of the government, the Central Fire Department was introduced into the NKVD structure, which has since carried out centralized management of fire services throughout the country.
Moscow Conference and Leningrad College
In order to further develop the fire brigade in 1923, the All-Russian Fire Conference was held in Moscow, in which, apart from delegations from various cities of the country, guests from Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia also took part. It is important to note that at the conference special attention was paid to the issues of fire prevention and it was deemed advisable that each fire department had an appropriate specialist.
The next important step in the fight against fire was the Fire College, which opened in 1924 in Leningrad. Its graduates became the personnel base on which in the following years a nationwide fire control system was formed, which later included the Voluntary Fire Department of Russia. This new structure, at that time, developed with the active assistance of the Komsomol and trade union organizations.
Contribution of science and industry to fire fighting
In the mid-twenties, the production of domestic fire equipment received a significant boost. Along with numerous models of pumps, mechanical ladders and smoke exhausters, the first Soviet fire engines also appeared. By the end of 1927, their fleet in the country was more than four hundred units. In the thirties, serious scientific development began, carried out within the walls of two specialized testing laboratories, in which graduates of the faculty of fire fighting engineers created in the same years worked.
Firefighters during the war
The history of the fire brigade of Russia during the Great Patriotic War became one of the pages of the heroic epic of those years. The fighters of the fire brigades saved numerous residential and industrial facilities from the fire, which became the target of enemy bombing and shelling. In Leningrad alone, over two thousand people died during the years of the blockade. It is no accident that during the Victory Parade, fire brigades marched along Red Square along with all combat units.
One of the problems of modern life
Experts say that in the modern world there is an increase in the number of fires, and the socio-economic consequences of them are becoming more severe. About five million fires are registered annually on the globe, in which more than one hundred thousand people die, and material losses from them are measured in tens of millions of dollars. A serious disaster is also natural fires - peat and forest fires, as well as those arising from emergency oil and gas developments.
All this forces experts to expand the search for new means of fighting fire and improve existing ones. It should be noted that long traditions have developed in this direction in Russia. It was in our country that the foam fire extinguishing technology was applied for the first time in the world, the world's best hydrant design was developed, and the first portable fire extinguisher appeared.
Day of Russian firefighters
The modern fire service is a complex and multifunctional system, which has the responsibility of extinguishing fires of various varieties of complexity. As a rule, tactical tasks are carried out by the guard on duty, but in some cases special units are involved, which includes a special fire department of Russia. In this case, we are talking about the localization of fires, threatening particularly dire consequences (oil and gas towers, nuclear facilities, weapons depots, and so on).
Russians respect and gratitude to those who protect their lives and property from the fire element. In 1999, a government decree was signed, on the basis of which a holiday appeared - Fire Day of Russia, celebrated annually on April 30. This day was not chosen by chance - it was on April 30, 1649 that the above-mentioned “Order on the City Deanery” appeared, which became the birthday of the Russian fire service.