History of the Fire truck

F I R E T R U C K S By: Manas Singh

The fire engine, better known as the fire truck, is an amazing invention which most of us could not live without. This creation saves countless lives every day, so it wouldn’t hurt to know a bit about its history. As one could imagine, dealing with fires before was considerably more difficult. An early device used to disperse water onto fires was known as a fire syringe or simply a squirt. These were made before the first fire pump, which was innovated around 100 B.C. The fire pump was reinvented once again much later, during the 16th century. Firefighting still being inefficient, laws in colonial America required each house to have a bucket of water on the front stoop to prepare for fires during the night. A Philadelphian model of a hand-pumped fire engine was created in 1719, which was years after the Bostonian model that was made in 1654; neither saw much successful use. However, by 1730, Richard Newsham had constructed the first successful fire truck. Not too long afterwards, in 1737, Benjamin Franklin founded an organized fire company. The earliest engines were called “hand tubs” because they were manually powered, and the water was supplied by a bucket brigade that dumped the water into a tub where the pump had a permanent intake pipe. In 1822, a version of the engine was created which could draft water from a water source by itself, instead of having to rely on outside manpower to supply it. That same year, another model called the Hydraulion was crafted. It could also

draw water by itself, and is believed to be the first suction engine. The earliest engines were small, and were usually carried by four men. The engines soon became horse drawn, and eventually, self propelling steam engines were devised by John Ericsson, who is said to be the first American to build a steam-powered engine. In 1905, the idea of combining gas engine motor trucks and fire engines was introduced. The same year, a company in Springfield known as Knox Automobile Company started to sell what is known as the first modern fire engine. Afterwards, a few adjustments were made, like closed-in seats and doors, and the fire engine we have today was established. One of the greatest inventions of all time, the fire truck, saves lives every day, and will continue to grow and help our community every day.