Fire prevention and fire extinctionBraidwood, James
History
Fire prevention and fire extinction
Braidwood, James
Fire extinction; Fire prevention
Although regarding the training and discipline of firemen as of the
first importance in the organization of a fire brigade, Mr. Braidwood
gave a large share of attention to the improvement of fire-engines and
their kindred appliances. While in Edinburgh, where the steepness of
many of the streets, and the roughness of the pavements in the older
parts of the town prevented the rapid and easy movement of heavy
engines, he recommended and adopted a lighter description, but in
London he recognised the necessity for greater power. Mr. Tilley, then
a fire-engine maker in the Blackfriars'-road, ably seconded his
efforts, and at length the distinctive type known as the London Fire
Brigade Engine was produced, and which, weighing about eighteen cwt.
when ready for service, would throw eighty-eight gallons of water per
minute, and, in short trials, as much as 120 gallons in the same time.
This engine was mounted upon springs, and in strength and ease of
working presented a marked improvement upon those which had preceded
it. Its ordinary working complement of men was twenty-eight, and
larger engines, upon the same general design, have since been made, to
be worked by from forty-five to sixty men. The steam fire-engine has
already, to a certain extent, superseded the brigade engine, but the
latter is still likely, for some time at least, to be preferred for a
large class of fires, both in London and in the provinces.
Mr. Braidwood at an early date adopted the ordinary military scaling
ladders to the purposes of his brigade, two being placed on each
engine, and at his recommendation ladders were also placed on a
two-wheeled carriage as a convenient fire-escape. He also induced the
Admiralty, in 1841, to adopt hose-reels in the various dockyards,
these implements having been previously in successful use in New York.
In 1848 he was induced, in consequence of the large number of small
fires to which his engines were called out, to adopt a small hand-pump
as an auxiliary to the fire-engine. This could be rapidly brought to
bear, and although worked by but one man, the value of a small
quantity of water thrown directly upon the seat of a small fire was
found to be greater than that of perhaps twenty times as much when
thrown about in the ordinary manner. It was of great importance also
in warehouses stored with valuable goods, to throw the least necessary
quantity of water upon a fire. These hand-pumps still form an
important part of the present apparatus of the brigade, and they have
been widely adopted elsewhere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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