Among all the disasters that visited long-suffering Russia, fires were the most frequent, because for centuries the main building material from which urban and, especially, rural buildings were built was wood. Whether they were sent down due to human sins from above, or arose due to someone's oversight, but they always had to be fought, and therefore the history of the fire department is inseparable from the history of our country.
Museums about fighting fire
The expositions of the fire protection museums operating all over the country tell about the ways in which the development of fire fighting in Russia went. The largest of them, created in 1957, is located in Moscow on Durova Street. The halls of the museum contain exhibits recreating the history of fighting fire from the time of Ivan the Terrible to the present day.
No less interesting is the Museum of Fire Protection in St. Petersburg, located at 73 Bolshoy Prospekt V. O. times - the era of Peter I, his expositions are also of great interest and contain a lotunique exhibits. In addition, fire protection museums have been established in Samara, Yekaterinburg, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo and Krasnodar. Each of them contains materials covering the development of not only the local fire service, but also the fight against fire in Russia.
In general, the collections of fire protection museums in Moscow, St. Petersburg, as well as a number of other cities of the country and the funds of historical archives allow us to recreate a picture of how Russians from ancient times tried to resist fiery disasters that regularly visited them.
State decrees aimed at fighting fire
The history of the fire department, reflected in the archival documents that have come down to us, originates from a number of decrees issued by the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III ─ Ivan the Terrible's grandfather, after a terrible fire that devastated the capital in 1472.
In them and subsequent regulations, which were already published in the era of the Romanovs, it was strictly prescribed in cities (and especially in the capital) to erect stone structures as far as possible and build them at a fire-safe distance from each other.
In addition, a number of other measures aimed at preventing fires were listed. As regards the violators of the highest decrees, and even more so the persons who caused the fires, the most severe pen alties were provided.
However, no matter how many townspeople were flogged in the squares, who, contrary to the royal decree, dared to cook food at home in the hot summer months and make fire indoors, and the eternal Russian "maybe" always prevailedover elementary fire safety rules. As a result, fiery disasters sometimes took on such terrifying proportions that entire cities were destroyed.
Terrible fires of past centuries
Suffice it to mention just a few events that are told about by the expositions of almost all of the above fire protection museums ─ they had such serious consequences in the life of the state. First of all, this is the fire of 1212, which destroyed 4,300 courtyards of Veliky Novgorod in a matter of hours. About a thousand citizens became its victims.
In 1354, the fire that engulfed Moscow in two hours turned not only the Kremlin, but also the adjacent settlements into smoking ashes. Equally disastrous for the capital was the fire that occurred in 1547. Then several thousand inhabitants of the Mother See died in its fire.
The birth of the fire service of Russia
The response to the challenge posed by the raging elements was the creation of special fire brigades in Russia. For the first time they were established on the basis of a document developed in 1649 with the participation of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and called the "Order on the City Deanery". According to its provisions, professional fire brigades appeared in all major cities of the country, whose employees were paid a fixed salary.
The same decree ordered fire brigades, in addition to conducting round-the-clock duty, to make preventive detours of the territories under their jurisdiction and identifypossible violators of the rules for handling fire. In addition, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich attended to the creation of means of fighting fire, ordering the use of water pipes for this purpose, which became the prototype of the current hoses.
A new stage in the development of the domestic fire service
The years of the reign of Peter I became a period when the organization of the fire department rose to a new qualitative level. In particular, fire equipment was modernized, many samples of which the tsar specially purchased abroad. Thanks to him, the first pumps equipped with leather sleeves and copper hoses appeared at the disposal of Russian firefighters.
Then the first fire department in Russia was established under the Admir alty of St. Petersburg. In Moscow, a regular fire service appeared relatively late. The decree on its creation was issued by Alexander I only in 1804.
Fighting fire in the 19th century
The next sovereign, Nicholas I, who ascended the throne in 1825, made sure that the regular fire service ceased to be the lot of only St. Petersburg and Moscow. Under him, firefighting units appeared in almost all large settlements of the country.
An integral part of each fire station, the tower, in many cases became the tallest building in the city, from which it was possible to survey all nearby villages. In the event of a fire being detected, a special flag and signal balloons were raised on it, the number of which was directly proportional to the size of the hearthfire.
Significantly improved by that time and fire equipment. Many of its authentic examples can be seen both in the Moscow Museum of Fire Protection and in the expositions of other complexes similar to it. In the 19th century, the equipping of fire departments with the necessary equipment was facilitated by the creation in Moscow and St. Petersburg of enterprises that launched the production of not only fire pumps and hoses for them, but also all related equipment: folding ladders, gaffs, as well as protective equipment necessary for fire fighting.
Old helmets of firefighters, issued during the 19th and early 20th centuries, are an indispensable attribute of almost all museums of this kind. An integral part of their exposition is also equipment that came into use immediately, as soon as the fire departments began to use cars that replaced horse traction.
Fire prevention measures taken by the Bolsheviks
In the St. Petersburg Museum of Fire Protection, a special place is given to the organization of the fight against fire in the post-revolutionary years. There are original documents telling about the establishment in April 1918 of the Commissariat for Insurance and Fire Fighting. M. T. Elizarov became its first leader.
Thanks to his efforts, an extensive network of fire stations equipped with the latest equipment for that time was urgently created in the country. The following year, the government took additional measures to strengthen the fire brigades. By order of the Council of People's Commissars in the structure of the NKVD,the most powerful organization of that period, established the Central Department, which led the leadership of the fire departments of the entire country.
History of firefighting in the Soviet period
In 1924, the first fire technical school opened in Leningrad, which marked the beginning of the creation of the personnel base on which the formation of a nationwide fire supervision system was going on in the future. An important place in it was occupied by structures subsequently created on the initiative of the Komsomol and various trade union organizations. The most famous of these was the Volunteer Fire Brigade, whose branches soon appeared throughout the country.
The years of the Great Patriotic War, in which its fighters were at the forefront of the fight against fire, became a heroic page in the history of the fire service. It is known that in Leningrad alone more than 2,000 of them gave their lives. And it is no coincidence that in May 1945, firefighters marched victoriously along Red Square along with all combat units.
Celebration in honor of people of a heroic profession
Today, the fire department has become a complex multifunctional system capable of localizing and then extinguishing fires of any complexity. In its arsenal there are the latest achievements of modern technology. As a sign of respect for the people of this dangerous, but so necessary profession at all times, the government of the country in 1999 established a holiday ─ All-Russian Day of Fire Protection.
