The Practical Fireman

Crucible of Fire: Nineteenth Century Urban Fires and the Making of the Modern Fire Service

    Our long-term survival and development of society depended on the control of fire. Mastery of fire required knowledge and the development of accepted practices for control. City-dwellers grew dependent on fire for their survival; they had to learn to control it. Humans learned to follow fire control practices every day to ensure preservation of the means of survival, whether in a primitive or industrial society. Failure to follow the rules carried a high price, even death.

    Urban conflagrations terrorized the citizens of nineteenth-century American cities. Rebirth in the aftermath of fire offered a chance to shape the future. Sometimes they got it right and other times, they repeated earlier mistakes. The fires set people and organizations into motion with the common goal of learning how to control and prevent urban fires. Ultimately, our urban landscape witnessed change in the methods of constructing buildings, planning of city streets, engineering of water distribution systems, underwriting of fire insurance, and firefighting itself. The practical knowledge gained from fighting nineteenth-century fires gave form and function to modern fire protection efforts.   

    The fires formed a crucible of learning for firefighters, engineers, architects, and underwriters. This blog and the book Crucible of Fire provide a veteran firefighter’s perspective into the context from which modern firefighting developed. My intent is to help readers understand the modern fire service through the lens of history.

Published June 2011 by Potomac Books. 

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Reviews and Endorsements for Crucible of Fire...

    "I love this book. Crucible of Fire tells in just one well-written volume everything about the history of firefighting that until now would have required reading a hundred volumes. It also explains the necessity of reforming the mission of fire departments, while it successfully argues why the traditional bravado of interior firefighting should be reconsidered. Written by an experienced firefighter, this important book is destined to become a standard reference guide for anyone interested in the art and science of firefighting and in the profession of running a fire department. Any fire chief who does not read this book ought to think about hanging up the chief’s helmet.”
-- Dennis Smith, author of Report from Ground Zero and founder of Firehouse magazine

    "In crisp, clear prose that is accessible to the layperson as well as the seasoned firefighting pro or buff, Bruce Hensler looks at the long history of American firefighters, celebrating their achievements while making cool, level-headed judgments about what would make their job safer. I was struck both by Hensler’s passion for the culture and tradition of firefighting and his honesty in dissecting how that culture sometimes can be counterproductive. The average citizen will learn a great deal about the mechanics of firefighting from Hensler’s descriptions, while professionals may be challenged by his blunt conclusions and prescriptions for the future."
-- Stephanie Schorow, author of Boston on Fire and The Cocoanut Grove Fire and editor of Boston’s Fire Trail: A Walk through the City’s Fire and Firefighting History

Fire-bombing and the air war against European cities

My new FireRescue1 column opens with a three-part series on the incendiary bombing of European cities by air in World War II. The first article covers basic research conducted into the best methods for fire-raising of urban areas by aircraft. The second article focuses on the great air raid that nearly destroyed the German city of Hamburg.

My new FireRescue1 column

I am now writing a regular monthly column for FireRescue1 on firefighting history. My first feature article is part one of a three part series on the use of fire in the air war over Europe during World War II titled, Learning to Burn Down Cities.

UL Fire Studies for firefighters

The links here are for two of the many studies by UL (Underwriter's Laboratory) for firefighters. If you fight fires and especially command fire operations you must check out these two studies.

UL - Basement Fires

UL - Impact of Vertical Ventilation

 

Another Deadly Lesson

The 2012 US toll of fire fatalities just added nine individuals from a Charleston, WV house fire where smoke alarms were not installed properly or were non-existent. An attempt last month by city inspectors to look at the dwelling and offer assistance with smoke alarms was stalled when they were denied entry because no adult was present. Responding fire crews faced a home engulfed in flames, upon entry they discovered five victims and concluded there were a lot of people in the house. All of us in the fire service should feel responsible for this tragedy. Read the fire service blogs and forums and the discussions are focused on fire suppression, apparatus, and equipment and next to nothing on what should be our number one priority--fire prevention.

Lessons we fail to learn can kill

I found something in an article (The Problem of Fire in Nineteenth Century British Cities: the Case of Glasgow by author Shane Ewen) that quoted from a 19th century report on the hazards of masonry fireplaces and wood frame construction reminding me that no matter how advanced we think we are we are not even close to getting it right.

It is only a century and a half after that report was produced and I am still reading fire reports on this very same problem in modern homes. A recent residential fire in eastern Pennsylvania was due to the combustion of wood framing that lacked sufficient clearance from the masonry fireplace. In this fire, fortunately, these was no loss of life only property damage. And nothing in my recent memory is as tragic as the loss of life this past Christmas holiday season in the in Connecticut house fire that was caused by an occupant's improper disposal of hot fireplace ashes.

We know how to safely construct fireplaces in framed buildings and the safest way to dispose of hot ashes, but for some reason we keep forgetting. Until we get the lessons right we'll keep burning down buildings and killing one another.

Firefighters, seat belts save lives

    In my area, in the past week, a young, no, a very young man died, he was a volunteer firefighter. He died tragically and there are many who will say his death was needless, even though he was responding to a fire.

    In review and critique of an incident or event we qualify and quantify facts, and put actions into context. At the same time that I think it unfair to pass judgement, I also believe it necessarily to find the take-away message, to do that demands that we assess what happened.

    He was for his age well trained, he had recently completed a certified firefighter training program and was about to complete training as an emergency medical technician. He ambition was to be a career firefighter and he tested well in the entrance exam for a large department in a bordering state. The evening he died, he responded to the scene of a garage fire driving his own vehicle. Not far from home he lost control of the vehicle, likely due to excessive speed. The vehicle rolled and he was ejected. He was, apparently, not wearing a seat belt. His actions killed him, it is difficult to draw any other conclusion without more facts.

    That he was a volunteer firefighter will be what some critics focus upon or that he was in his own vehicle. That is unfair and misses the point. Not so many years ago, a young career firefighter died while driving his private vehicle too fast for road conditions; he was responding to a call-back for emergency duty because of a major fire. Some accidents are avoidable.

    The take-away point is slow down and wear your seat belt, we've had fires before and we'll continue to have them, they will be extinguished, with or without your help.

Chicago Fire Department - NFFF video

The Chicago Fire Department may be about to attempt a culture shift within its ranks. Watch this video made by the CFD in conjunction with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. EVERYONE GOES HOME!

Thank you for reading Crucible of Fire

I want to thank everyone who purchased my book, Crucible of Fire, in 2011, I hope that you enjoyed reading the story of firefighting history as much as I enjoyed the research and writing.

The Bel Air Fire, 50 years ago

This old film footage - Design for Disaster - is a treasure for fire service historians. The Bel Air conflagration is famous and helped to motivate California's fire service back in 1960s to develop a fireground and incident command system. The value of that early work has paid itself in dividends in the organized mobilization of emergency forces for today's wildfires. Even if none of the ICS stuff matters to you, if you like the LAFD of that era you'll enjoy watching this film narrated by William Conrad.

Chilean firefighters in action

Back in February of 2010, I was impressed by the confidence, capability, and capacity of Chile's emergency response forces to handle the destructive earthquake that occurred just their coast and their refusal of major aid from other countries, notably the US. Today I came across a video of firefighters in the city of Osorno, Chile attacking a structure fire.

There are two great things to look at in this video. One, is the footage taken prior to the fire department's arrival. This fire is like the fires of decades ago in the US before our homes and businesses became filled with plastics. This fire in Osorno is in a wood frame and given what you see of the fire's dynamics and products of combustion the room and contents are mostly of wood, paper and natural materials, very little plastic. Read the smoke! The second thing is to watch the fire fighting forces on the attack, they do a great job!