Fires, Fights and Benjamin Franklin: Philadelphia\’s Volunteer Firemen, Part One

(From \”The Franklin Hose Song,\” c. 1850)

Tracing their roots back to a proud roster of founding fathers and fires fought, he volunteer fire companies that preceded the establishment of the Philadelphia Fire Department combined the best and worst traits of the city they served. Community-minded, innovative and tough, Philadelphia\’s amateur firemen also earned a reputation for brawling, boozing and bitter rivalry equal to anything ever reported to have happened in the parking lot after an Eagles game.

A rapidly growing city of \”about 700 dwelling houses,\” Philadelphia had no fire service to speak of in the early 18th century. Though bucket brigades had existed in New England since the 1690\’s, it would be decades before anyone took an organized approach to colonial emergency services. Meanwhile, Philadelphians doubtless looked nervously at the eminently combustible wooden warehouses along the Delaware waterfront, the boiling pitch-cauldrons and glowing forges of nearby shipyards and the pitiful resources the city could muster to protect its citizens.

During a fire, the victim depended on civically-minded neighbors with their own buckets, ladders, rope and hooks, the latter being used both to pull valuables from burning structures and to tear down buildings in the fire\’s path to keep it from spreading An English fire engine was purchased for the city around 1718 – partly funded through fines collected from a colonial smoking ban enacted against those \”presuming to smoke tobacco in the Streets of Philadelphia either by day or night\” – but wasn\’t much of a help; clumsy water-tanks on wheels, engines had to be hauled to the site of the fire, pumped by hand and continuously refilled by bucket chains.