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"John Broadbent, (late of King-street, Westminster) now of Piccadilly, Engine-Maker . . . ," London, England, 1749.
From the collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
This mid-eighteenth-century broadside, or one-page advertisement, for a fire engine manufactured by John Broadbent describes the benefits of using the device for fighting fires as well as for some non-fire-related purposes.
Much as it does today, fire presented a mixed blessing to eighteenth-century citizens. Fire was the primary source of heat for cooking and warmth, and candles and lanthorns served to illuminate the dark. Many people cooked their meals on open hearths or iron stoves. In large houses, wood- or coal-burning fireplaces were strategically placed in main living areas and bedchambers to keep residents warm.
While it provided heat for cooking and comfort, fire also posed a great threat to dwellings. Most eighteenth-century structures consisted of wood in the walls, ceilings, floors, and furniture. Though brick was used, it was a more expensive material and so was found mostly in large edifices and public buildings. People did take steps to minimize the spread of fire. For example, household kitchens were often located in separate buildings away from the main house, and some towns such as Williamsburg, Virginia, laid out buildings in a noncontiguous fashion with large areas of open land surrounding many structures. However, in most urban areas, buildings were constructed very close together, which allowed fire to spread rapidly from one structure to another.
During the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, firefighting methods in the American colonies consisted largely of buckets, ladders, and sheer labor. People drew water from wells, troughs, or ditches, and then passed buckets along a line of men and women up to the fire—an endeavor known as a "bucket brigade." When possible, people carrying buckets of water would climb ladders set against a burning structure to douse the fire through windows and other openings. This method was effective only if the fire had not become large enough to prevent people from getting close enough to apply the water. Usually, the involved structures were severely burned or totally destroyed by a fire. The main problem was that insufficient quantities of water could be placed on the hottest areas of the fire before it grew too large to be doused by water.
The first "modern" fire engines were developed in Europe in the sixteenth century. These fire engines were equipped with hand pumps and stitched leather hosepipe, which enabled firefighters to work closer to a fire and increased the accuracy of the water placement. In 1756, Williamsburg acquired a fire engine, most likely a Newsham engine from Great Britain. John Broadbent's broadside describes how the 3½-foot width of his engines them to be manuevered "through any narrow passages and up a stair case into the door or window of a room where a fire may happen." Twin-cylinder pumps operated by as many as twenty people (on the largest of his engines) sent a continuous stream of water a distance of nearly 150 feet. Important selling points, to be sure.
The broadside also describes how the fire engine was adaptable to situations in which water sources were not close enough for a suction pipe to supply the pump: "These engines have sufficient room for pouring in water where the suction-pipe cannot be applied, [because] two-thirds of the cistern" is open. A "bucket brigade" was formed to provide a constant supply of water into the cistern while several other men operated the engine's pumping levers. A continuous flow of water from the branch of the engine made it possible to accurately spray water through open windows and reach areas inaccessible to individuals with buckets. Just as it is today, eighteenth-century firefighting was hot, smoky, and dangerous.
Source: This article was written by Greg Timmons, freelance writer and education consultant, Missoula, Montana.
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