70 Ancient Firefighting

Fire is both a friend and a foe. It is a friend when under control. It is a foe when out of control. Long ago, people found that fire could be put out by water. People were to work together. A line was formed. Buckets of water were passed along the line.

With bigger buildings, another problem arose. Fires spread quickly. Now the fire-fighters needed equipment. They needed hoses. They needed ladders. They needed pumps. The problem was solved in the 1600s. A company designed fire-fighting equipment. It was placed on a cart. Horses pulled the cart.

Great fires awakened people to the need for better equipment. In Paris, even hundreds of years ago, fire-fighters had uniforms. This gave their work a sense of order. The London fire of 1666 was a big event. It took two days to put out the fire. The fire destroyed much of London. It took the London fire to awaken people to the need for better equipment.

火既是朋友，也是敵人。當火受到控制時，它是朋友；當火失控時，它是敵人。很久以前，人們發現可以用水來撲滅火災。人們需要合作，排成一列，將水桶沿著隊伍傳遞。

隨著建築物變大，出現了另一個問題：火災蔓延得更快。消防員需要裝備，他們需要水管、梯子和幫浦。這個問題在 1600 年代得到解決，一家公司設計了消防設備，並將其放在馬車上，由馬匹拉動。

重大火災喚醒了人們對更好設備的需求。在巴黎，甚至幾百年前，消防員就有制服，這讓他們的工作更有秩序。1666 年的倫敦大火是一個重大事件，花了兩天才撲滅火災，並摧毀了倫敦的大部分地區。倫敦大火讓人們意識到需要更好的消防設備。