A Glance at Cincinnati's Firefighting History
Mission / Virtual Tour
Beginning with a brush fire in 1794, residents of Cincinnati have been battling flames for over 200 years.
In the beginning, pioneer fire fighters challenged fires with bucket lines. Men usually formed a line to convey water from the nearest source to the scene of destruction, while the women and children formed a second line to pass empty buckets back to the water source.
The bucket line method was slow and tedious, so it was quite relief in 1816 when the
Hunneman Pumper arrived at Washington Company No. 1. The Pumper threw a stream of water up to 133 feet while twelve men pumped for a few exhausting moments at a time.
As Cincinnati developed from a primitive town into a crowded metropolis, volunteer firefighting companies were formed to battle flames. This attempt at firefighting was not an easy feat. As many as 50 to 100 men per company dragged and toiled at their heavy and inefficient pumpers. Crowds of over-enthusiastic citizens were difficult to organize; everyone shouted, bells clanged, and firemen dashed into burning buildings. Nearby buildings were often drenched or even torn down to stop the fire from spreading. Curious onlookers got in the way and looters stole whatever they could.
Soon the independent volunteer fire companies began demanding payment for their
services from the insurance company or the property owner. Only the first arriving
companies got paid and this led to fierce competition. Volunteers would sabotage each
others equipment and beat off later arriving companies. These brawls often led to the building
burning down while the firemen fought with each other.
In the spring of 1853, the Fire Department Committee presented a plan that would completely
alter American fire fighting. The plan called for full time paid city employees using a
horse-drawn steam engine. The steam pumper allowed four or five men to affectively spray
more water on a fire than hundreds of volunteers using hand pumpers.
On March 16th, the City Council passed an ordinance to establish
the new organization effective April 1, 1853. As a result, Cincinnati provided the pattern for fire departments all over the country for the next 50 or more years.
It was Cincinnati inventors Abel Shawk and Alexander Latta who created "Uncle Joe Ross," the first successful steam fire engine. It had the capacity of the six biggest double-engine hand pumpers. "Uncle Joe Ross" tackled a fire in 1853 by supplying three hand
companies with water and at the same time throwing a powerful spray of water onto the fire. Cincinnati became famous world-wide for the design, development and manufacture of firefighting apparatus.
The Ahrens-Fox Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati became one of the most famous names in firefighting history by 1913. The company developed steam engines, replaced the horses with motorized tractors and produced compressed-air aerial ladders to reach windows of tall buildings.
Less than ten years later, the Cincinnati Fire Department became one of America's first fully-motorized fire departments. And by 1969, the fire department used its first diesel apparatus.
You can learn about Cincinnati history, fire safety and more by visiting the Cincinnati Fire Museum.
Each year over 25,000 people visit the Cincinnati Fire Museum, 14,000 of them are children on school field trips. Visitors can find leather fire buckets, silver trumpets, a gigantic 1808 fire drum and the oldest surviving fire engine in Cincinnati, an 1836 Hunneman hand pumper. Prevention and safety precautions are also emphasized throughout the displays.
The Fire Museum is both exciting and informative. Through interactive computers, visitors can learn about the bomb squad, chemical spills and the jaws of life. As for hands-on experience, visitors are free to slide down a real fire pole or flash the lights, wail the siren, ring the bell and "drive" a modern Emergency-One fire engine cab.
Visit the museum at 315 West Court Street.
Hours :
Tuesday through Fridays, 10AM-4PM
Saturday & Sunday Noon - 4PM
Closed Holidays
Hours are subject to change, please call ahead
first.
(513) 621-5553
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