Marcus Crassus became the richest man in Rome partly through real estate. He created the first fire department in Rome. Sometimes he paid arsonists to set fire to a house and then he would wait around the corner with his fire fighters. When the fire was underway, Crassus and his men would come running to the rescue. But before they put out the fire, Crassus would negotiate with the owner. How much was he willing to sell the house for? If the owner found this unreasonable, Crassus would patiently wait as the fire consumed the building. As time passed, the price for the house went down. Usually, the owner would decide to get at least something for his house. At that point, the fire department would put out the fire. Then Crassus would have the lot cleared and a tenement building put up.
In 6 A.D., Emperor Augustus created the first public fire department. It was greatly needed. Major fires were common in Ancient Rome. Most of the people lived in several stories high apartment buildings. They cooked in their apartments and used fire for heat. These insulae were right next to each other so fires would spread rapidly. Augustus’ fire department was called the vigiles urbani. It had 3,500 vigiles divided into seven brigades. They were armed with buckets. The public called them Sparteoli which means “little bucket fellows”. Since Rome had many aqueducts, water was readily available. They used vinegar-soaked blankets. They also carried axes to tear down adjacent buildings to keep the fire from spreading. They may have used ballistae to fire grappling hooks to pull down buildings. The vigiles patrolled the streets at night to try to prevent fires or to respond quickly to them. They carried swords so they could also act as a police force.
– Daily Life in Ancient Rome by Dupont p.54
https://ancient-history-blog.mq.edu.au/cityOfRome/Vigiles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefighting_in_ancient_Rome
0 Comments