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[Illustration: Jas. Braidwood]
FIRE PREVENTION
AND
FIRE EXTINCTION.
BY
JAMES BRAIDWOOD,
FIRST SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LONDON FIRE-BRIGADE, AND ASSOCIATE OF
THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
INCLUDING
FIRE-PROOF STRUCTURES, FIRE-PROOF SAFES, PUBLIC FIRE BRIGADES, PRIVATE
MEANS FOR SUPPRESSING FIRES, FIRE-ENGINES, FIRE ANNIHILATORS,
PORTABLE FIRE-ESCAPES, WATER SUPPLY
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, MEMOIR, AND PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR.
LONDON:
BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET.
1866.
[_The right of Translation is reserved._]
CONTENTS.
MEMOIR.
PAGE
Introductory, Early Fires, Fire Engines, and Fire Brigades 5
Mr. Braidwood's birth and education 7
Great Fire of Edinburgh, and appointment as head of Brigade 8
Award of Silver Medal of Society of Arts, London; publication
of work on Fire Engines 11
Formation of London Fire Brigade; appointment as Superintendent 13
Testimonials received upon leaving Edinburgh 14
London residence and routine of duty 16
Valuable services of the Royal Society for the Protection of
Life from Fire 17
Statistics of Fires; improvement of Fire Engines 18
Introduction of ladders, hose reel, and hand pump 19
Floating Fire Engines, hand worked and steam; Land Steam
Fire Engine 20
Inspection of Government Dockyards and Public Buildings;
establishment of a standard hose coupling 21
Admitted an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers;
award of Telford Medal; endeavours to restrain the erection
of immoderate-sized warehouses 22
His opinion as to the inadequacy of London Fire Brigade;
Great Tooley Street Fire 23
Death of Mr. Braidwood 24
Public funeral 25
Public and private character 28
World-wide esteem in which he was held 30
Poem--A True Hero 32
FIRE PREVENTION, INCLUDING FIREPROOF STRUCTURES--CAUSES OF FIRES.
Inattention in the use of fires and lights 33
Advantages of a legal inquiry into the cause of Fires 37
Improper construction of buildings 37
Acts of Parliament for buildings in London 39
Results of improper construction of warehouses in Liverpool 41
Arrangements for the safety of the audience in theatres 42
Danger from furnaces and close fires 43
Danger from pipes conveying products of combustion 44
Spontaneous ignition; use of gas 45
Incendiarism; monomania 46
FIREPROOF STRUCTURES.
What is fireproof construction 47
Use of cast and wrought-iron 49
Mr. Fairbairn's experiments 50
Danger to life from use of cast-iron columns 54
Report on warehouses 55
Covering timber with iron 56
Fireproof dwelling-houses 57
Fireproof safes 58
FIRE EXTINCTION, INCLUDING FIRE BRIGADES, FIRE
ENGINES, AND WATER SUPPLY--FIRE BRIGADES.
Individual exertions for Fire Extinction 59
Fire Brigades on the Continent of Europe, in England, in America 66
Necessity for the control of arrangements by one individual 67
Proposal for a national system 68
Fire Engines at noblemen's and gentlemen's residences 70
Training and discipline of Firemen 71
General instructions for Firemen, and for the use of Fire Engines 72
Necessity for the water striking the burning materials 74
Inventions for elevating branch pipes considered 76
LONDON FIRE BRIGADE.
General description of men and engines 79
Division of London into districts 81
General regulations 82
Conditions of entrance into the establishment 83
Outline of general duty 85
Duties of Superintendent 88
" Foremen 90
" Engineers 93
" Sub-Engineers and Firemen 94
EDINBURGH FIRE BRIGADE.
Description of men selected 96
Mode of communicating with Firemen at a Fire 97
Dress and drill of Firemen 99
Gymnastic exercises 104
General regulations 106
Duties of Police 107
" Superintendent of Brigade 109
" Head Enginemen 110
" Firemen, and High Constables 111
" Magistrates, and Gas-Light Companies 113
Special regulations for Firemen 114
Means of escape from Fire 118
FIRE ENGINES.
The application of manual power 123
Engines used by the British Government 124
Description of Brigade Fire Engine 126
Hand Pump; keeping Fire Engines in order 130
Selection of Engine House 132
Apparatus provided with London Brigade Engine 133
Leather hose 134
Hose couplings 140
Suction pipes 143
Jet pipes, proper shape 145
Fire annihilator 149
WATER SUPPLY.
By pressure, from surface of ground, and by sunk tanks 150
Experiments with jets under a constant pressure 153
Fire plug used in London 155
Canvas cistern and stand-cock used with fire plug 156
Double fire-cock used in the Government Dockyards 158
Double hollow key fire-cock used in the British Museum 159
Supply by Water Companies in London 162
Supplying Fire Engines from fire-cocks, &c. 163
APPENDIX.
Steam Fire Engines, progress in construction 166
Trials before the Jury of the International Exhibition, 1862 168
Trials at the International Competition, London, 1863 173
Steam Fire Engines in use by Metropolitan Brigade, May, 1866 181
Act of Parliament for Metropolitan Fire Brigade 182
Establishment of Metropolitan Fire Brigade 197
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Portrait of Mr. Braidwood on steel by Jeens,
from a photograph by Williams Frontispiece.
Longitudinal section of Brigade Fire Engine 124
Transverse section of ditto 125
Old coupling for hose 140
New ditto, ditto 141
Branch and jet pipe 145
Opening in sunk tank for suction pipe 151
Fire plug used in London 155
Fire plug with canvas cistern 156
Fire plug with stand-cock 157
Single fire-cock 158
Double fire-cock used at dockyards 158
Double fire-cock used at British Museum 159
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
The appearance at the beginning of last year, in the Annual Report of
the Institution of Civil Engineers for 1861 and 1862, of a short
memoir of Mr. Braidwood, suggested the publication of a more extended
account of the life of the late head of the London Fire Brigade,
combined with his opinions upon the subject of his profession.
These opinions are comprised in a work on "Fire Engines, and the
Training of Firemen," published in Edinburgh in 1830; two papers upon
cognate subjects read before the Institution of Civil Engineers, two
similar papers read before the Society of Arts, and in a variety of
reports upon public buildings, warehouses, &c. While regretting the
great loss that the public has sustained, in being deprived by Mr.
Braidwood's sudden death of a complete record of his long and varied
London experience, it has been considered advisable to republish the
above materials arranged in a systematic form, omitting only such
parts as the Author's more matured experience rendered desirable, but
confining the whole to his own words.
LONDON,
_June, 1866._
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
_To his work "On the Construction of Fire-Engines and Apparatus; the
Training of Firemen; and the Method of Proceeding in cases of Fire,"
published in Edinburgh, in 1830._
Not having been able to find any work on Fire-Engines in the English
language, I have been led to publish the following remarks, in the
hope of inducing others to give further information on the subject.
For the style of the work I make no apology; and as I presume no one
will read it except for the purpose of gaining information, my aim
will be obtained if I shall have succeeded in imparting it, or in
directing the public attention to the advantage which may be derived
from the systematic training of Firemen.
MEMOIR
OF
JAMES BRAIDWOOD.
The history of mankind, from the earliest times, has been one of
alternate peace and war with fire. The immeasurable value of its
obedience, and the fearful consequences of its insubordination, have,
in all ages, made its due subjection one of the most important
conditions of even human existence itself. As camps and trading
stations grew into populous cities, the dangers of fire were both
multiplied and aggravated. Its ravages in the ancient capitals of the
world are matters of history; and it is established that something
like organization was extended to the means then employed for
suppressing conflagrations. Even the fire-engine itself, in a
practicable, although imperfect form, was described and illustrated by
a sectional working drawing, by Hero of Alexandria, in a book written
by him more than one hundred years before the Christian era. In its
many translations, from the original Greek into Latin and into modern
tongues, Hero's book, with its remarkable series of drawings, still
occupies a place in the mechanical literature of our own time. But,
although the construction of the fire-engine was thus known two
thousand years ago, we have no actual evidence of its use until within
the last two centuries; and within the whole compass of English
history, at least, we know that nothing like discipline and
organization, in the modern sense of the terms, were introduced into
the management of fire apparatus until a time quite within the
recollection of the middle-aged men of our own day. If there be
anything apparently improbable in this fact, we need only recollect
that many of the grandest triumphs of human genius, with which we are
already so familiar, are not yet forty years old. The modern system of
English fire brigades belongs wholly to the period of railways, steam
navigation, and electric telegraphs, and it owes nearly all to the
genius and disciplined heroism of a single individual, James
Braidwood, who, but little more than four years ago, fell--as nobly
for himself as sadly for others--at his chosen post of duty. What,
when he first gave his energies--indeed, his whole heart to it, was
but the rough and unskilful employment of the fireman, became under
Mr. Braidwood's command and his infusing spirit of order and
intelligence, as distinguished from reckless daring, a noble pursuit,
almost rising in dignity to a profession, and indeed acknowledged as
such by many, and significantly, although indirectly, by Royalty
itself.
Until the year 1833, not only the parish engines of the metropolis,
numbering, as they did, about three hundred, but the engines also of
the Fire Insurance Companies, were comparatively inefficient and often
out of order, while they were also under the most diverse, if not
irresponsible management. There were no really trained firemen, and
those who controlled and worked the engines were oftener in antagonism
with each other than acting in concert. The parish engines were in the
care of the beadles, and in one case a beadle's widow, Mrs. Smith, for
some years commanded one of the city engines. The energies of each
band of firemen were commonly reserved for the protection of property
only in which their own insurance company or parish was immediately
interested. As a rule, whatever water was thrown upon a burning
building was dashed against the walls, windows, and roof from the
outside only, very little if any really reaching the actual seat of
the fire within. As a consequence, fires, which are now quickly "got
under," were then left to burn themselves out, the spreading of the
fire being prevented either by deluging the contiguous buildings with
water, or by pulling them down altogether.
James Braidwood was born in Edinburgh in the year 1800. His father was
a well-known upholsterer and builder, who appears to have chosen for
his son the profession of a surveyor. To this end he was entered at
the High School, then under the rectorship of Mr. (afterwards
Professor) Pillans, and here, and subsequently under private masters,
the youth received a sound education in the branches most appropriate
to his intended pursuit in life. He was for some time engaged in his
father's business, and thereby gained an amount of practical
knowledge, which was of, perhaps, as much service to him in his
subsequent career as a fireman, as it would have been had he adopted
the profession originally chosen for him. Young Braidwood was an apt
student, a fact, perhaps, sufficiently attested afterwards by his
successful authorship, at the age of thirty, of the only English work
then extant upon the fire-engine and its proper management. He read
much, wrote well, was a good draughtsman, and had a sound knowledge of
mechanics. But whether his powers required wider scope than a
surveyor's practice could offer, or whether, more than forty years
ago, and in Edinburgh, the chances of professional success were very
much less than now, James Braidwood soon turned his mind to what
became the great work of his life. He was becoming known for activity
and a high order of personal courage, and there were those in place
and power who saw in him the other elements of character which go to
make a successful leader of men. He was soon, and when but
twenty-three years of age, made the superintendent of the Edinburgh
fire engines, and he almost as soon began to reform their inefficient
and vicious system of management. He had held his post but three
weeks, however, when the series of fires broke forth which still bear
the name of the Great Fire of Edinburgh. Many of the old and lofty
houses in the High Street were destroyed, between four and five
hundred families were made houseless, ten persons were either killed
outright or fatally injured, and for several days nearly the whole of
the High Street, if not the larger part of the old town, was
threatened with destruction. Never were the consequences of want of
organization more conspicuous. There was no real command, for there
were none to obey; and while those who might have stopped the flames
at the outset, wasted their own energies in random efforts, or,
perhaps, fell to quarrelling among themselves, the fearful devastation
rolled on. The occasion was sufficient to induce the authorities and
insurance companies to listen to and profit by Mr. Braidwood's
recommendations. They consented to bear in common the expenses
necessary to organize and maintain an efficient brigade. This was soon
formed of picked men, who, although daily engaged in their former
ordinary occupations, were regularly inspected, trained, and exercised
early in one morning of every week. Fires were becoming more and more
numerous year by year; but the influence of the improved system was
soon felt. The men were taught to improve to the utmost the first few
minutes after an alarm was given, and by constant emulation and
discipline, a spirit of wonderful readiness was cultivated in them.
They were trained to seek out and follow up the source of a fire
before it had had time to spread, and to throw the water from the
engines directly upon it, instead of wastefully, if not injuriously
about. The result was, that while out of forty-eight fires which
happened in the first year of the history of the brigade, eleven
proved total losses, and twelve "considerable" losses, the number of
total losses decreased rapidly, year by year, while the whole number
of "calls" was almost as rapidly increasing. Thus in the second year
of the brigade there were eighty "calls," of which seven were total,
and eighteen considerable losses. In the next three years, with from
ninety-four to one hundred and ninety-four "calls" yearly, there was
but one total loss in each year, and but from nine to eighteen
"considerable" losses.
Mr. Braidwood was meanwhile improving the fire-escapes, and when new
engines were added to the force, he procured better workmanship. By
his personal influence, also, more than by the mere advantage of
official position, Mr. Braidwood secured the constant co-operation of
the police in giving the earliest alarms of fire, and in facilitating
the labours of the firemen when actually on duty. As has just been
shown, the results of method, applied skill, and of a personal
devotion cultivated under the high impulse of immediate public
observation and approval, were soon manifest. To this vast improvement
the _Edinburgh Mercury_, as representing the opinion of the citizens
of the Scottish capital, bore public testimony in its issue of August
14, 1828, when the Fire Brigade of that city had been tested by nearly
five years of constant trial, and with conspicuous success. Referring
to the excellent organization of the establishment, it was remarked
that there were then but few, if any, serious fires in Edinburgh, for
when a fire broke out--and the alarms were as frequent as ever--it was
speedily checked. Said the writer:--
"Not only is the apparatus constructed on the best possible
principles, but the whole system of operations has been
changed. The public, however, do not see the same bustle, or
hear the same noise as formerly; and hence they seem
erroneously to conclude that there is nothing done. The fact
is, the spectator sees the preparation for action made, but
he sees no more. Where the strength of the men and the
supply of water used to be wasted, by being thrown against
windows, walls, and roofs, the firemen now seek out the spot
where the danger lies, and creeping on hands and feet into a
chamber full of flame, or smoke, often at the hazard of
suffocation, discover the exact seat of danger; and, by
bringing the water in contact with it, obtain immediate
mastery over the powerful element with which they have to
contend. In this daring and dangerous work men have
occasionally fainted from heat, or dropped down from want of
respiration, in which cases the next person at hand is
always ready to assist his companion, and to release him
from his service of danger."
In a fire which happened while Mr. Braidwood was at the head of the
Edinburgh Brigade, he won great admiration by bringing out from the
burning building a quantity of gunpowder which was known to be stored
there. He would not ask any of his men to undertake this dangerous
feat, but, amidst the breathless suspense of thousands of spectators,
he coolly searched for and safely carried out, first one, and then a
second, cask of this explosive material. Had the fire reached the
powder, it was known that the worst consequences of the conflagration
would have been immensely increased.
The fame of the Edinburgh Brigade rapidly spread throughout the
kingdom, and it gradually became regarded as a model to which all
other organizations for the suppression of fires would ultimately be
made to conform. As a response to constant inquiries from a distance,
Mr. Braidwood, in 1829, forwarded to the Society of Arts, London, a
description of his chain-ladder fire-escape. For this invaluable
apparatus, which had already effected a considerable saving of life,
the Society's Silver Medal was awarded, and, accompanying the award,
the Council of the Society extended an invitation to the author to
"give a complete account of his mode of drilling firemen, and
combining the use of fire-escapes with the ordinary fire-engine
service." Responding to this invitation, Mr. Braidwood in the
following year published his work "On the Construction of Fire-Engines
and Apparatus, the Training of Firemen, and the Method of Proceeding
in Cases of Fire." From this work, which may still be regarded as an
authority, extensive extracts have been made in the subsequent
chapters of the present volume, and it need not, therefore, be further
referred to here than to say that it formed a thoroughly original
account of an original system, and that its illustrations, which were
especially clear, were drawn by the author's own hand. This work
attracted much attention from municipal bodies and insurance companies
throughout the kingdom, and more than one official deputation visited
Edinburgh to learn from Mr. Braidwood himself the details of a system
which was already working such important results. In London,
especially, three West India warehouses had been burnt in the year
1829, with a loss of 300,000_l._; and with the extending use of gas,
the increasing frequency of fires, and the conspicuous inefficiency of
the parish engines, and the want of unity of action among the
insurance companies, it was felt that what had answered so well in
Edinburgh would prove still more valuable in the metropolis. The
general estimation in which Mr. Braidwood's services were then held
may be considered as expressed in the following, among other
contemporary reviews of his book:--
"The Edinburgh Fire-engine Establishment is now all but
perfect. A unity of system has been accomplished, and a
corps of firemen mustered, who, in point of physical vigour
and moral intrepidity, are all entitled to be denominated
chosen men. At the head of this band stands Mr. Braidwood,
an individual who has on several occasions given abundant
evidence of promptitude in extremity, and a noble contempt
of personal danger, and whose enthusiasm, in what we may
call his profession, could not have been more strikingly
exemplified than by his illustrating it in the manner we now
see before us. It is the only book we are acquainted with
that treats of the systematic training of firemen; and from
the perspicuity of its details, it must necessarily become
the manual of all such institutions, and ought to find a
place in every insurance office in the United Kingdom."
It had been from time to time attempted to bring the fire apparatus of
the London Insurance Companies under a single management; but it was
nearly ten years after the establishment of the Edinburgh Fire
Brigade, and only when Mr. Braidwood himself had been invited to come
to London, that this was at last effected. As for the parish engines,
they were wholly neglected under this arrangement, and, indeed, a
great number of them had been already allowed to fall into disuse, as
far as could be permitted without incurring the penalties of the
Statutes of 1774. On the 1st January, 1833, at the instance of Mr.
Ford, of the Sun Fire-office, eight of the insurance companies formed
an association of fire-engines and firemen, each company withholding
its own distinctive name and badges from the united force. This was
known as the London Fire-engine Establishment. It was supported by the
companies in common, each in proportion to the premiums received from
its business in London, a minimum rate being fixed. Each company
contributing to the support of the establishment nominated one member
of the committee of management. This association existed for
thirty-three years, when on the 1st of January, 1866, the Metropolitan
Board of Works took charge of the fire-engines and the general fire
establishment of the metropolis. Mr. Braidwood took the command of the
London Brigade thus formed at the onset. The Edinburgh Fire-engine
Committee, on accepting his resignation, presented him with a gold
watch, and a vote of thanks, "for the singularly indefatigable manner
in which he had discharged the duties of his important office, not
merely by his extraordinary exertions on occasions of emergency, but
for the care and attention he had bestowed on the training of the
firemen, whereby the establishment had been brought to its present
high state of efficiency." He had previously received from the men
under him a handsome silver cup, bearing the following
inscription:--"Presented to Mr. James Braidwood, by the City of
Edinburgh Firemen, as a token of their admiration of him as their
leader, and of deep respect for him as a gentleman."
As in Edinburgh, the London Fire Brigade under Mr. Braidwood's
superintendence became a new force, and in every respect a remarkable
organization. Where the inefficiency of the old firemen could not at
once be made to yield to discipline, they were pensioned off; and
within a short time a select band of active, hardy, and thoroughly
trained men was formed. In 1834, the second year of Mr. Braidwood's
superintendence, the Houses of Parliament were burnt; and a most
destructive fire occurred also at Mile-end. The first-named fire
created general consternation, and there are many persons who can
still recollect that also at Mile-end. These great fires stimulated
Mr. Braidwood to increased exertions, and the result was soon visible
in the lessened proportion of totally destroyed premises to the whole
number of fires. The brigade had, of course, no power of prevention,
and alarms of fire were becoming more numerous than ever. The use of
friction matches and of gas was increasing enormously; manufactures,
and the steam-engines and machinery for conducting them, were being
rapidly multiplied; and with the vast progress making in the
production of cotton goods, the use of cotton curtains and
bed-furniture was becoming common in dwellings forming a large
proportion of the metropolis, but in which, not long before, such
articles were either regarded as luxuries or were altogether unknown.
The total number of fires attended by the brigade in the year 1833,
exclusive of chimneys on fire, was 458, while in 1851 the number had
risen to 928; and although London had been growing all this time, it
had not doubled in size to correspond with the increased number of
fires. But while the total yearly number of fires, since the formation
of the brigade, has shown a large and hardly interrupted increase, the
number of cases of total destruction has almost as steadily
diminished. Thus, "totally destroyed" was reported of 31 fires in the
year 1833, whereas in 1839 there were but 17 cases, and the average
for twenty-one years, from 1833 to 1853 inclusive, was but 25-1/2
yearly, while at the present time, with all the vast growth of London,
the average, under the continuance of Mr. Braidwood's system, is
hardly if at all greater.
Mr. Braidwood from the first exhibited excellent judgment in his
choice of men to serve under him. He chose sailors, as a rule, as
being accustomed to obedience, and to irregular and prolonged duty,
while also they were especially hardy and active; and where there was
especial danger which must be met, he was always ready to lead, and
his men had soon learned to confide in his quick and sound judgment in
emergency, knowing that he would never permit them to incur needless
risk. His own iron constitution, and his habits of constant vigilance,
served as a high standard and incentive to those about him; and thus
it was, by selection, discipline, and example, resting upon a
foundation of even paternal kindness, that the men of the London Fire
Brigade became conspicuous for their courage, energy, hardihood, and
unalterable devotion to duty. The brigade, too, was most popular with
the public, and could always count upon any necessary assistance in
their labours. The system of rewards given to whoever was the first to
bring a call of fire, the liberal gratuity to the policeman who first
reached the burning premises, there preventing undue confusion, and by
keeping the street-door closed, shutting off a strong draught of air
from the flames, and the handsome pay to the ready throng of
strong-armed men who worked the engines, secured every co-operation
from the public, beyond that naturally springing from a general
admiration of so brave and well-trained a body of men.
Mr. Braidwood's residence was at the principal station of the
Fire-engine Establishment in Watling-street. To this station came all
alarms of fire. He attended in person all calls from leading
thoroughfares, public buildings, or localities where a serious
conflagration might be expected. In the night a call was announced to
him through a speaking-tube reaching to his bedside. The gas in his
room was always burning, and he would quickly decide, from the known
locality of the fire, and from the report given, whether he need go
himself. In any case, his men were awake and quickly away. Rapidity in
dressing, and in horseing and mounting the engines, was but a detail
of daily drill. The moment the scene of action was reached, nothing
was allowed to stand in the way of access to the actual seat of the
fire, and nothing either in securing a supply of water. The inmates of
the premises, if any, were quickly got out, and wherever an unhappy
creature was cut off by the flames, there were always one or more
firemen ready, if necessary, to brave an apparently certain death in a
heroic attempt at rescue--an attempt, indeed, which but seldom failed.
It is but just to say here that the firemen were always nobly
seconded, if not indeed anticipated, in these attempts by the officers
and men of the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire--a
body which has long rendered priceless services to humanity under most
appalling circumstances. The men of the Fire Brigade were taught to
prevent, as much as possible, the access of air to the burning
materials. What the open door of the ash pit is to the furnace of a
steam-boiler the open street door is to the house on fire. In both
cases the door gives vital air to the flames. The men of the Brigade
were trained to pursue a fire, not yet under full headway, up-stairs
and down, in at windows and out through the roof, anywhere, so it
could be reached directly by the water from the engines. They were
made to regard it as worse than a waste to throw even a gallon of
water upon a dead wall or upon a surface of slate or plaster, so long
as by any means the branch pipe could be got to bear upon the seat of
the fire itself. The statistics of the operations of the London
Fire-engine Establishment from 1833 to the present time, show with
what success the system originated and so admirably carried out by Mr
Braidwood has been pursued. Of the whole number of fires not one in
fifty now proceeds to the extent of total destruction of the premises.
Previous to the organization of the Fire-engine Establishment there
were no official annual reports of the fires in the metropolis. No one
person by himself was indeed in a position to know all of the fires
that happened, any more than, but for Lloyds', could we know of all
the wrecks which take place around and upon our coasts. It was
impossible, under such a state of things, that either the value of
insurance to the insured or its risk to the insurer could be rightly
known. The general public could only know that, like fevers and
certain other classes of disease, fires were always breaking out, but
no one could know, even approximately, how great or how little was the
real general risk. When, however, a fire establishment was formed, the
engines were called to all fires, whether of insured or uninsured
property. It was not now difficult to tabulate the number and
localities of fires; but Mr. Braidwood went further, and extended his
yearly tables to include the various causes of fires, and the
classification of the premises, whether residences, shops, warehouses,
manufactories, &c., where they occurred, the subdivision of these
classes being extended to every variety of occupation and business.
Even the hours at which the various fires broke out were carefully
tabulated, and thus the particulars of London fires soon became an
important branch of statistics, from which the operations of insurance
have derived increased certainty, with greater economy to the insured.
Although regarding the training and discipline of firemen as of the
first importance in the organization of a fire brigade, Mr. Braidwood
gave a large share of attention to the improvement of fire-engines and
their kindred appliances. While in Edinburgh, where the steepness of
many of the streets, and the roughness of the pavements in the older
parts of the town prevented the rapid and easy movement of heavy
engines, he recommended and adopted a lighter description, but in
London he recognised the necessity for greater power. Mr. Tilley, then
a fire-engine maker in the Blackfriars'-road, ably seconded his
efforts, and at length the distinctive type known as the London Fire
Brigade Engine was produced, and which, weighing about eighteen cwt.
when ready for service, would throw eighty-eight gallons of water per
minute, and, in short trials, as much as 120 gallons in the same time.
This engine was mounted upon springs, and in strength and ease of
working presented a marked improvement upon those which had preceded
it. Its ordinary working complement of men was twenty-eight, and
larger engines, upon the same general design, have since been made, to
be worked by from forty-five to sixty men. The steam fire-engine has
already, to a certain extent, superseded the brigade engine, but the
latter is still likely, for some time at least, to be preferred for a
large class of fires, both in London and in the provinces.
Mr. Braidwood at an early date adopted the ordinary military scaling
ladders to the purposes of his brigade, two being placed on each
engine, and at his recommendation ladders were also placed on a
two-wheeled carriage as a convenient fire-escape. He also induced the
Admiralty, in 1841, to adopt hose-reels in the various dockyards,
these implements having been previously in successful use in New York.
In 1848 he was induced, in consequence of the large number of small
fires to which his engines were called out, to adopt a small hand-pump
as an auxiliary to the fire-engine. This could be rapidly brought to
bear, and although worked by but one man, the value of a small
quantity of water thrown directly upon the seat of a small fire was
found to be greater than that of perhaps twenty times as much when
thrown about in the ordinary manner. It was of great importance also
in warehouses stored with valuable goods, to throw the least necessary
quantity of water upon a fire. These hand-pumps still form an
important part of the present apparatus of the brigade, and they have
been widely adopted elsewhere.
London, unlike Edinburgh, has a vast water-side property, always
exposed to danger from fire. Almost immediately, therefore, after
having taken the command of the London Brigade, Mr. Braidwood directed
his attention to the construction of improved floating fire-engines,
to be moored in the river, where they would be always available for
the protection of wharf property. Two were constructed, one being a
machine of great power, with pumps made to be worked by 120 men. These
machines proved of great value. In 1852, shortly after the memorable
fire at Humphrey's warehouses, he persuaded the Fire-engine Committee
to allow one of these engines to be altered so as to work by steam,
and in 1855 a large self-propelling floating steam fire-engine was
made upon a novel construction, and which, having already rendered
great service at fires on the river side, still ranks as the most
powerful machine in the service of the brigade. With locomotive
boilers and large double steam engines, this float can steam nine
miles an hour, and when in place at a fire it can throw four streams
of water, each from a jet-pipe of 1-1/2 inch in diameter, to a great
distance. In the great fire of 1861, this floating engine was worked
with but little intermission for upwards of a fortnight. In 1860 Mr.
Braidwood obtained the sanction of the Fire-engine Committee for the
introduction of a land steam fire-engine, and although he did not live
to witness the present remarkable development of these machines, he
was enabled to employ the first one in the brigade with much
advantage.
We may quote here from a brief but excellent memoir of Mr. Braidwood,
which appeared in the annual report of the Institution of Civil
Engineers for 1861:
"As early as 1841, the Government began to profit by his
experience, the Lords of the Admiralty having in that year
consulted him on the subject of floating fire-engines for
the various dockyards. These were eventually constructed
from his designs and under his superintendence. In the
following year he inspected all the dockyards, and reported
fully on each, with regard to both floating and land
fire-engines, the supply of water, the alterations of
buildings to prevent spread of fire, and the proper care
required in dangerous trades. From this time, although not
holding any appointment, he acted as Government consulting
engineer on all questions relating to fire prevention and
extinction, and he advised from time to time the precautions
to be taken for the protection of the royal palaces and
various other public buildings. This position enabled him,
not without a great deal of opposition, to induce the
Government to adopt in all its departments a uniform size of
hose-coupling. This is the one which he introduced in
Edinburgh, and known as the London Fire Brigade coupling, is
now in almost universal use; its application has been found
comparatively of as much utility for fire-brigade purposes,
as the adoption of the Whitworth gauges of screw-bolts for
mechanical engineering.
"Although so fully occupied, he never refused advice on
professional matters to all who sought it. The various dock
companies, public institutions, country fire brigades,
private firms, &c., benefited largely by his experience. The
numerous inquiries from foreign countries and the colonies
with regard to the best means of extinguishing fires, also
made great inroads on his time. In 1833 he became an
Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers, to which,
in 1844, he contributed a valuable paper 'On the means of
rendering large supplies of Water available in case of Fire,
&c.,' for which he was awarded a Telford Medal; and in 1849
a second paper 'On Fire-Proof Buildings.' In 1856, a paper
on 'Fires: the best means of preventing and arresting them;
with a few words on Fire-Proof Structures,' was read by him
before the Society of Arts.
"He took great interest in the passing of Acts of Parliament
for regulating buildings in the metropolis, was consulted by
the framers of these Acts, and used his utmost influence to
prevent the endangering a whole neighbourhood by the
erection of monster warehouses for private profit. He
strongly contended for the principle of dividing buildings
by party-walls carried through the roof, and restricting
these divisions to a moderate cubic content. Writing to Lord
Seymour, Commissioner of Woods and Forests, on the 28th
June, 1851, he said 'that no preparations for contending
with such fires will give anything like the security that
judicious arrangements in the size and construction of
buildings will do.' The wise provisions introduced through
his instrumentality into these Acts of Parliament were
continually being evaded, and clusters of warehouses quickly
rose which he saw would, if on fire, defy all his means of
extinction. In a letter to Sir W. Molesworth, First
Commissioner of Public Works, dated 10th February, 1854, on
the subject of a proposed warehouse in Tooley-street, he
wrote 'The whole building, if once fairly on fire in one
floor, will become such a mass of fire that there is now no
power in London capable of extinguishing it, or even of
restraining its ravages on every side, and on three sides it
will be surrounded by property of immense value.' How
literally this was realized, and at what cost, was shown by
the great warehouse fire in Tooley-street, on the 22nd June,
1861, at which Mr. Braidwood lost his life."
The great fire at Cotton's Wharf; Tooley-street, broke out on
Saturday, June 22nd, 1861, and continued to burn for more than a
fortnight, consuming Scovell's, and other large warehouses, and, in
all, upwards of two millions' worth of property. The fire is believed
to have originated in the spontaneous combustion of hemp, of which
upwards of 1000 tons were consumed, together with 3000 tons of sugar,
500 tons of saltpetre, nearly 5000 tons of rice, 18,000 bales of
cotton, 10,000 casks of tallow, 1100 tons of jute, and an immense
quantity of tea, spices, &c., besides many other descriptions of
goods. Although discovered in broad daylight, and before the flames
had made any considerable headway, the want of a ready supply of
water, and the fact that the iron doors in the division walls between
the several warehouses had been left open, taken in connexion with the
extremely combustible nature of the materials, soon rendered hopeless
all chance of saving the buildings and property. Mr. Braidwood was
upon the spot very soon after the alarm had been given, and nearly the
whole available force of the Fire-engine Establishment was summoned at
his command. He appears to have at once foreseen that the fire would
be one of no ordinary magnitude, and that the utmost that could be
done would be to prevent its extending widely over adjoining property.
The floating fire-engines had been got to bear upon the flames, and
the men in charge of the branch pipes were, after two hours' work,
already suffering greatly from the intense heat, when their chief went
to them to give them a word of encouragement. Several minor
explosions, as of casks of tallow or of oil, had been heard, but as it
was understood that the saltpetre stored at the wharf was in buildings
not yet alight, no alarm was then felt as to the walls falling in. At
the moment, however, while Mr. Braidwood was discharging this his last
act of kindness to his men, a loud report was heard, and the lofty
wall behind him toppled and fell, burying him in the ruins. Those of
his men who were near him had barely time to escape, and one person at
his side, not a fireman, was overwhelmed with him. From the moment
when the wall was seen to fall, it was known that whoever was beneath
it had been instantly crushed to death. It is needless, and it would,
indeed, be out of place, to describe here the further progress of the
fire, which had then but fairly begun, and which was still burning
more than a fortnight afterwards.
Great as was the general consternation at so terrible a conflagration,
it is doubtful if the public were not still more impressed by the
dreadful death of Mr. Braidwood, and by a feeling that his loss was a
public misfortune. Her Majesty the Queen, with that ready sympathy
which she has ever shown for crushed or suffering heroism, commanded
the Earl of Stamford to inquire on the spot, on Monday, whether the
body had yet been recovered by the firemen, and Her Majesty's
sympathies were also conveyed to Mrs. Braidwood. It was not, however,
until the following morning, that after almost constant exertions,
under the greatest difficulties, the crushed remains were rescued. An
inquest was necessary, not merely to ascertain what was already well
known, that death had been instantly caused by accident, but to know
whether culpable carelessness of any kind had indirectly led to the
sorrowful event. None, however, appeared. The remains of the fallen
chief were afterwards borne to his late residence in Watling-street.
The members of the committee of the London Fire-engine Establishment,
formed of representatives from all of the twenty-five insurance
companies of London, had already met to express, by a formal
resolution, their sincere condolence with Mrs. Braidwood and her
family. It was known that the funeral would take place on Saturday,
June 29th, and it was widely felt that a general expression of sorrow
and respect should be made, in view of the common loss of so valued a
public servant, as well as for the noble qualities for which he had
been so long and so well known. On the occasion of the funeral this
was shown not more by the great length and marked character of the
_cortege_ itself than by the general suspension of business in the
leading thoroughfares of the city through which it passed, and by the
hushed demeanour of the countless multitude who pressed closely upon
the procession throughout its entire course. Among the thousands who
sadly led the way to the grave were the London Rifle Brigade, about
700 strong (and of which Mr. Braidwood's three sons were members), the
Seventh Tower-Hamlets, and other rifle corps, upwards of 1000
constables of the metropolitan police force, besides nearly 400
members of the city police, the superintendents and men of the various
water companies, the secretary and conductors and the band of the
Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire, a large number of
private and local fire-brigades, and the members of the London
Fire-engine Establishment. The pall-bearers were six of Mr.
Braidwood's engineers and foremen, some of whom were at his side when
he fell, and who had barely escaped with their own lives. Following
the chief mourners were the Duke of Sutherland, the Earl of Caithness,
the Rev. Dr. Cumming, and a large number of relatives and friends of
the deceased, and the committee of the London Fire-engine
establishment. The procession was nearly one mile and a-half in
length, and was about three hours in its progress from Watling-street
to Abney Park Cemetery, where the solemn service of the dead was
conducted by the Rev. Dr. Cumming, of whose congregation the deceased
had long been a member. With the exception of the great bell of St.
Paul's, which tolls only on the occasion of the death of a member of
the royal family or of a lord-mayor in office, the bells of all the
churches in the city were booming slowly through the day, and so
evident was the general sorrow that it could be truly said that the
heart of the nation mourned.
On Thursday, July 4th, a public meeting was held at the Mansion House,
when resolutions were passed for the collection of subscriptions
towards a memorial to Mr. Braidwood's long and arduous public
services. This memorial, it was felt, should take the form of a
permanent provision for his family, for the post of Fire Brigade
Superintendent had never been a lucrative one. Before, however, the
collection of subscriptions had extended beyond a few hundred pounds,
it was made known that the insurance companies had promptly settled
upon Mrs. Braidwood the full "value"--speaking in an insurable
sense--of her husband's life. Mr. Braidwood had for many years
supported two maiden sisters, and the public subscription was applied,
therefore, to the purchase of small annuities for each of them.
It will be remembered that the London Fire-engine Establishment was
from the first controlled only by the insurance companies, upon whom
of course, fell the whole cost of its maintenance. Their interest in
the suppression of fires, although direct and unmistakeable, was not
the same as that of the public. Thus, it would be to the public
advantage that no fires should happen, whereas such a result would be
fatal to the insurance companies, since no one in that case would
insure. Although the protection of the Establishment was in practice
extended alike to both insured and uninsured property, the real object
for which it was formed and maintained was undoubtedly that of
protecting insured property only. It was the interest of the companies
to incur as little expense as would, on the whole, fairly effect this
purpose, and it was not their interest to effectually protect the
whole of the metropolis from fire. Thus it was that, with all the
excellence of the organization and discipline of the Fire-engine
Establishment, it was greatly inferior in extent to what was requisite
for the proper security of the first city in the world. Mr. Braidwood
had long felt this truth, but, acting for a private association, he
could only go to the extent of the limited resources at his disposal.
It was, more than anything else, the great fire at Cotton's Wharf that
first directed public attention to the necessary insufficiency of any
private establishment for the general suppression of fires, and that
has led to the legislation under which the Fire-engine Establishment
was, on the 1st of January last, taken over and extended by the
Metropolitan Board of Works. London will now, it is hoped, be better
protected from fire, because of the increased extent of the means of
protection; but it can hardly be expected that the discipline of the
brigade will be improved.