James Braidwood

Fire Prevention and Fire Extinction (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press) James Braidwood Illustrated, Ill edition

James Braidwood (1800-1861) was the first director of the London Fire Engine Establishment (the London Fire Brigade) and is credited with the development of the modern municipal fire service. He was born and educated in Edinburgh where he learned about the construction of buildings, knowledge he later put to use in fire fighting. He was distinguished for his heroism on the occasion of great fires in Edinburgh (1824) and London (1830). He became the first Superintendent of the new London Fire Brigade (1833), with a team of 80 full-time fire-fighters at 13 stations. In this capacity, he carried out fire prevention surveys at, for example, the Royal Naval Dockyards and Buckingham Palace. Braidwood's manual on fire-fighting, On the Construction of Fire-Engines and Apparatus (1830), includes many basic principles which are still quoted during fire training today. He also invented one of the first forms of breathing apparatus to be used by firemen. His other works include: On the Means of Rendering Large Supplies of Water Available (1844), Illustrated History of the Great Fire (1861) and Fire Prevention and Fire Extinction (1866).