Existing comment:
Union Fire Company, 1736, and Contributionship (Insurance Company), 1751
Franklin used his newspaper to argue that Philadelphia should organize and train teams of firemen. In 1736, Franklin and 19 of his neighbors founded the Union Fire Company. Collectively they purchased and maintained an egine and hooks and ladders; individually they supplied leather buckets for conveying water to the fire and bags to carry household goods to safety. They expanded this idea of mutal aid in 1751 into the Philadelphia Contributionship, America's first property insurance company. The Contributionship pushed for safer building standards, insured member households from fire, and even underwrote mortgages.
"A Club or Society of active Men belonging to each Fire Engine ... Some of these are to handle the Firehooks, and others the Axes... In Time of Fire, they are commanded by Officers appointed by Law, called Firewards, who are distinguish'd by a Red Staff of five Feet long, headed with a Brass Flame of 6 Inches... They direct the opening and stripping of Roofs by the Ax-Men, the pulling down burning Timbers by the Hook-men."
-- Benjamin Franklin, "On Protection of Towns from Fire" in The Philadelphia Gazette, February 4, 1734/5
"Whenever a FIRE breaks out in any Part of the City, though none of our Houses, Goods, or Effects may be in apparent Danger, we will nevertheless, repair thither with our Buckets and Bags... and give our utmost Assistance to such of our Fellow-Citizens as may stand in Need of it, in the same Manner as if they belonged to this Company."
-- "Articles of the Union Fire Company of Philadelphia", 1794 |