History
Founded on September 12, 1793, the Bureau purchased a fire engine and opened a fire station on the corner of First Avenue and Market Street in Downtown Pittsburgh. Originally a volunteer fire department, the Bureau became a fully paid department on May 23, 1870.
In 1820, Pittsburgh firefighter Marina Betts became one of the world's first female volunteer firefighters. On May 5, 1903 firefighters in the bureau created the first firefighter union in the world, and on September 11, 1903, organized the first local of what would become the International Association of Fire Fighters. Pittsburgh firefighters became Local 1 of the IAFF after winning a coin toss with the Chicago Fire Department.
Read more about this topic: Pittsburgh Bureau Of Fire
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“... in America ... children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
““And now this is the way in which the history of your former life has reached my ears!” As he said this he held out in his hand the fatal letter.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)