Early Years

When we look back at American history, we can see that fires were present in our country’s first colonies. In the 1600s, firefighters had to deal with the fire, heat, and smoke with very little personal protection or firefighting equipment. Structures often burned to the ground because firefighters fought the fires from a distance. Interior operations were impossible because the flammability of the structures and the everyday clothing that they wore.

The First Fire Helmet

As firefighting evolved, so did the equipment and apparatus. Jacobus Turck, the “caretaker” of New York City’s two (then-new) Newsham hand pumpers, is credited with inventing the first fire helmet in the 1730s. It was leather, with a high crown and wide brim. Years later in 1836, Henry T. Gratacap designed a helmet similar to the one firefighters’ use today (shown on the left), referred to as the “traditional” fire helmet. He built it around 1836 and called it the “New Yorker”. FDNY adopted the helmet in the late 1800s. The design was a reinforced dome-shaped leather helmet with a front shield and brim rolling to a long back tail. Finally the firefighter’s head was awarded some protection from falling materials and water that ran off the back of the helmet.

Around the same time Gratacap was producing the fire helmet of the future, the firefighter’s uniform also took a step forward. Wool, a heavy material that gave some protection against hot and cold environments, was used. Firefighters’ pants and a long trench coat with a stiff collar were made of wool. Under the coat, firefighters wore a cotton or wool shirt that was usually red in color. To finish off the uniform, they wore leather boots.

As rubber development progressed, it played a beneficial role in firefighter clothing. Rubber slickers worn over the wool coats added another layer of protection from the heat and most definitely kept the wearer dry. Boots made of rubber also kept the wearer’s feet dry. Some archived history of the Huron (OH) Fire Division also confirms the use of rubber boots purchased for $10 and rubber raincoats purchased for $12 in the mid 1930s.

Firefighters and their Beards

Also in the early years, respiratory protection for firefighters was minimal. Tales are told of firemen growing beards, soaking them in water, biting the beards, and breathing through them when in a smoke-filled environment. The beard may have acted as a filter, but they would still get choked up by the fire’s by-products.

It wasn’t until 1825 Italian scientist Giovanni Aldini attempted to design a mask to provide heat protection and fresh air. The concept spurred many more attempts to make a device that would be more effective. A miner named John Roberts invented a filter mask that was widely used in Europe and the United States. During the same time period, several attempts were made to invent a helmet with a hose attached to a pump that supplied fresh air.

The first self-contained breathing apparatus came in 1863, when James Braidwood put two canvas bags together lined with rubber. The airtight sac was worn on the firefighter’s back and secured with shoulder straps and a waist belt. Two rubber hoses connected to a mouthpiece allowed the wearer to inhale fresh air. Different size sacs were filled with air by a set of bellows and sealed with corks until needed. Firefighters also wore goggles, a leather hood, a nose clamp, and a whistle to complete Braidwood’s invention.