APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES. 481 



in this first order of 1054, it was ordered that every house be pro- 

 vided with a ladder and a twelve-foot pole to reach the ridge-pole. 

 Six good and long ladders were to be furnished by the selectmen. 



In 1G57 New York had made some ladders and hooks. It was 

 also decided to order two hundred and fifty leather buckets from 

 Holland. Thinking it would take too long to have the order 

 filled, it was decided to have one hundred and fifty buckets made 

 in this country. Remout Remoutzen was ordered to make one 

 hundred and Adrian Van Lair to make fifty. These were to cost 

 six guilders two stuyners each (about two dollars and a half). 

 The buckets were finished in 1659, and properly distributed. 



Undoubtedly the first fire company organized in this country 

 was formed in New York in 1058. It was called the Prowlers, and 

 was composed of eight men with two hundred and fifty buckets, 

 hooks, and small ladders. Where the buckets were obtained, and 

 whether or not they were in addition to those owned by the town, 

 the records fail to state. In 1679 Salem purchased two or three 

 dozen cedar buckets, besides hooks and other implements ; also, 

 the selectmen and two others were authorized to take command 

 at fires, and to blow up and pull down buildings when such 

 action was necessary. This practice appears to have been much 

 more common before the use of engines than afterward. Boston, 

 on September 9, 1079, ordered that every quarter of the town 

 should be provided with twenty swobes, two scoopes, and six 

 axes. The swobes, or swabs as they are now called, were long- 

 handled mops that could be used to put out roof fires. The gen- 

 eral use of swabs has long since disappeared, but when a slight 

 blaze is beyond the reach of a pail of water and more improved 

 apparatus is not at hand, a long-handled mop is to-day the most 

 efficient article to be used. In Japan these swabs may be seen 

 on many roof tops. 



In 1690 New York ordered that five ladders and also hooks be 

 made. In Philadelphia no mention is made of public precaution 

 against fire until 1690, when a law was passed forbidding the 

 firing of chimneys or allowing the same to become foul. Each 

 house was to have a swab, bucket, or pail. Another act was 

 passed in 1700, ordering every household to have two leather 

 buckets. In the following year six or eight hooks for the pur- 

 pose of tearing down houses were ordered to be made. 



As has been stated above, Boston bought two engines in Eng- 

 land in 1702, and therefore, if the engines of 1754 and 1079 never 

 existed, Boston was yet the first town to be the proud owner of 

 a fire engine. Philadelphia came next, in 1018. On December 

 8th of that year the Council agreed with one Abraham Bickley 

 for " his ffire Engine At ye sum of 50." This engine had been 

 imported from London by the said Bickley. 



VOL. XLVII. 39 



