South Bank Greater London hotels:

The history of firefighting in London follows the development of our city from Roman times to today's modern London. Find out about the way we were with a trip that takes you from the roman period, through the Great Fire of London, the first brigades and the war years into the 20th century and today's brigade. You'll also be able to check out key dates in our history. Or why not visit our museum and get a personal guided tour through the last 300 years of firefighting history in London. You can go shopping in our museum shop which sells everything from teddy firefighter fridge magnets and brigade key rings to model fire engines, bronze figurines of firefighters and smoke alarms. Firefighting in London is probably as old as the city itself. We know there were firefighters in ancient Rome, the 'Vigiles', and it seems likely that a similar force was established in Londinium (London) during the reign of the Roman Empire. After the fall of the empire in the fourth century, any organised firefighting attempts in the city were abandoned and were not to emerge again for several hundred years. And even when they did, they were erratic and half-hearted, as when William the Conqueror implemented his couvre-feu - or curfew law - in the 11th century. This meant that people had to douse all fires and lights at nightfall and was a bid at early fire prevention in the face of hazards such as straw 'carpeting' and thatched roofs. Severe penalties could be imposed on anyone caught disobeying the curfew. Even so, a huge fire in 1212 gutted a great swathe of the city and the death toll was said to be 3,000. The great fire of London: On Sunday, 2 September 1666, the destruction of medieval London began. Within five days the city was ravaged by fire. An area one and a half miles by half a mile lay in ashes; 373 acres inside the city wall, 63 acres outside, 87 churches and 13,200 houses. Amazingly, only six people were definitely known to have died - but it would seem probable that many more perished. The fire began in the house and shop of Thomas Farynor, the King's baker, in Pudding Lane. His assistant awoke to find the house full of smoke and, his master roused, the household tried to escape through a window and along a roof gutter to a neighbouring house. All were successful except for a maid servant who was said to be too frightened to clamber over the roof. She stayed and became the first victim of the fire. The sparks from the burning home fell on hay and fodder in the yard of the Star Inn at fish Street Hill and the fire from the inn set light to the Church of St. Margaret. It spread in waves down Pudding Lane and Fish Street Hill to the warehouses and wharves of Thames Street where tallow, oil, spirits and hemp were stored, and hay, timber and coal lay heaped on open quays. By 8am, some six hours later, it was halfway across old London Bridge. Only the gap created by the 1633 fire prevented it from engulfing Southwark.