AO1
This link is my presentation about the fire brigade.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/97414720/Presentation-Ff

History of the fire service

The history of organized firefighting dates back at least to Ancient Egypt, where hand-operated pumps may have been employed to extinguish fires.
Rome
The first Roman fire brigade of which we have any substantial history was created by Marcus Licinius Crassus in 115 BCE. Rome had no fire department, Crassus filled this void by creating his own brigade of 500 strong men which rushed to burning buildings at the first cry of alarm. the basic idea from Crassus and was then built on it to form the Vigiles in AD 6 to combat fires using bucket brigades and pumps, as well as poles, hooks and even ballistae to tear down buildings in advance of the flames. The Vigiles patrolled the streets of Rome to watch for fires and served as a police force. The brigades consisted of hundreds of men, all ready for action. When there was a fire, the men would line up to the nearest water source and pass buckets hand in hand to the fire.

England

London suffered great fires in 798, 982, 989, 1212 and above all in 1666 (Great Fire of London). The Great Fire of 1666 started in a baker's shop on Pudding Lane and consumed about two square miles of the city, leaving tens of thousands homeless. Prior to this fire, London had no organized fire protection system.

The key breakthrough in firefighting arrived in the 17th century with the first fire engines and force pumps.

Before, Manual pumps only had a very short range due to the lack of hoses. German inventor Hans Hautsch improved the manual pump by creating the first suction and force pump and adding some flexible hoses to the pump. In 1672, inventor Jan Van der Heyden's developed the fire hose. Constructed of flexible leather and coupled every 50 feet with brass fittings. The length remains the standard to this day in England whilst in the UK the standard length is either 23m or 25m.

1800’s to present
Legislation for the provision of firefighting in England and Wales dates back to 1865. However the legal requirement for local authority fire brigades came about with the passing of the Fire Brigades Act 1938 - at the time there were about 1,600 brigades throughout the UK. During the Second World War many local authority fire brigades had been merged to form a single National Fire Service. This was due to the fact that most of the fire fighters would have been conscripted and would have ad to go and fight in the war. Also because of the bombings on England, the Fire Brigades needed to be better organized when responded to the fires/ accidents caused by the German bombers. After the war, in 1948, under the Fire Services Act 1947, fire services were restored to local authority as before, howver they were then delegated to the county regions where they would be responsible for responding to any fires in their region. This proved to be a better system than the one had previously existed where each fire brigade would cover 1 city/ local area and the reformed system is still in place now 65 years on.

How many fire stations are there in the UK?

There are 1,100 fire stations in the UK, including 112 in London.  There are No exact stats on number of engines, but assuming average of 2, that is 2,200 engines.

The Fire Brigade is now considered more of a rescue service rather than a fire service. This is because Fire Fighters now attend more rescues than fires on a daily basis. The accident they are most often required for are RTC’s (road traffic collisions).

 Rescue Tools and Equipment
There are many ‘high powered tools’ that the fire brigade use when dealing with RTC’s

•       Jaws of Life- basically tear the car to shreds

•       Cutters- basically hydraulically powered shears.

•       Spreaders- hydraulic tools that have arms that come together in a narrow tip. This allows the tool to be wedged into gaps between structures i.e. between doors.

•       Rams- used to push away sections of the vehicle that may have come together during the crash..

•       Spreader-Cutters- tools that have combined the function of both the Spreaders and the Cutters.

•       Cable Cutters- cut the power to prevent explosion.

•       Fire Retardant Blanket-can serve to extinguish small starting fires on the scene.

•       Hack Saw-Setting up the hydraulic tools can take some time. While waiting, the Hack saw can do the job of cutting away at small pieces of metal or plastic.

•       Hood Tool- to secure the electrical system by reaching through the car grill to grab that cable that releases the hood latch.

•       Seatbelt Cutter- vital! When a car is sideways, upside down or when the seatbelt is just somehow jammed, it is often necessary to use a seatbelt cutter to free the person

•       Spring-loaded Centre Punch- Breaking side glass is sometimes necessary before any extrication procedures can be performed.

•       Windshield Saw- used to remove laminated windshields.

AO2
this is the scribd link to my work about the questions i would ask a fireman

http://www.scribd.com/doc/97414635/Ao1-Fire-Service-Questions

this is my link to the work i did about school safety and the procedures our school has encase of an emergency
http://www.scribd.com/doc/97414834/AO2-2C-School-Safety-Nb

this is my scribd link to my leaflet about fire safety in the house
http://www.scribd.com/doc/97414918/Fire-Safety-Leaflet




AO3
these 3 links are related to 3 posters about 3 accidents ( chip pan fire, electrical fire and road traffic collision) and how to prevent the causes.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/97415032/Chip-Pan-Fire

http://www.scribd.com/doc/97415154/Electrical-Fire

http://www.scribd.com/doc/97415192/RTC-Leaflet





AO4

this is the scribd link to my tables about 3 major accidents ( 9/11 and 7/7 bombings and the Boscastle floods) and the involvement of the Fire Brigade.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/97807766/Ao4-3-Accident





AO5
this link is about the Boscastle floods and the causes of the floods and how the public services responded to the major incident
http://www.scribd.com/doc/97415285/AO5-Researching-a-Major-Disaster-DIST-Nb