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Article: Vienna gets all fired up over 300 years of battling blazes
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- August 24, 1986
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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VIENNA, Austria Ages have passed since man learned to control
and use fire. But fighting fires, in a professionally organized way,
is just 300 years old.
Vienna's fire department, which regards itself as the oldest of
its kind in the world, will be marking its tricentennial in
September.
City historians say it all began in the year 1686 with four
"fire serfs" who were hired by a lower chamber magistrate, Georg
Altschaffer. After their training, these four became the first paid
firefighting unit in history.
The fire serfs - the term "fire department" first came into