Natural disasters are terrible natural disasters, so in the old days people came up with various ways to notify about their beginning. In particular, fire warning devices and fire spreading devices were invented. At first, these were the most primitive and ordinary devices, which were transformed over time.
Rynda as a means of warning about fire
The most terrible disasters in Ancient Russia were considered pestilence and fire. It was the fires that were so destructive that they destroyed entire cities, since earlier most of the buildings were built of wood.
Even before the famous fire in Moscow, which destroyed two-thirds of all buildings, cities and villages used a warning system of an impending disaster, so in special watchtowers, which were located on the border of the quarters, or bells - bells were installed on the walls. Anyone who noticed the fire was obliged to immediately ring the bell, spreading the message of trouble. There were no fire brigades until 1649, who fought the fire as best he could. It is known, for example, that in the Volga region, boxes with sand were placed at each house in order to fill up the fire, and if the owner of the house kept the box empty or used it for other needs, a significant fine was imposed. The fire service that first appeared in capital cities and district centers in 1649, along with fire fighting equipment, was also equipped with special markets. Later, fire towers were built in each settlement, in which people were on duty. When they noticed smoke and fire in the distance, they began to ring the bell. Later, ringing cast bells migrated to the fleet, where bells are still used for notification.
Alerts
Other fire warning systems have also been developed in different countries. So one of the first devices used in Venice was a rope on which a weight was suspended. When the rope burned out, the weight fell onto the metal support, which rattled violently from the impact. In addition, there have been attempts to introduce a device that closely resembles an alarm clock. This apparatus used a cord that stretched across the room, and a load was hung at the end. When a fire started, the cord burned out, the load fell, thus releasing the signaling device, and the alarm clock began to ring.
At the end of the 19th century, the telegraph was invented, which became simply an indispensable means of warning about a fire that had begun, but this device could not receive proper distribution for a long time, because the first telegraphs were expensive, besides, they were cumbersome, and for work it was required to study the Morse code.
A few years later, other fire alarms were installed in Germany: these were devices with a knob that had to be turned in order for an alarm signal to be sent to the fire department. From the number of rotations of this handle, it was possible to find out where the fire was detected on the territory. Such devices were painted in red, which today has already become a symbol of the fire department.
