The role of scientific and technical achievements in the formation of fire fighting in Russia in the XVIII - early XX centuries.

Vasil'ev Mikhail Aleksandrovich Senior Lecturer at the Department of Special Training of the East Siberian Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia 664074, Russia, Irkutskaya oblast', g. Irkutsk, ul. Lermontova, 110 vip.medved1983@list.ru Other publications by this author

The implementation of organized measures to extinguish fires and eliminate the consequences of emergency situations largely depends on the level of preparedness and technical equipment of fire brigades ^[10]. In this regard, it is necessary to pay attention to the historical stages of the development of the scientific and technical potential of fire fighting in Russia in the XVIII and XIX centuries, preceding the XX century. The accumulation and systematization of scientific and technical knowledge acquired during this period served as a theoretical basis for shaping the future scientific potential of the created specialized courses and schools of firefighting in Russia ^[4].

In the context of studying this topic, the scientific works of M.N. Agapitov, S.N. Chashchin, S.G. Golubev, F.B. Zilberstein, P.S. Savelyev, V.M. Purishkevich, N.N. Shablov, V.N. Vinogradov and others, who studied the historical aspects of the development of firefighting in Russia and certain regions of our country, are of interest. countries

The research methodology includes a concrete historical approach (M.V. Astakhov, A.P. Pronstein, etc.) ^{[3, 11]} as well as generalization, comparison, synthesis, classification, concretization; analysis of scientific literature; retrospective analysis; method of historical analogies.

It is important to note that the scientific and technical potential of the Russian school in the XVIII and XIX centuries developed along two main lines of scientific thought, these are theoretical scientific works devoted to the study of problematic issues of fire extinguishing organization, as well as practical developments embodied in the organization of the production of fire equipment samples.

The following most well-known developments of that time belong to the theoretical aspects of scientific activity:

In 1819, P. Shumlyansky's pamphlet "Supplement to the essay on methods against fire" was published in Moscow. In this scientific work, the author, after considering the issue of the gorenje gorenje gorenje, outlines a completely innovative method of suppressing combustion for that time by creating artificial smoke in the combustion zone in order to localize and extinguish it.

In 1888, a book by the technological engineer M. Kolesnik-Kulevich "On fire-fighting equipment" was published, which outlined the issues of flame suppression with various extinguishing agents. This book was the first scientific work in Russia in which the issues of the theory of gorenje in fire conditions and methods of its suppression were developed. The book discusses three scientific issues (problems): friction and heating of materials, refractory materials. Extinguishing agents for extinguishing solids and flammable liquids ^[8].

The practical component of the scientific and technical development of fire fighting equipment of that historical period is also of great interest.

During the XVIII and XIX centuries. The main technical innovation for extinguishing fires was the use of so-called filling pipes ^[2]. Liquid fire pipes should be understood as two-cylinder piston pumps, which began to be imported into Russia from abroad at the beginning of the 18th century. With the help of this fire technical device, it was possible to supply a jet of water to the fire source at a distance of up to 10m. It should be noted that the water supply using these devices was very difficult. In the XVIII century . About 50 people were assigned to service one filling pipe, of which 12 people pumped the pump arm in two shifts, 8 serviced the flaps and the barrel, and 30 brought buckets of water to the pipe in one or two lines. By the beginning of the 19th century, filling pipes began to be supplied with special barrels of water for 240 and 700 liters, horse-drawn. The average performance of liquid fire pipes ranged from 140 to 216 liters of water per fire source per minute ^[5].

It is important to note that the distribution of these technical fire devices was limited to two cities of the Russian Empire, Moscow and St. Petersburg. Buying and operating self-leveling fire pipes was an expensive action (about 300 rubles per unit), so they were bought primarily for royal palaces, government offices, the Navy and the army. The rest of Russia used folk fire extinguishing agents (a bucket of water). Therefore, the problem of devastating fires accompanied Russia throughout the XVIII and XIX centuries ^[6].

Despite the fact that piston fire pumps were mainly purchased abroad and there were not enough of them for the whole of Russia, and there were not a large number of specialists capable of servicing them, throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, domestic inventors attempted to influence this problem and create their own models of fire fighting equipment. For example, in 1739, the Russian mechanic A.K. Nartov invented a fire pump of an original design, as A.K. Nartov himself claimed "for the national benefit." But this invention has not received any development.

In the middle of the 18th century, the Russian mechanic M. Stepanov, who works at the Moscow Arsenal, organized the production of large filler pipes, with the mandatory training of two soldiers for each pipe. However, due to the complexity in the production of these products, their number was limited to 1-2 copies per year.

In the 19th century, due to the complexity of technological processes, such mechanical inventors as E. Shaposhnikov, A. Churashov, L. Sobakin, M. Kazamanov, I. Bondarenko, P. Zarubin, F. Blinov were engaged in development and limited production. It is important to note that in the 19th century in Russia more than 20 types of manual fire pumps of domestic designs and production were used. Due to the development of the production of fire fighting equipment and equipment, the import of these fire products from abroad decreased significantly by the end of the 19th century.

The breakthrough in fire fighting technology of the 19th century was the invention of steam engines used in firefighting to drive fire pumps. The invention of the steam fire pump belongs to the British Braithwaite and Erickson in 1829. Direct mass production and sale of steam fire pumps in England began in 1859. Steam fire pumps appeared in Russia in 1862 ^[8]. In terms of their technical characteristics, steam fire pumps were several times superior to two-cylinder piston pumps. For example, the capacity of a steam fire pump was 1000 liters per minute, the length of the water jet was 40 meters or more. Over time, productivity has increased by 2 times. Unfortunately, in Russia, this miracle of foreign fire technology appeared only in the 90s of the XIX century, and only in two cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, in single versions ^[13].

It should also be noted that the cost of one unit of a steam fire engine, depending on performance, ranged from 7 thousand to 15 thousand rubles. At the same time, the operation of this fire fighting equipment also required a lot of attention and resources.

In 1868, the Russian inventor A.I. Shpakovsky published a scientific brochure "The importance of steam power for Russia as a means of extinguishing fires." Simultaneously with the publication of this scientific work, A.I. Shpakovsky built the first steam fire engine in Russia, with a technical capacity of 600 liters of water per minute, with a water jet range of 30 meters. The unit was put into operation after 4 minutes of heating the steam boiler. This product was put into production and eventually the fire brigades of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tver, Yaroslavl and other cities of central Russia were supplied with this fire fighting equipment. Gradually, by the end of the 19th century, steam fire pumps began to be used much more widely in firefighting in Russia ^[18].

It is important to note that most of the parts for the assembly and production of steam fire engines were supplied from abroad. Only by 1903, the production of steam fire engines from domestic spare parts at the Gustav List plant was established in Russia. However, due to the complexity of the production of these products, the annual output of these products was limited. In general, the production of fire fighting equipment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Things were going very slowly in Russia. For example, in Moscow in 1913, out of 11 steam fire engines, only 4 were of domestic production. And in St. Petersburg, the first domestic steam fire pumps appeared in 1913. In other cities of the Russian Empire, the fire department had only manual fire pumps ^[8].

The equipping of fire brigades with automotive equipment was also slow in the early 20th century in Russia. It was only in 1904 that a Frese automobile was first purchased for the St. Petersburg Fire Brigade, and in 1907 for the Moscow fire brigade. The vehicles used by the fire brigade were mainly used to deliver firefighters and necessary equipment to the fire site ^[7].

In the rest of Russia, the use of cars in the activities of fire brigades has lagged by about another 10 to 15 years. Horse-drawn carts and carts provided the basis of the traction force in the fire brigades ^[15].

Simultaneously with the increase in the number of floors of buildings under construction in Russia in the XVIII and XIX centuries, there was a need to create special fire fighting equipment to rescue people and extinguish fire ^[18].

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the patent authorities of Russia received a large number of proposals for the use of various rescue devices. Mechanical sliding ladders proved to be the most interesting and in demand in the future.

The first Russian inventor of a mechanical fire escape was the locksmith P. Dahlgren in 1779. However, no historical information has been found at the moment about whether this fire escape was manufactured and whether it was used in practice ^[8].

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian mechanic K.V. Sobolev invented and put into operation a retractable fire escape. Its successful test took place in 1809 in St. Petersburg on St. Isaac's Square. For this invention, K.V. Sobolev was awarded the medal "For useful work", and also awarded the honorary title "Russian Mechanic".

Simultaneously with K.V. Sobolev, the St. Petersburg architect Geste successfully created a five-column fire escape in 1810.

In 1812, the police of Moscow and St. Petersburg issued decrees on the creation of special government workshops called "Fire stations" ^[8]. The main task of these workshops was the manufacture of fire tools and equipment, as well as the training of craftsmen for the same workshops in other cities. After the organization of these "Fire stations", craftsmen carried out active work on the manufacture of mechanical fire escapes. For example, in 1823, the St. Petersburg Fire Department produced a mechanical fire escape for the Moscow fire brigade in 8 months of operation. In the 80s and 90s of the XIX century. The St. Petersburg Fire Department organized the manufacture of mechanical fire escapes designed by A. Lobov and A.A. Sergeev. However, in the future, the production of fire escapes was not widely developed in Russia, the main interest in this product was shown only in the large cities of Russia in its central part ^[8].

It is important to note that in 1863, the Gustav List fire-fighting equipment factory was opened in Moscow. This plant manufactured fire pumps, barrels on horse-drawn wagons, various tools and equipment ^[16].

By the beginning of the 20th century, the development of fire fighting equipment was concentrated mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The testing and application of these high-tech and sometimes quite technologically complex products also mainly took place in these cities. In the rest of the Russian Empire, there was a significant technical lag in the development of firefighting in general ^[14]. The all-Russian trends of the period 1900-10 in the development of scientific and technical achievements in the field of fire fighting and equipment, which had a complete impact on the development of firefighting, were scientific and practical developments in the field of firefighting.

In 1900, a master of the St. Petersburg fire department invented a water sprayer called Pobeda. This invention operated on the principle of spraying water over a fire source.

The most breakthrough technology of that time for extinguishing large fires, including petroleum products, was the invention of a special extinguishing foam. One of the inventors of this technology was A.G. Laurent, a physics teacher at the Baku gymnasium, an engineering technologist ^[17].

In 1904, A.G. Laurent, based on his scientific discoveries, designed and invented the world's first hand-held foam fire extinguisher called "Eureka". Subsequently, in 1911, having failed to find support in the production of these products, A.G. Laurent sold a patent for foam and a fire extinguisher to the German company Salzkotten. In the 1910s, a new fire extinguishing agent became known worldwide as having been invented in Russia ^[8].

It is also necessary to note the achievements of the outstanding Russian engineer and public figure N.P. Zimin. Under the leadership of N.P. Zimin in the 1900s, work was carried out on the development and improvement of the water supply system in Moscow, participated in the development of plumbing in cities and regions of Russia. Under his leadership, a domestic fire hydrant was designed and invented, which surpassed its foreign counterparts in terms of its technical characteristics, taking into account the climatic features of Russia.

In general, the technical condition of fire brigades in Russia in 1913 was represented by 160 steam fire pumps and 6020 manual fire pumps. This equipment was not sufficient and did not completely cover the vast territories of Russia, 1 manual fire pump was designed for 40 villages ^[12].

The period of the First World War and the subsequent civil War suspended the development of fire fighting equipment and scientific and practical developments in the field of firefighting. So by the beginning of 1918, there was not a single operating industrial enterprise in Russia that manufactured fire fighting equipment and inventory. As part of overcoming the crisis situation in the field of fire technology, the young Soviet government issued a Decree of the Council of People's Commissars dated April 17, 1918, which prescribed "the establishment of control over the production of fire-fighting equipment and equipment in factories",

By 1922, there were two enterprises operating in Russia for the production of fire equipment and inventory, therefore, at the state level, it was decided to allocate funds for the purchase of necessary fire-fighting equipment abroad.

Despite the difficulties in the development of the country after the upheavals and wars, in the 1920s, the Soviet economy grew stronger every year, which directly affected the development of fire fighting equipment. In 1925, the Avtopromtorg plant No. 6 began to produce fire trucks with an upgraded gear pump. The only problematic issue in the release of these vehicles was the acquisition of some parts from abroad. By 1927, this problematic issue had been resolved and the manufacturer's spare parts were supplied with domestic components. In total, by 1927, about 400 fire trucks were produced at this plant. The purchase of this equipment from abroad has stopped ^[8].

In 1928, the production of domestic fire trucks with a total load capacity of 1.5 tons began, and since 1930, the load capacity of manufactured fire trucks has increased to 2.5 tons.

The further development of the Soviet Union's industry in the 1930s made it possible to significantly expand the range of manufactured fire-fighting products. In 1931-1932, the Moscow and Gorky Automobile Plants were opened, which made it possible to produce fire trucks ZIS-5, ZIS-11, PMZ-1, PMZ-2, and PMG-1 on the basis of these plants. These fire trucks were equipped with modern high-pressure pumps D-20, 4D-90 for that period of time ^[7].

It is important to note that by 1940, the entire fire department of the Soviet Union was armed with these types of fire equipment ^[9].

The prerequisites for the emergence of a fire training system and the development of firefighting in Russia in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries were the development of both the theoretical foundations of firefighting and scientific and practical research in the fire safety system. The development and dissemination of technical innovations in firefighting in Russia followed a pattern from the center to the periphery. The main centers for the development of firefighting, and with it the theoretical and scientific-practical component, were the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.