Firefighting in Istanbul: From pumps to satellites

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Friday, September 30, 2011

NIKI GAMM

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

The year was 1714 when the very first fire pump created by a French engineer named Gerçek Davud Ağa, was used to fight a fire that had broken out.

Turkey’s fire departments are celebrating the 297th anniversary of their founding this week with the opening of new fire stations and special festivities that include a demonstration by firemen dressed in traditional uniforms worn back in the day.

The year was 1714 when the first fire pump created by a French engineer named Gerçek Davud Ağa, was used to fight a fire that had broken out in Istanbul. It’s not surprising that he was French since Paris had had a fire brigade of sorts since 1699. Davud had constructed a pressure pump of 120 kilos that could be transported to the site of any fire that broke out in Istanbul. The pump was apparently hard to use, but one of the Janissary commanders was able to turn it into a suction pump, making it much easier to use. The Janissary soldiers acted as fire-fighters although it must have just been on a volunteer basis because the first professional brigade does not appear until 1720, when the grand vizier at the time, Nevşehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha, organized a group of 50 soldiers from the Janissaries into a professional fire brigade, complete with its own uniform. They were referred to as the tulumbacı, taking their name from “tulumba” (pump). Davud remained head of the fire brigade until his death in 1734. Other smaller brigades were formed shortly after the tulumbacıs in local districts around the city.

Wood structures caused the need

A fire brigade was certainly needed in Istanbul since so many of the structures were made out of wood. Wood was an inexpensive material and was used particularly because of the frequent earthquakes that struck the city. The earthquake of 1509, for instance, knocked down more than a thousand houses and more than 100 mosques, which were made of stone and brick, according to estimates. According to imperial decrees issued by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II and Murat III, people were required to keep barrels of water available in case of fire and have staircases reaching as far as the roof. The use of wood was even forbidden although that didn’t stop anyone.

The Janissary troop was disbanded in 1826 by order of the sultan. From then on, the fire brigade was completely voluntary and made up, usually, of whoever happened to be around and available when a fire broke out and some of the soldiers who had previously served as firefighters.

The Bayezit watch tower, now on the grounds of the University of Istanbul, was used to spot fires. During the day, colored baskets would alert people and at night colored lights would be used. A similar tower above Vaniköy, in Üsküdar, overlooked the Asian side of the city and Galata tower overlooked the Beyoğlu area.

Finally in 1874, a proper fire-fighting service was created. One can only think that this was after the Italian travel writer, Edmondo de Amicis, wrote of his experiences with the fire brigade in his account of his stay in Istanbul in 1874.

He describes being on the Galata Bridge when one of the guards shout, “Tulumbacılar!” De Amicis described these men as half naked with heads uncovered. They had hairy chests, tattered garments and were like wild men sweating blood. They were a mixed group of old men, youths, dwarfs and giants with axes and shovels. He could even smell them, comparing them to wild animals. They were lost to sight almost immediately and only their cries of “Allah” could be heard in the distance.

The Italian writer was particularly interested in fire stories although he says openly that he himself never witnessed one. However, he was there at a time when he could still see the ravages of the Beyoğlu fire of 1870, in which nearly 3,000 buildings were destroyed.

He actually collected stories from some of those displaced at the time. Elsewhere he writes of walking through whole gray areas with ruins overgrown with grass and goats wandering along dirt paths.

In 1874, Count Szechynı was brought in from Hungary to train and organize the newly established fire brigade and he remained in that position until his death in 1922. On Sept. 25, 1923, the fire brigade was civilianized and began to develop fully into the municipal forces we know today.

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