Episode 260: The Science of Fire: James Braidwood's Insights with David Dow

Episode notes

Who is James Braidwood and how did he transform the fire service?

Hello Smart Firefighting Community!

Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy!

In this episode:

What “finding the seat of the fire” means, and the role of airflow

A blueprint for firefighting science and the science of fire

How sharing knowledge strengthens the fire service sector

Hear from David Dow - a firefighter at the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

David gives an exploration of the legacy of James Braidwood, the pioneering superintendent of the Edinburgh Fire Engine Establishment. Braidwood was instrumental in bringing together insurance brigades and founding the world's first municipal fire service. He taught firefighters the importance of locating the seat of a fire for effective extinguishment and emphasized the role of airflow in controlling fires.

His scientific approach to firefighting and commitment to sharing knowledge had a lasting global impact, influencing fire services in cities like London, Sydney, Boston, and New York. Braidwood's story is one of determination, innovation, and a relentless drive to improve the fire sector.

So take a listen to hear what he has to share!

Episode Resources:

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Chapters

1. 0:00 Intro from the IFE booth at AFAC 2024
2. 0:55 David Dow joins
3. 1:17 Looking back at fire service history
4. 1:59 Who was James Braidwood
5. 4:16 The first master of fire writes the book
6. 5:08 Finding the seat of the fire and the science of fire
7. 7:20 Braidwood's ideas spread around the world
8. 9:21 Why the Braidwood story matters today
9. 9:45 Reading from Braidwood's writing on sharing knowledge
10. 11:07 Interoperability across stakeholders
11. 11:49 His death and legacy, from London to Sydney
12. 13:54 The Braidwood challenge coin
13. 14:10 Tenacity: if not me, then who
14. 15:05 Wrap

Questions answered in this episode

Who was James Braidwood and what did he accomplish?

David Dow describes James Braidwood as the pioneer of modern firefighting, born in Edinburgh in 1800. At age 24 he founded the Edinburgh Fire Engine Establishment in 1824, the first municipal fire service in the world, bringing together insurance brigades and the Edinburgh Council.

Hear it at 2:04

What was Braidwood's scientific approach to fighting fires?

David Dow explains that Braidwood was the first to realize firefighters needed to find the seat of the fire and get water onto the burning materials, not just throw water on the outside of structures. He trained his men in the science of fire, including understanding airflow and closing doors to limit oxygen supply to the fire.

Hear it at 5:34

How did Braidwood's methods impact fire losses in Edinburgh?

Within about two years of starting the brigade, fire incidents started to drop dramatically in Edinburgh. David Dow says total losses plummeted because fires were being extinguished more efficiently. Buildings were no longer totally destroyed, with damage limited to a room or floor instead of total loss.

Hear it at 7:21

How did Braidwood's work spread globally?

David Dow says Braidwood freely shared his knowledge and methods with anyone who asked. After moving to London at age 33 to lead the London Fire Engine Establishment, his ideas spread through the British Empire to cities like Sydney, Boston, and New York.

Hear it at 8:04

What was Braidwood's philosophy on sharing knowledge?

David Dow quotes from Braidwood's book published after his death in 1861, stating that knowledge is increased chiefly by communication. Braidwood believed that if the whole experience of the country were brought together and considered by competent people, a suitable system could be introduced for the nation.

Hear it at 9:45

Transcript

Machine transcript of the published audio. Names may be misspelled and some sections are missing.

Ep 260 transcript

The Science of Fire: James Braidwood's Insights with David Dow

Speakers: Kevin Sofen, David Dow

Source: Whisper medium.en machine transcription of the published Podbean audio (no original transcript found in Drive), lightly cleaned. Speakers were separated by voice clustering and then checked and assigned by hand at every speaker change. Gaps where the model returned no usable text are marked [inaudible m:ss].

[0:00] Kevin Sofen: Welcome to a mini Smart Firefighting podcast series, recorded live at the Institute of Fire Engineers booth during the 2024 AFAC Show Down Under in Sydney, Australia. Throughout these conversations, we dive into critical issues like fire safety, emerging technologies, diversity in the fire service, and innovative solutions for emergency response. with these fascinating insights from leaders around the world on how we can build a safer and more resilient future. David Dow, historian and fire safety expert, explores the legacy of James Braidwood, the pioneer of modern firefighting. Braidwood's scientific approach to fire, focusing on airflow, and finding the seat of the fire, revolutionized firefighting worldwide, influencing fire service in major cities like London, Sydney, and New York. David Dow, sitting here in the little Institute of Fire Engineers podcast booth. I think it's podcast 17 or 18 lost track of count now, but David, how you doing today?

[1:04] David Dow: Yeah, good.

[1:06] Kevin Sofen: How has AFAC been treating you so far?

[1:07] David Dow: It's been really good. Yeah. It's amazing bringing everybody in the fire sector together. I think it's really important that we maintain these exhibitions and the conferences.

[1:17] Kevin Sofen: And I feel like one of the exciting things about being here, it's a lot of times we're, we're looking forward and we're looking at some of the new innovations that are happening here. But one of the things I've enjoyed in some of the dialogue with you throughout the week, even just before this podcast, is not only looking forward, but also looking backwards at some of our history, looking back in terms of how we got here, and why that's important to shape ultimately what we're doing here today.

[1:39] David Dow: Yeah, help to shape the future. Yeah, sometimes we've got, the fire sector is actually, it's got quite a shared history. We tend to think that we've been doing stuff in silos, but in actual fact, when you trace back there's only a few individuals that have had a really profound impact on the fire sector and obviously we're going to talk about one of those individuals today.

[1:59] Kevin Sofen: So yeah let's let's talk into that James Braidwood.

[2:02] David Dow: Braidwood yes so

[2:03] Kevin Sofen: tell me about him.

[2:04] David Dow: So James was born in 1800 in the city of Edinburgh and you can tell by my accent I'm also from...

[2:11] Kevin Sofen: Good Scottish lad.

[2:12] David Dow: That's it exactly yeah so James is one of these characters he had a fairly good upbringing he was his dad had a business. He was in the construction business and James's father wanted him to become a surveyor or an engineer so he was sent to the Royal High School in Edinburgh which is quite prestigious so he had a good education, a good background. James had other plans though. James was always fascinated by fire and fire's impact on the built environment within Edinburgh. Now Edinburgh back in the 1800s was quite an interesting dynamic of buildings because you had stuff that was almost medieval, a lot of timber construction, and you had a lot of the new stone construction was coming along as well. And fire was a real risk because a bit like places like Boston and New York that you would be aware of, people were living on top of each other. And obviously we had open fires. We had the inception of things like matches, gas lighting, all these technologies that were coming along to make life better, But also, the risk was starting to become more apparent for all this technology. So James, he brought together all of the insurance brigades. So a lot of people in the fire sector are aware of the fact that most of the fire brigades started as insurance companies. And it was, you needed a mark on your building. If you have the insurance mark, their brigade will attend, and they will put out your building. But James could see the gap, because there's lot of people couldn't afford obviously to ensure their properties for various reasons. So he was the first one to bring together Edinburgh Council and all the different brigades within the insurance sector and he started the Edinburgh Fire Engine establishment in 1824 so hence 200 years ago that was the first municipal fire service within the world. So yeah so at the age of 24 which is now we think that's quite a young age to be put in charge of and a fairly responsible position. Yeah so James took on the mantle of, we could call him the first master of fire, but yeah he was the superintendent of the Edinburgh fire establishment.

[4:24] Kevin Sofen: So he sort of at that point started to literally write the book on what it meant to train to be a firefighter, what it meant to respond to fire service calls.

[4:35] David Dow: That's exactly right yeah so he tried to find as much information as he could about training firemen, firefighters, the equipment they were using, and there was almost nothing out there. So rather than throw his hands up, he just decided, I'm going to write my own, I'm going to, through attrition, I'm going to figure out what works best and start writing it down. So he started to write manuals, he started to write procedures, and he started to design his own equipment. And yeah, so he basically started setting his own standards for his men. Yeah.

[5:08] Kevin Sofen: And then, of course, here in the IFE, we're talking a lot about this intersection and connection between the fire engineering world and the fire response dynamic from James's perspective in terms of that fire engineering side and how buildings are built and how fires work and the science of fire. What was his work? Why was that so important to help bridge this gap between the fire engineering community and the fire response community?

[5:34] David Dow: That's a great question. So James was one of the first people to identify the fact that if we need to extinguish a fire quickly and competently, we need to actually find the fire. We can't just turn up. Pre-Braidwood, a lot of the badly trained and badly organised brigades would turn up and they would simply throw water onto the outside of a structure. He was the first one to realise what we need to do is we need to actually find the seat of the fire. We need to get the water onto the burning materials. So he trained these men, ensuring that obviously as safe as they could, but they could actually get into the buildings, into the structures, and actually get the water to where it needed to be. So yeah, so he trained these guys and guys and girls in the science of fire. So he was one of the first ones to start realising about flow paths of air. So for instance, he had all the constables, the early inception of the police within Edinburgh. if they noticed there was a fire or the alarm was raised, he wanted them, because they were obviously on the streets, to go to wherever the fire was and try and maintain, close the door to the street so that we don't have a ready oxygen supply going into the structure to help increase the fire. So yeah, he was the first one to really start thinking about this and maintain that. Yeah, and then from there, so for instance, within about two years of the start of the brigade, the instances of fire started to really drop within Edinburgh, because they were getting to the jobs and they were extinguishing them a lot more proficiently. So the total losses just plummeted. There was no longer buildings being totally destroyed by fire. It was just a room was damaged or a floor was damaged instead of a total loss.

[7:20] Kevin Sofen: Wow.

[7:21] David Dow: So yeah, so that then became noticed around the world. Yeah, the Royal Engineers in London, he went and presented to them on various occasions, some of his inventions, some of his ideas. And then he started to get real traction within the rest of the world. People were starting to know us.

[7:38] Kevin Sofen: Yeah. And from, like you were saying, the master of fire in terms of how he brought this ideology from the engineering side to help in the response side. It seems like this was something that while, yes, it was in Edinburgh in Scotland, it's had a global impact. Tell me more about the positive domino effects and trickle effects of his work and how that led to some influence here in Sydney to other cities around the world.

[8:04] David Dow: Yes. For instance, as soon as it became apparent that what he was doing was actually paving the way and it was working, other cities like London, like Manchester, Liverpool, all started to be interested and wanted knowledge. They wanted to know how are you achieving this? How are you bringing about the change? And Braidwood being the kind of guy he is, or was, sorry, he freely gave information. He was never one of these guys that was, oh, it's my ideas. I'm going to hold on to them. He was all about communication, all about collaboration. Anybody that asked for information, for knowledge, he freely shared that around the world. So yeah, by the time he gets to three years old, so again, fairly young, he was finally taken or he moved himself and his family down to London. And he was put in charge of the London fire engine establishment, which is the forerunner, obviously, to London Fire Brigade, which is one of the largest brigades in the world. So he was the first one to bring about the change there. And obviously, from London, with the empire being where it was, quickly, places like Sydney, places like even in the New World, Boston, New York, they all were hungry for how is this being achieved. And he sent the information around the world.

[9:21] Kevin Sofen: And so that's remarkable. And obviously, that's helped create a positive impact in these cities in terms of how we've created some of our experience of living with and working with fire. Why is it so important to say and talk about the James Braidwood story? And what lessons can we learn that we can really look at, applying to some of the challenges and opportunities we have today and tomorrow?

[9:45] David Dow: I'll just read you this quickly. So, James obviously published quite a few books and manuscripts in his life, some of which are still relevant today. So for instance, I'm going to read a passage here which was written over 170 years ago and you'll understand. wants irrelevance. So James says in the Fire Prevention and Fire Extinction, this was first published just after his untimely death in 1861. I think the book was published about 1863. Yeah, so I'll read you this. So it is chiefly by communication that knowledge is increased. If the whole experience of the country were brought together and maturely considered and digested by persons competent to judge, I have no doubt that a system might be introduced suitable to the nation and to the age in which we live. Instead of hearing of the dreadful loss by fire, or the great exertion made to extinguish it, all the notice would be, such a place took fire, the engines arrived and it was extinguished." So this is basically, if you could look, he was the forerunner to what the IFE, Institute of Fire Engineers, are all around. That collaboration, communication, the transfer of knowledge and capability. Before, he was an IFE member before even, before the inception of the IFE.

[11:07] Kevin Sofen: When you read that and as I read it a little bit more closely, to me it kind of speaks to the interoperability and the communication exchange between all the different stakeholders within fire, whether it's the, I mean today on call when I responded there was a there was some faulty smoke alarm that set off some alarm and we talked to the foreman for about five minutes and then we're talking to a couple of the workers and I think it's important to note that there's just so many stakeholders within ensuring that you know everyone's living happily and safely and yeah exactly yeah to me this James Braidwood comment really speak to the necessity of having that interoperability and communication across multiple stakeholders.

[11:49] David Dow: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it was felt when he died, unfortunately in 1861, after 20 years in charge of London, yeah, there was a bit of an outpouring of emotion from around the world. So for instance, to link it back to Sydney here, I've got a quote from the then superintendent of the Sydney Brigades. So when we were at the academy, I don't know if you remember, but we went to see the AI modeling around the fire. So all the rooms in the Sydney Fire Academy are named after important people, obviously the historic figures within the New South Wales Fire Brigade. And Mr TJ Bowne was the first superintendent of Sydney, and he wrote to Braidwood's wife in 1861. And he says, On receipt of the sad news, our large fire bell was told, the British ensign hoisted at half mast, and crepe attached to the fireman's uniform. as a token of our respect for one of the noblest and most self-defying men ever left, who spent and lost his life in the service of his fellow creatures. So that just gives you an indication of the impact that was felt from around the world, because people knew there is another quote, I've got it in the book, and it's from the superintendent of Boston, and he talks about trying to replace someone like Braidwood was going to be almost impossible because of the knowledge and the capability that he shared around the world. So yeah, it's just about his legacy, really. So yeah, I'll just show you quickly. So the Scottish Fire Service obviously started producing these challenge coins. And that's just so the, well, you can't really see it on the camera. But we've got one of his designed appliances here, which was, if you can imagine, The engines were run through the streets. This is even pre-steam pumpers. It's pre-horse-drawn. These were actually driven by men, a group of 20 to 30, sometimes as many as 40 individuals worked these engines.

[13:54] Kevin Sofen: And there he is.

[13:55] David Dow: Yep. There's the man himself.

[13:58] Kevin Sofen: Holding up the camera here, you can see James in the flesh. This is quite the challenge coin, too. This is not your average challenge coin. It's beautiful.

[14:09] David Dow: Exactly.

[14:10] Kevin Sofen: Wonderful. Well, and so what is one characteristic and sort of lasting legacy that James has embodied into you that you continue to try and live out every day?

[14:21] David Dow: I think you'd have to say it's tenacity, because rather than just accept that nothing existed and just, oh, I can't make a change, I can't improve things, he just made the decision. Now, if not me, then who? And if not now, then when? And that's kind of a fairly good model to live by, isn't it? Really, so yeah. So we've all got to kind of sometimes take a look inward and say, right, if I'm unhappy with the way things are, unless I do something about it, I can't expect everyone else to pick up the mantle and start running with it. And that's 100% what he did. He just made the decision, no, the designs aren't there. The capability isn't there. So I've got to make the change.

[15:05] Kevin Sofen: Well said. Well, I think we can all be a little bit more like James today and every day.

[15:09] David Dow: Absolutely.

[15:10] Kevin Sofen: Yeah. Well, David, it's a pleasure learning and listening and collaborating with you this week, and particularly getting a deep dive into all things James Braidwood. So thank you for the context.

[15:18] David Dow: Thank you.

[15:19] Kevin Sofen: You did the great work, and thanks again.

[15:21] David Dow: Perfect. Thanks very much, Kevin.

[15:22] Kevin Sofen: Thank you. Cheers. Thanks for listening to this episode recorded alongside the Institute of Fire Engineers during the AFAC show. If you found value in the conversation or learned something new, we'd love to hear from you. Reach out, share your thoughts, and let's keep the discussion going on how we can shape the future of smart firefighting.