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==Early History==
Early fighting developed in the early urban societies of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus. Very likely, however, these were not dedicated fire departments but rather as volunteer or paid individuals who would be responsible in assembling a crew and extinguishing a fire in the city. Few archaeological remains have attested to such firefighters, but laws, such as those from Hammurabi's law code, indicate they existed. There is was a law that discussed stated that a firefighter who stole from a burning house that he was putting out a fire from responsible for would be punished by death by being thrown into the fire. The law makes it clear though that it is a volunteerthat the law applies to. This does not mean there were no paid firefighters but it could mean volunteers may have volunteered because fires gave opportunity for theft.<ref>For more on early laws concerning firefighters, see: VerSteeg, R. (2000). Early Mesopotamian law. Durham, N.C: Carolina Academic Press, pg. 114.</ref>
We don't know the equipment used by the earliest firefighters, but likely it consisted of buckets, wells to extract water, and perhaps carts to move water to where the fire was located. The first documented fire pump dates to the 2nd century BCE, where a pump invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria may have been used in putting out fires in the city of Alexandria.<ref>For information about this early fire pump, see: Day, L., & McNeil, I. (Eds.). (1998). Biographical dictionary of the history of technology (1. publ. in paperback). London: Routledge, pg. 588.</ref>
In the Roman period, the city of Rome grew rapidly and began to have problems with major fires. Initially, fires may have been only extinguished in places where homeowners or property owners could pay the price. Negotiation of the price may have occurred while the fire was burning, potentially putting owners in a vulnerable position to being extorted, although evidence for this is not entirely certain. The first dedicated city-based fire department was developed, perhaps ironically, by emperor Nero, who was blamed for the great fire of Rome. The firefighting capabilities consisted of men assigned as <i>Vigiles</i>, who also served as Rome's police force, that had access to buckets, pumps, and even equipment to tear down buildings to make it easier to help break and stop a fire from spreading. The firefighting force patrolled the streets of Rome and the fact they were responsible for policing and firefighting indicates that the <i>Vigiles</i> were essentially a protection force.<ref>For more on Nero and his firefighting organization, see: Alston, R. (2014). Aspects of Roman history, 31 BC-AD 117 (Second edition). London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.</ref>
China, Parthian, and Sasanians likely developed similar types of dedicated groups who would be responsible to respond to events such as a fire in the city. Similar to the Roman <i>Vigiles</i>, they may have patrolled the streets as watchmen and simply responded to fire events.<ref>As an example of these states' firefighting, see: Sarker, K.R. 2003. Public Finance in Ancient India. First edition Edition. Abhinav Publications, India</ref>
