Oldest fire station in the world

[evacguy]

Back in September 2024 I visited Rome and the Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco (the national firebrigade). One of the places my hosts took me to see was not on the tourist circuit, but it should have been! It is the site of one of the garrison outposts of the Vigiles of the VII Cohort.

Augustus (first Roman emperor who ruled from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD), divided the city of Rome into fourteen regions, placed each of them under the control of seven cohorts, each composed of about 1000 men who were housed in barracks, called statio, and guard posts or detachments, known as excubitorium.

The Vigiles were the ancient Roman equivalent of firefighters and police. Their main role was that of firefighters, but they also maintained public order, particularly at night. The photographs are taken in the Trastevere district of Rome, just around the corner from my hotel. The site is an Excubitorium that was used to house a detachment of the Vigiles of the VII Cohort, the original building dates back to the 2nd century AD and is some 8m below the present street level. It is essentially the oldest fire brigade headquarters in the world.

The equipment of the Vigiles consisted of simple tools such as axes, crampons, hoes, saws, poles, ladders and ropes, but also centones, blankets soaked in water or vinegar used to smother flames, and siphones, a type of water pump with leather pipes. Horse drawn carts were used as a means of transportation, on which were mounted large barrels of water – essentially what we would call a fire engine!

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II
• 24.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/30 sec
• ISO 200

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II
• 24.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/30 sec
• ISO 200

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II
• 28.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/30 sec
• ISO 250

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II
• 28.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/30 sec
• ISO 250

 

[Richard A]

Very interesting...

 

[Phil Vetra]

Very interesting bite of history! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Unframed Dave]

Fascinating stuff.

 

[evacguy]

Thanks Richard, Phil and Dave, glad you found it interesting.

 

[rgb47]

Back in September 2024 I visited Rome and the Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco (the national firebrigade). One of the places my hosts took me to see was not on the tourist circuit, but it should have been! It is the site of one of the garrison outposts of the Vigiles of the VII Cohort.

Augustus (first Roman emperor who ruled from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD), divided the city of Rome into fourteen regions, placed each of them under the control of seven cohorts, each composed of about 1000 men who were housed in barracks, called statio, and guard posts or detachments, known as excubitorium.

The Vigiles were the ancient Roman equivalent of firefighters and police. Their main role was that of firefighters, but they also maintained public order, particularly at night. The photographs are taken in the Trastevere district of Rome, just around the corner from my hotel. The site is an Excubitorium that was used to house a detachment of the Vigiles of the VII Cohort, the original building dates back to the 2nd century AD and is some 8m below the present street level. It is essentially the oldest fire brigade headquarters in the world.

The equipment of the Vigiles consisted of simple tools such as axes, crampons, hoes, saws, poles, ladders and ropes, but also centones, blankets soaked in water or vinegar used to smother flames, and siphones, a type of fire hydrants with leather pipes. Horse drawn carts were used as a means of transportation, on which were mounted large barrels of water – essentially what we would call a fire engine!

View attachment 70598

View attachment 70599

View attachment 70600

View attachment 70601

As retired Fire Dept (31 yrs on the job), this is pretty cool to me. Is the building open for tours?

 

[evacguy]

As retired Fire Dept (31 yrs on the job), this is pretty cool to me. Is the building open for tours?

Hi Bob, I'm not sure. I had a tour with a senior fire officier of the national fire service, so I'm not sure if it is open to the general public, but certainly interesting, even from the outside. Where did you work in the states?

 

[evacguy]

As retired Fire Dept (31 yrs on the job), this is pretty cool to me. Is the building open for tours?

Hi Bob, thought you might also be interested in the following info, the ordinary firefighters were called 'Milites' or soldiers, the more highly trained were called 'Siphonarius', they operated the pump, while the top guy was called an 'Aquarius', he supervised the water supply. The vigiles motto was, “Ubi dolor ibi vigiles” or, where there is pain there are vigilantes. Pretty much the same today.

 

[AllardR]

Is the building open for tours?

On demand.

Excubitorium: la VII Coorte dei Vigiles nei Sotterranei di Trastevere

Seguiteci nei sotterranei di Trastevere alla scoperta dei resti dell'Excubitorium, la VII Coorte dei Vigiles della Roma antica.

www.romaguidetour.it

The blog about this station in Trastevere is in Italian. Above you will find a page in English on which you will find info about the possibility of a tour.

@evacguy I really like the first photo. So typical Italy. You will have to find the jewels among the garbage.

 

[rgb47]

Hi Bob, I'm not sure. I had a tour with a senior fire officier of the national fire service, so I'm not sure if it is open to the general public, but certainly interesting, even from the outside. Where did you work in the states?

Hi Bob, I'm not sure. I had a tour with a senior fire officier of the national fire service, so I'm not sure if it is open to the general public, but certainly interesting, even from the outside. Where did you work in the states?

Yes, it is interesting, but what a treat it would be to get inside that building! I worked in upstate NY, Johnson City, NY ... did 31 yrs on the job, did well on exams and promoted to Lt, Capt, then Fire Marshal which is a chief's position equal in pay and grade to an assistant chief. Actually turned down the job of fire chief (due to contractual items). It was a great job, but it was just time to leave. I see you are in London ... were you with the Fire Brigade?

 

[rgb47]

Hi Bob, thought you might also be interested in the following info, the ordinary firefighters were called 'Milites' or soldiers, the more highly trained were called 'Siphonarius', they operated the pump, while the top guy was called an 'Aquarius', he supervised the water supply. The vigiles motto was, “Ubi dolor ibi vigiles” or, where there is pain there are vigilantes. Pretty much the same today.

Thank you for the additional information ... it is appreciated!

 

[rgb47]

On demand.

Excubitorium: la VII Coorte dei Vigiles nei Sotterranei di Trastevere

Seguiteci nei sotterranei di Trastevere alla scoperta dei resti dell'Excubitorium, la VII Coorte dei Vigiles della Roma antica.

www.romaguidetour.it

The blog about this station in Trastevere is in Italian. Above you will find a page in English on which you will find info about the possibility of a tour.

@evacguy I really like the first photo. So typical Italy. You will have to find the jewels among the garbage.

Thank you so much for the link! I will spend some time this evening going through it to see if I can find anything on the place. I appreciate it!

 

[evacguy]

Yes, it is interesting, but what a treat it would be to get inside that building! I worked in upstate NY, Johnson City, NY ... did 31 yrs on the job, did well on exams and promoted to Lt, Capt, then Fire Marshal which is a chief's position equal in pay and grade to an assistant chief. Actually turned down the job of fire chief (due to contractual items). It was a great job, but it was just time to leave. I see you are in London ... were you with the Fire Brigade?

Hey Bob, I don't know Johnson City, but I have friends up at Saguerties. Been up that way a few times. I also spent about 6 months in NY City working on a project following 911. I interviewed about 300 survivors of the Twin Towers evacuation and a number of senior firefighters who were there. I'm a professor of fire safety engineering at the University of Greenwich in London. So I have a lot of friends and colleagues in the fire service around the world. Do you know Jerry Tracy and Jack Murphy two retired fire chiefs (FD of NY and NJ)? Last April I attended the international fire conference in Indianapolis for the first time - I don't think I have ever seen so many fire fighters in one place!

 

[rgb47]

Hello Ed. I do not know Jerry Tracy or Jack Murphy. I knew, pretty good, Batt Chief Teddy Goldfarb, FDNY ... used to go down to visit and ride with him on the job. He has been retired for a number of years now. I also knew a bunch of FDNY Firefighters, but they also are either retired or have passed away. I've been retired since 2004! The state was calling upstate depts on a rotating schedule to go down to the city right after 911 and our dept sent men down a number of times. I was not able to go down because they wanted workers and no chiefs. It's a different world down in the city. Chief Goldfarb and a number of FDNY men used to come up in the spring to play golf here ... I believe that some of the firefighters still come up for the golf in the spring. They were always shocked to see how the smaller depts work compared to the FDNY ... they thought we were crazy, "we would never do that, it's too dangerous"! Johnson City is right next door to Binghamton. You wouldn't know if you went from one to the other unless you saw the signs on the side of the roads. Binghamton is where 3 firemen drowned back in 1975 during a rescue at a low head dam. It was all caught on camera by the news stations here and parts of the videos are still shown today during trainings all over the country of what can happen at low head dams. As a young fireman at the time, I along with other Johnson City firemen were called in to search the river banks for the bodies of two of the firemen killed, they were found, that day and the next. You may have seen video of that. When you were here, were you able to visit the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, MD? I was the first from our dept to be sent there back in 1980. Was sent down for fire investigation. Prior to being promoted to Fire Marshal, I was an adjunct instructor at the NYS Fire Academy in Montour Falls where I taught Fire Investigation Photography. Good days long gone by now. My oldest son is on the job and 3 years ago, when I had been retired for 17 years, he was promoted to my old job of Fire Marshal ... never thought I would see that. Always wanted to visit your country and the London Fire Brigade. Bob