Fire protection in the Russian empire in the second half of the 19th century: main contradictions and search for development pathways

• Published in: IOP conference series. Earth and environmental science Vol. 579; no. 1; pp. 12166 - 12172
• Main Authors: Malko, A V, Nemchenko, S B, Smirnova, A A, Panchenko, V Y, Makarchuk, I Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Emergency preparedness; Emergency response; Fire departments; Fire fighting; Fire protection; Fire services; Police
• ISSN: 1755-1307; 1755-1315
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/579/1/012166

This paper considers the peculiarities of legal regulation for three types of fire brigades in the 19th-century Russian Empire. It describes the formation of the fire protection service, one of the first public emergency response services. The authors reveal contradictions in the management system and legal status of fire brigades in Russia. They focus on the classification of fire brigades in the Russian Empire by dividing them into state police and public fire brigades. The paper also considers the public project of establishing a single centralized body of state fire protection management in the Russian Empire. To accomplish this, the archival materials of Count Sheremet'ev's personal papers and the papers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire are analyzed. The authors conclude that Russian state, though aware of the need for reform in fire protection, could not effectively implement it. The reform project prepared by Bogdanovich and Sheremet'ev was not implemented because of poor interaction between the state and public firefighting services of the country.