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MV003 -  Edition 2,000

  London Fire

The Great Fire of London, in 1666, devastated a huge area of the City and prompted changes which led to the first organised firefighting in London. In the centuries that followed, the London firefighters developed into a fully trained and well-organised professional group, capable of fighting fires above and below ground and providing a wide range of other rescue and emergency services to the capital.

It is likely that London has had some form of firefighting from as early as the time of the Romans. However, after the Roman armies left Britain in 415 AD, any organised attempts to fight fires were abandoned. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, King William the Conqueror insisted that all fires should be put out at night to reduce the risk of fire in houses with straw 'carpets' and thatched roofs. William's law of couvre-feu (literally - cover fire) became the modern term curfew. Even so, a huge fire destroyed a large part of the city in 1212 and was said to have killed some 3,000 people.