Firefighter’s Day in Mexico is celebrated on August 22 to recognize the work of firefighters and their bravery. On August 22, 1873, the first fire department in the country was founded.
Initially, Firefighter’s Day was commemorated on July 1, until in 1956 it was changed to August 22 because it was the date on which the first Fire Department of the Mexican Republic was founded, in the port of Veracruz in 1873.
The Presidency of Mexico stated on its website that “firefighters are an important element and an essential part of today’s world, which is why they become crucial for the preservation of the life of the general population.
They are brave men and women who risk their lives, responding to the needs of citizens through effective, efficient, professional, and humanitarian service.
They fulfill their commitment through prevention, combat and extinguishing of fires, pre-hospital medical emergency services, rescue, education of citizens for self-protection, attention to disasters in any sense: technical, social, natural, public and/or private.”
The first emperor Caesar Augustus is credited with the official creation of the first organized fire department in the ancient Roman Empire. However, years before, an aristocrat named Marcus Licinius Crassus had organized a kind of fire service in Rome.
The first modern fire departments used to be private companies dedicated to fire control, as is the case of the Union Fire Company, founded by Benjamin Franklin in the United States of America.
It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the fire companies went from the business area to becoming public department property of the State.
Source: El Financiero
