Did the ancient Romans have fire departments, or equivalent?

Question: Did the ancient Romans have fire departments, or equivalent!?

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i heard they had a lot of fires since they had lots of wood houses an used hanging lighted lamps for light!. an that nero blamed a great fire in rome on the christians, which gave them a lot of bad rep, but did they try to combat the fires in any way or have plans for them!?!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Marcus Licinius Crassus had a private for-profit fire department in the 1st century BC that employed 500 people!. When a building caught on fire his brigade would go to the owners and haggle with them: "I'll put out the fire for X amount of money, or I'll buy the property for X amount of money", and of course as the fire spread the amount to put it out increased and the amount he'd buy it for decreased!. It made him a fortune- he was one of the richest men in Rome!.

Generally though, the fire departments weren't as interested in saving a building as in keeping the fire from spreading!. Rome was one of the most congested and overbuilt cities, so if, say, an insula (apartment building) caught fire, the main purpose was to pour water on the surrounding buildings to keep it from spreading while possibly even helping the fire consume the burning building to go ahead and make it less dangerous!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes, the ancient Romans actually had the first organized fire department!.Www@QuestionHome@Com