Active Vocabulary. Theme: The Fire Protection in Russia

UNIT 1

Theme: The Fire Protection in Russia

TEXT 1

From the History of Fire Protection in Russia

From the ancient times fire has been known as an extremely dangerous and cruel phenomenon. As modern historians consider, only one great fire – the fire of Alexandria library – delayed the civilization development for several centuries and mankind had to discover and learn a lot of things anew.

Russian ancient chronicles describe numerous fires and human troubles connected with them.

In the 12-th century small towns in Novgorod land – Ladoga and Roussa – were completely destroyed by fire. Kiev, “a mother of Russian cities“, burnt to ashes¹⁾.

In the 13-th century the city of Vladimir was burnt down²⁾.

In the 14-th century tragic fire happened in Great Novgorod. There was nothing saved after the fire. In Moscow the Kremlin and settlements were considerably destroyed by fire in 1365.

In the 15-th century [Д.И.1] the waves of fire and smoke were over Moscow 16 times. The increase of the number of fires was marked in an extremely cold or dry season.

During the above-mentioned period little had been done to fight uncontrollable fires. Most homes had only a ladder for fighting roof fires. There were neither fire departments nor fire brigades and often the notice of a fire was a smoke in the day-time or a glow of a fire at night.

Reviewing the past we trace the history of the fire prevention and protection. After the fire of 1365 Prince Dmitry Ivanovich protected Moscow and the Kremlin with new fireproof building material – white stone. Since then³⁾ Moscow has been called "stone-white”.

Great fires went on. When a building caught fire everyone got a bucket and took her or his place in line⁴⁾ to put out the flame. The most important characteristic was the will to help a neighbour that has created mutual aid system.

In 1472 the first professional fire brigades were founded. Grand Duke⁵⁾ Ivan the Third approved the first Fire Safety normative acts. So, the Fire Protection has appeared in Russia. With formation of centralized Russian state the first attempts of state power to organize Fire Prevention and Fire Protection on a state scale⁶⁾ were made.

In the reign of Peter the Great the Fire Service was passed to the regular army units⁷⁾. They were supplied with necessary equipment and took part in extinction of all kinds of fires.

The firefighting activity was headed by volvodes. Peter the First did not forget about Fire Protection of his favourite creation – the Russian Fleet.

Fire protection activites were carried on in two directions – fire prevention and fire-fighting. Improvement and perfection of these directions resulted in creating professional Fire Service in St.-Petersburg, Moscow and later in other Russian cities and towns.

Active Vocabulary

aid n помощь

approve v утверждать, одобрять

burn (burnt) v гореть, сжигать

carry v проводить

create v создавать

considerable a значительный

destroy v разрушать

extinction n тушение, затухание

extinguish v тушить

extreme a чрезвычайный

fireproof a огнестойкий, несгораемый

flame n пламя, огонь

mutual a взаимный

put out v тушить, гасить

supply v снабжать, обеспечивать

will n воля, желание

result in v иметь результат

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