About Time I Asked

[whiskey]

Originally Posted by Kaionai

I wonder if they had firefighters back then???

Well, if you look at the Wikipedia article (which we all know to be a bastion of truth)

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The key breakthrough in firefighting arrived in the 17th century with the first fire engines. Manual pumps, rediscovered in Europe after 1500 (allegedly used in Augsburg in 1518 and in Nuremberg in 1657), were only force pumps and had a very short range due to the lack of hoses. German inventor Hans Hautsh improved the manual pump by creating the first suction and force pump and adding some flexible hoses to the pump. In 1672, Dutch inventor Jan Van der Heyden invented the fire hose. Constructed of flexible leather and coupled every 50 feet (15 m) with brass fittings, the length and connections remain the standard to this day. The fire engine was further developed by Richard Newsham of London in 1725. Pulled as a cart to the fire, these manual pumps were manned by teams of men and could deliver up to 160 gallons per minute (12 L/s) at up to 120 feet (40 m).

So, yes. They had firefighters back then, and by the early 1700's, they even had fire brigades with rudimentary fire engines!