Chimney Fire 1860, Bronze, B431

By the middle of the 19th Century urban populations had increased enormously to meet the demand for labour to fuel the Industrial Revolution. Building of cheap, basic accommodation could not keep pace with demand, leading to the construction of huge areas of 'slums' which were a feature of British cities until after the Second World War. These cramped, unsanitary buildings contained hundreds of coal fires which were the sole source of energy for cooking and heating and led to the dense fogs and great palls of smoke that shrouded the towns and cities for many months of the year leading to nicknames like ' Old Reekie ' ( Edinburgh ) and providing ideal conditions for the spread of diseases like tuberculosis, asthma and pneumonia. Needless to say chimney fires were by far the most common reason for a ' Call Out '. Burning soot created intense heat which was vented up through the chimney and damping called for a special technique. Water had to be poured in large quantities at speed, otherwise the heat would simply turn the water to steam creating a scalding blast back up the chimney. The fire crew therefore had to prepare a stockpile of buckets, full of water, and once ready pour them as steadily as possible wetting & steaming down the entire lum, quenching the fire, without wetting the kitchen floor below.
The figure depicts a fireman of the 1860ties, on a cold winter's night precariously standing along a steep tiled roof as he pours water from a leather bucket down a smouldering chimney. Who knows what the Health and Safety Executive would have to say about this working practise today!