Across the UK, we take it for granted
that if a fire breaks out you can call an emergency number,
firefighters will arrive,
they'll do their best to save lives and put out the fire,
and you will not get sent a bill for making that call.
Sure, if some movie director has arranged a massive pyrotechnic stunt for a movie
and they need firefighters standing by just in case something goes wrong,
they'll probably pay for the time there, but in everyday life,
firefighters are funded by government, through taxes, for everyone.
But that's not always been the case.
The Great Fire of London in 1666 lasted for four days.
The idea of "firefighters" hadn't really been invented at that point.
The Great Fire was only stopped by a change in the wind,
and by the military blowing up houses to create a firebreak.
The whole of central London burned to the ground.
Rebuilding took 30 years.
The enormous monument on the site where the fire started
is still standing today, 350 years later.
After the Great Fire, the job of fire protection in London
was taken up by insurance companies.
Building owners would pay a fee for a few years' coverage,
and the insurance company would attach a metal "fire mark"
to the front of the building.
Like...
...these, on the wall of St James' Palace.
So in 18th-century London, if a fire broke out and smoke started rising,
several fire brigades, each run by a different insurance company,
would all rush to the scene.
And then they'd check for fire marks,
and only fight the fire if they saw their own company's mark,
or the mark of a company they had an agreement with.
If the building wasn't insured, they would let it burn.
Their job was protection of property, not life.
If a neighbouring building was insured with them,
and the fire looked to be spreading that way,
well, they'd make sure that building was safe, of course.
And it wasn't just London.
There were similar schemes
all around the country and around the world.
If firefighters standing aside while a building burns seems immoral to you...
well, there are lots of places where that's still the case today.
Or where firefighting companies will send a bill afterwards,
assuming that an insurance company will pay it.
In places where there aren't enough people, or there's not enough political will
for a government-funded fire service, that may still be the only option.
In London, it wasn't until 1833 that ten of those insurance companies
joined their fire brigades together to create a single fire service...
...still private.
In 1866, the government finally took over and created
the London Fire Engine Establishment as a public service.
But that was only after another major fire.
It took disaster, it took death and destruction,
to move things forward to the point where you can call the fire service
to save lives, not just property, and without having to worry about the bill.
You can still see a few fire marks
on old buildings around London and around the UK these days,
although not all of them are original,
some are recent reproductions put up for effect.
Heck, those on the wall of the Palace might be reproductions for all I know.
But fortunately, it doesn't matter,
because firefighters don't have to check for them any more.
That was going to be a really good shot of Buckingham Palace
and all you're going to see is the traffic light.
Don't know why I thought I'd be able to get
a good zoom shot of Buckingham Palace from there.
The road's closed, by the way.
I'm just going to make that clear.
I didn't just walk out into, uh, an active road. It's...
It's closed off for pedestrians.