Cause for Alarm: Protecting the Community from Fire 

Sometime in the 1950s, two firefighters work to extinguish a fire.

The Delmarva Peninsula, an area with many densely packed communities filled with old, wooden structures, has seen its share of tragic fires and conflagrations.  This grave threat to public safety, from the beginning of colonization, caused people to enact regulations and form fire departments. 
   This talk on the history of firefighting provides an overview of what fire has done to our towns and cities as we rebuilt, implemented new laws and organized more effective fire protection forces.
   The lecture is loaded with stories describing how places throughout the area bravely confronted the “fire fiend” when the dreaded “fire bell in the night” called people from their slumbers.