Specific History Question regarding the Maltese Cross

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brandon Roark on September 15, 2008 at 3:32pm

yes the thing with the ball, what is that?

Permalink Reply by Brian Arnold on September 15, 2008 at 9:27pm

The symbol that you see is meant to represent a light carried on a staff. It was mounted ahead of the horses or sometimes carried by a member of the department leading the way to fire. It's the basis from which our lightbars on the apparatus came from.......It's still on many fire department badges today. Good question! If you ever want to find out about FD history and get stumped, get ahold of Corbett or watch for his history lessons on the main FE page.

Stay safe,
Brian

Permalink Reply by Brandon Roark on September 15, 2008 at 10:40pm

hey man thanks a bunch...i knew this was the place to come.

Permalink Reply by Michael Bricault (ret) on September 22, 2008 at 12:01am

My understanding is that the light on the pole wasn't used so much as a warning light per say but rather to light street lamps in the area and all the lanterns on the responding apparatus for visibility once on scene

Permalink Reply by Rich Kukac on November 19, 2008 at 11:54am

This appears to be a reproduction of the staff with a small glass globe lantern on the end that the Fire Wardens carried in New Amsterdam (New York). It served two purposes - to light the way for the wardens at night and as a sympole of the office or authority.The wardens had quaase police/fire poweres, in that they patroled the streets at night, looking for signs of a fire. When I get a little time, I will go through my library and scan a picture of one of these.

Permalink Reply by Timothy Patrick on January 8, 2012 at 4:32pm

That's the Fire Wardens Sceptre, a symbol of the Fire Wardens Authority. It was carried in the cities starting back in colonial times when cities first began organizing fire departments and fire watches.  The cities were divided into wards and each ward had administrators for certain governmental functions called wardens,including fire wardens,who were the ultimate authorities of fire related issues within the ward. Along these lines, is where the term Warden came from when referring to the "Prison Warden". In WWII when London was bombed by the Luftwaffe, Zeppelins and Buzz Bombs, each ward had an appointed "Air Raid Warden" This comes to us from England, where they still use the concept in many parts of local government today. Tim Patrick