The first fireman was a fire-lighter and not a fire-fighter!

It was the fireman’s dangerous job to go first into the coal mines pits. He would be wrapped in wet rags

and carry a lighted candle on a long stick to ignite the fire damp.

Fire damp was the dangerous explosive mixture of methane and air that had seeped into the pit during the

previous night.

The fire started this way rendered the mines safe for the other to enter. Eventually the word fireman

came to denote any person who saves the lives of other people from the blazing fire.