Welcome to The History of Fire By FIREGURU The history of firefighting began in ancient Rome around 250 BC Ctesibius of Alexandria invented a hand pump able to deliver water to a fire. There is evidence of firefighting machinery in use in Ancient Egypt, including a water pump invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria in the third century BC Ctesibius or Tesibius (285–222 BC) was a Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps (and even a cannon). This in combination with his work on the elasticity of air On pneumatics, earned him the title of "father of pneumatics." None of his written work has survived, including his Memorabilia, a compilation of his research that was cited by Athenaeus. This pump was later developed by Hero of Alexandria (10 AD – c. 70 AD) who was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egy