• @rockSlayer
    link
    2217 hours ago

    I’ve never heard of them in the modern day, but I know that’s how fire brigades started in the UK

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      2316 hours ago

      Correct, it’s also the birth of insurance. People would pay a subscription style fee to the fire brigade so their house would be protected in case of a fire.

      It’s something satirised in The Colour of Magic, the first Discworld novel.

      • @ThePyroPython
        link
        6
        edit-2
        13 hours ago

        Precisely.

        There’d be fire markers on the outer walls to indicate which fire protection company covered that building and whichever firefighter turned up would bill that fire protection company who’d then bill the customer/customer’s insurance company.

        Edit: typo, damn these supposedly opposable thumbs!