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At the first sign of fire, communities would hear the cry: "Throw out
your buckets!" Each household would toss their family's fire bucket
into the street where volunteer fire fighters (and helpful neighbors)
would pick them up and take them to the site of the fire. Two
lines formed between the fire and the nearest source of water. One
line filled up the buckets with water and passed them forward to the
fire fighters who threw them on the raging fire. The other line took
the empty buckets from the front line back to the water source.
Once the bucket brigade put the fire out, fire fighters would pile the
buckets in front of the main city building where each household could
pick up their bucket. Names, house numbers, and sometimes even coats
of arms were painted on the buckets to distinguish them from the others.
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