Title: İtfâiyye-i Hümâyûn
Description: Fire was always an event that made the Ottoman Istanbul tremble with fear. However, this event took on a different dimension, especially starting from the last quarter of the 19th century. Kont Öjen Széchenyi yani nâm-ı diğer Ziçini Paşa, whom Sultan Abdülaziz heard his praise during his European trip, was brought from Hungary as part of the modernization project of the Ottoman fire brigade. Since 1874, Ottoman fire brigade was actually created and a more effective fire fighting unit was tried to be established in line with the instructions of Ziçini Pasha. However, Ziçini Pasha could not find what he hoped. So much so that Ziçini Pasha, despite his years of efforts, could neither destroy the firefighting-firefighter duality in fire services nor adapt the actual fire extinguishing technologies required by the Ottoman fire brigade to his command units. Ziçini Pasha declared that the alleged reform movements in fire services were perhaps a demonstration to paint the eyes of the Western public, saying that if they had sold years of reports about the amendment and promotion of the fire brigade, it would have been bought with okka. In fact, despite Ziçini Pasha's efforts, the project of reorganizing the Ottoman fire brigade was nothing more than a vicious modernization.
Subjects: Fire departments, History, Fire extinction
Places: Turkey, Istanbul
Time periods: 19th century, 20th century