Flood and fire control

In 1803, Emperor Alexander I issued a decree on the establishment of Russia’s first fire brigade. In Moscow, such teams appeared a year later, and in other Russian cities — only by the middle of the nineteenth century. On March 17, 1853, the "Normal report card of the fire department in cities" was approved. In accordance with this document, for the first time, the staffing of the teams began to be determined not by the "highest resolution", but depending on the population. The staff of the fire brigades of the cities was approved in the following composition: fire marshal, fire masters, non-commissioned officers, firefighters, pump masters, locksmiths, blacksmiths, chimney sweepers, chimney sweeps and coachmen (the number of specialists depends on the category of the city).

Persons recruited into the fire department were exempt from conscription. They lived in barracks attached to fire stations. They were allowed to leave the territory of their unit only for three hours a week to wash in the bathhouse.

Their working day started at 5−6 o’clock in the morning and lasted 15−16 hours without a break. There was no uniform daily routine in the fire departments. But as a rule, everyone followed the same rules: after lifting, the entire staff stood up for prayer. Then the lower ranks cleaned the horses, fed them, cleaned the premises, swept the yard and the street in front of the fire station, put the baggage equipment in order. After feeding the horses and putting things in order on the territory, the firefighters had breakfast themselves at 7 a.m., after which they began their duties and classes. The privates took turns on guard duty at the tower, at the gate, in the stable. According to the regulations of that time, firefighters were not allowed to take off their boots even at night, so as not to delay the departure to the fire if necessary.

In the classroom, firefighters, as a rule, studied drill and literature lessons. During the drill, the personnel trained the step, rappelling from the tower, climbing multi-stage ladders. At that time, the main criterion for the readiness of a fire department to perform its direct duties was the speed of departure to the place of fire, so firemasters often conducted training alarms. The management often arranged sudden inspections of fire departments, and if firefighters gathered for a fire not quickly enough, the entire unit received a severe reprimand and was punished with a fine.

But despite the terrible living and working conditions, the professional fire protection of Russia of those years had glorious military traditions: love for their profession, courage, dedication and mutual assistance in the performance of official duty. The best traditions of the fire service were preserved during the years of Soviet power.

Floods have always been one of the most terrible disasters for peasants. Of the floods of the seventeenth century, the most devastating flood was the flood of 1636, when the entire foothill part was washed away by water.

In the eighteenth century, major floods occurred in 1736, 1749, 1750, 1762, 1766, 1781 and 1784. The nineteenth century was rich in water. Floods occurred in 1810−1812, 1822, 1824, 1835, 1847, 1854, 1857, 1858, 1859, 1862, 1867, 1870, 1887, 1892, 1895, 1898, 1899 years.

The winter of 1853−1854 was warm and snowy. In the spring of 1854, the heat did not come for a long time. Then there was a sudden thaw. On April 22, an ice break occurred. The water overflowed its banks and flooded fields, damaged bridges and interrupted land communication along the Moscow and Irkutsk tracts. Houses were flooded, residents were fleeing in attics. The old-timers did not remember such a flood since 1789. The water rose by 4 fathoms, 2 yards and 6 vershkas, stood until May 20 and began to slowly decrease. The water left only in the last days of July.

"From the floods that began in 1854," wrote the Tobolsk Provincial Gazette newspaper, "residents of one of the city’s suburbs, called Otryasikha, suffered most of all. This suburb, located on the lowest bank of the Irtysh, and without floods, was almost constantly flooded every summer when the river overflowed, during floods the inhabitants of Otryakhi were put into a complete impossibility to stay in it, because their small houses flooded to the roofs and after the sale of water either completely collapsed or required large capital adjustments."

They did not fight the floods. The traditional measure of flood protection was the construction of houses on stilts or a high basement. The basement, or half-floor, was used as a utility room.

To protect against flooding, rural residents manually poured "shafts" - a complex system of dams. These structures reliably protected fields and vegetable gardens from water. During the flood, such dams were also a means of communication between settlements.

Major floods were recorded in 1906, 1908, 1909 and 1914.


Chronicle of the flood of 1857 in Tobolsk

In 1859, the ice passed on April 10. The water began to arrive quickly — by 1 yard and more. After April 16, the rise of the water slowed down, but still it arrived at 4, 6, 8 peaks per day. By May 2, 1859, 11 yards and 2 vershkas of water had arrived. Most of the lower posad was flooded — Pokrovskaya, Pilyatskaya Streets, part of Bolshaya Pyatnitskaya, Rozhdestvenskaya, Mokra, Bolshaya Arkhangelskaya streets and Podchuvashi suburb. On May 6, the entire foothill part was flooded, leaving only small areas along Kuznetskaya and Novaya streets. A total of 1,500 houses were under water. Two bridges were torn down — Pokrovsky and Arkhangelsk. Pokrovskaya (Holy Cross) and Pyatnitskaya churches were flooded. In the Church of the Intercession there were 2 tops of water in the altar.

This is how an eyewitness described this event: "Tobolsk is going through a sad time, and we have to describe sad pictures… If you look from the mountain to the foothill part, then Tobolsk represents some kind of floating city, where a few unclogged streets look like islands and shores; the water space is vast, the Irtysh flood cannot be seen with a simple eye, and scattered through its brown-dirty waves timber, firewood, rafts and even sometimes sheds and residential peasant huts… The weather is constantly wet and cold, with strong northeast and northwest winds. The poor, deprived of shelter by the flood and without bread, have already reached 400 people…". On May 9, the water began to slowly decrease. The water stood until August 10.


Description of the flood of 1867

This is how the flood of 1867 was described in the newspaper Tobolsk Provincial Gazette: "This spring has again caused a lot of trouble and worries to the residents of Tobolsk and, unfortunately, the expectation of a flood due to the abundance of snow has actually come true. As soon as the ice moved, the water quickly began to arrive and after 12 days the Irtysh overflowed its banks, flooding all the houses of coastal homeowners. The general hopes for shallowing and loss of water became more and more unfulfilled every day. Most of the residents, although they continued to stay in their homes, moved from the lower floors to the upper ones, from the upper ones to the tower and roof. But the force of the elements prevailed and God knows how such amateur activity of the inhabitants would have ended, if only the attention of the local authorities had not been timely drawn to this. It has taken those measures in the charity of which each of us is now fully and deeply convinced. In view of the disaster that befell the city, on April 21, the governor of the province established a special committee to provide assistance to persons affected by the flood, pointing out to him the main ways to work and monetary benefits, the first set an example for drawing up the necessary capital to cover the needs."


Chronicle of the flood of 1914 in Tobolsk and surrounding villages

A major flood occurred in 1914. The winter of 1913−1914 was warm, snowy, and the snow was fast. On April 22, the ice drift began. On April 29, the water has already reached the rescue station.

On May 1, Tobolsk was cut off by water from the whole world — no mail, no telegraph.

On May 2, a part of the city near the Intercession Church, Pyatnitskaya Strelka, was flooded, the water came to the bell tower of the Znamensky Monastery. The first floors of houses are flooded in many places.

On May 8, Bekerevka was flooded. Everyone moved from Bekerevka. From Pokrovskaya Street, residents began to move to the mountain with samovars and beds. We decided to make a dam from the Kurdyumka side.

On May 18, a huge crack formed on the Chuvash Cape due to water. Along the Irtysh, all the mountain villages and villages — Bekerevka, Savina, Volgina, Sargina, Vesnina, Markova and the village of Kugaevskoye are flooded. Cattle were transported by steamer from the village of Kugaevsky to the mountainous coast.

On May 20, it snowed in the morning. 86 villages were flooded near Tobolsk, three quarters of all crops were lost.

On May 22, 359 houses were flooded in Tobolsk along Abramovskaya, Pokrovskaya, Pilyatskaya, Embankment streets, in Podchuvashy and Podshluzakh. 68 houses were abandoned by residents. Many families did not dare to leave their homes (because of looting).

From May 23 to May 28, the water was on the measure. Then it slowly began to wane. The water was decreasing until August.