by Ugur Göktas

In a city whose houses were built entirely of wood until the 20th century, fires regularly swept through Istanbul, sometimes causing fearful destruction. The firemen known as tulumbacı or ‘pump men’, had their own customs and costume, and were colorful characters who inspired writers and painters. This band of unruly and reckless men were volunteers almost fanatically dedicated to the fire brigade, which they joined more in the spirit of a sport for the excitement rather than any philanthropic motive. 

The predominance of wooden houses in Istanbul had begun after the great earthquake which took place during the reign of Bayezid II (1481-1512). Wood was a cheap and easily available building material, and timber architecture was attractive into the bargain. However, an overturned brazier or a single spark could start a fire which spread quickly in dry weather, and when helped by strong winds might destroy whole neighborhoods. 

Prior to the introduction of portable pumps, fires had been fought by means of water carried in buckets from local fountains, wells and large rain tubs kept for the purpose in every garden. This ineffective method was replaced by fire pumps during the so-called Tulip Era of 1718-1730, which is remembered largely as a time when the court devoted itself to the pursuit of pleasure, yet in fact also saw the introduction of many innovations in Ottoman Turkish life. Davut Gerçek Ağa, a French convert who had entered the palace employ, built the first fire pump, and Grand vezir Nevşehirli Damad İbrahim Paşa established a class of firefighters attached to the Janissary Corps equipped with the new fire pumps. 

When Mahmud II abolished the Janissaries Corps in 1826, the firefighters were reorganized as the Fire Brigade Regiment attached to the new modern army which replaced the ancient janissaries. 

In 1868 Istanbul Fire Brigade was placed under the auspices of Istanbul Municipality. Each neighborhood team of fire fighters consisted mainly of local tradesmen and young unmarried men who belonged to the tulumbacı guild. Although many of the latter were rough young men, some were genteel young clerks drawn to join the guild by a sense of adventure and the romantic aura of the organization. When the alarm was called all the tulumbacıs downed tools or pens as the case might be and rushed to the fire station. 

The tulumbacıs had a distinctive uniform, consisting of a mintan or cotton shirt, knee breeches and shoes known as kamerçin. The tulumbacı shirt had a round neck and a badge specifying to which team the wearer belonged. There was a hierarchy of rank, indicated by stripes on the sleeves. Four stripes denoted the birinci reis or first captain who rode on horseback in front of the water pump and held a whip as a sign of office. The second captain had three stripes and it was his job to direct the fire fighting work. His deputy was the fenerci or lamp man, who also had three stripes the central one of which was a zigzag. The two stripe borucus or hose men carried the brass end pieces which were fixed to the hoses, and the single stripe kökenciler carried the hoses. 

Four others carried the water pump, and altogether each fire fighting team consisted of 22 people. There was fierce rivalry between each pump and its personnel to race first to the fire, and this has been described by the folk poet Vasıf Hoca who was also a celebrated tulumbacı: ‘On the way to the fire and even more so on the way back it was considered a tremendous feat, almost a triumph, to pass the pump in front. The tulumbacıs called this “chasing the pump”. To be passed by a pursuing pump was a bitter and shameful defeat, which was why the captains did not allow the firemen to look back when on the way to a fire, in case a fight broke out with a group trying to catch them up.' 

Tulumbacıs had their own customs and traditions. When a tulumbacı got married his fellow firefighters held a ceremony known as ‘closing the groom’. Every so often they would organize circumcision ceremonies for the poor children of their neighborhood, and diverse entertainments. After returning from a fire, all the tulumbacıs would visit the local Turkish bath or hamam if it were daytime, and the hamam proprietor would not charge them. 

As well as rivalry between each team in the neighborhood fire brigade, there was also fierce competition between the brigades of different neighborhoods. Sometimes, on the other hand, fraternities were established between different brigades and they would join forces to fight fires together. 

The fire alarm was raised by watchers known as kösklü, who kept guard in the fire towers and woke up the Captain of the Tower immediately, saying ‘Aga, you have a child,’ and the captain would reply, ‘A girl or a boy?’ Girl meant the districts of Üsküdar, Galata and the Bosphorus to the north and east of the Golden Horn, and boy Istanbul proper south of the Golden Horn. The captain would take a flare out of the cupboard to notify the gun battery at Icadiye, and they would fire seven rounds of cannon to rouse the alarm. The captain also sent out news to the watchmen in the neighborhood affected to wake the inhabitants. A lamp would remain lit on the tower until the fire was extinguished. 

Istanbul’s tulumbacıs fascinated many writers and painters. They were the subject of the novel Zehra by Nabizâde Nazım, essays by Cemal Kaygılı, Ahmed Rasim and Sermet Muhtar Alus, and paintings by court artist Fausto Zonaro, Preziosi and Münif Fehim. Between 1895 and 1920 many postcards illustrating tulumbacıs were also printed. After that date the tulumbacıs were replaced by professional fire brigades and this colorful aspect of Istanbul life disappeared.