Individuals have collected postal items with references to the fire service since the late 19th century. Early collectors were pretty much left to themselves with, at most, a handful of letter-writing friends to exchange these specialty items. Early topical stamp shows brought together like-minded collectors. Since the 1970s, several associations exist in Europe and the USA, holding regular meetings and publishing newsletters.
1866 The Postmaster of Waterbury, Connecticut carves various simple pictures into corks to create the first hand cancels for early stamps. One of these designs resembles a fireman and has a "B F" inscribed in the hat. It is thus called “the Bridgeport Fireman Cancel”.
1893 A probably intentional printer mixup with the Hamilton Banknote Engraving Co. in New York puts the local Fire Chief Rivola Gomez on the set of definitives of El Salvador instead of General Carlos Ezeta.
1898 First topical cancellation at the 15th Firefighter’s Day in Berlin.
1900 Fire alarm system, fire pump manufacturers and Insurance Companies imprint their business envelopes with a variety of fire prevention and fire equipment designs for advertisement.
1901 Special labels with stamp perforation for easier separation are printed and used on covers from the Fire Equipment Exhibit in Berlin.
1922 Fire prevention vignettes (also called seals or cinderellas) are distributed by the US Bureau of Fire Underwriters and the National Fire Protection Association.
1937 A first set of commemorative stamps including air mail is printed in Panama to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Fire Department of Panama-City.
1947 The souvenir sheet for the 100th anniversary of US postage stamps shows Ben Franklin, who founded the Union Fire Company in 1736 and the Fire Insurance Company in Philadelphia in 1752.
1948 The US stamp commemorating 300 years of fire fighting is issued, showing Peter Stuyvesant who organized the New York Volunteer Fire Department in 1648.
1953 Under the title “Fire in the Stamp Album”, the German Fire Prevention Magazine publishes an article about collecting of philatelic fire service items.
1967 Also in Germany, the standard training manual on the history of the fire service includes a section on stamps.
1967 A first topical exhibit on fire service stamps is held in Germany. Awards go to to G. Treptow from the United Kingdom, one of the founding members of the German fire stamp association.
1970 On the occasion of the 24th German Firefighter’s Day and Exposition, the first West German stamp honoring the fire service is issued. A number of fire stamp collectors set up an exhibit at the Expo.
1970 Also, a book about fire stamps is published by the Total Fire Extinguisher Company. The author is H.G. Schwieger. This book becomes the catalyst for many collectors to form an association.
1971 The Saint Florian Collector’s Guild, named for the patron saint of fire fighters, is founded in Essen, Germany
1974 A first all-fire service philatelic exhibit is presented in Romania with an abundance of stamps, cachets and cancellations from that country.
1975 The German Fire Philatelic Workshop (MAG Feuerwehr) is registered with the stamp collector’s association.
1976 G. Knoeckel prints his first “Fire Service in Philately” newsletter in Florida.
1980 At the 25th German Firefighter’s Day and Exposition, Theo Spiegel publishes the first book with fire service and fire prevention cancellations from around the world.
1981 Fire Service history on Stamps becomes part of the Dept. 12 (History and Education) of the German Fire Prevention Association (VFDB).
1983 Fire Service in Philately looses its founder and continues only on an individual basis among collector friends.
1984 Smokey Bear turns 50 and a commemorative US stamp is issued. Smokey has it’s own ZIP-Code (NM 20252)
1987 Theo Spiegel publishes a loose-leaf fire service stamp catalogue.
1988 The German book ,“Fire Service in Philately” is printed, the author again is Theo Spiegel.
1991 The first prepaid telephone cards are issued by the postal authorities in several countries.
1992 Art Welch picks up the publication of the Fire Stamp Newsletter for FSIP.
1992 Firehouse Magazine prints an article on “Firefighting on Stamps”
1994 Theo Spiegel’s 1988 book is translated into English (printed supplement)
1995 A second loose-leaf catalog is published, this one on fire service cancellations from around the world.
1995 Another prolific author and collector, Joan Deville, publishes a bound list in French about Fire Service vehicles on stamps and cancellations (Autos de Pompiers, pomps a vapeur dans la philatelie)
1997 Brian Engler takes over publication and editorial office for the Fire Stamp News of FSIP.
1998 Theo Spiegel starts moving his entire collection of 45 years to the German Federal Fire Museum in Fulda, eventually it is mounted on approximately 10,000 pages in over 100 binders!
1999 Josef Jendrisak publishes a book in the Czech Republic for Philatelic Material about the Fire Service (Vyvoj Hasicske Techniky).
2001 The events of September 11 are cause for numerous countries to issue stamps and commemorative sheets in memory of the US firefighters killed by the terror attacks.
2002 The second US semipostal stamp shows the “Heroes of 2001“ with the proceeds to provide assistance to the families of emergency personnel who died or were permanently disabled in the line of duty on September 11, 2001.
2002 Both the German Fire Stamp Collector’s Association (see links) and Fire Service in Philately go online with web sites .
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