Written by DCist contributor Sarah Stierch

In 1804, if my apartment building existed, my landlord would have to provide leather buckets for each floor in case of a fire emergency. This leather bucket was mandatory, and if you did not have one — if your landlord didn’t provide it, you had to provide your own — you’d be fined $1 for each one missing. (Today that would be about $14 a bucket.) Eventually, the city got a clue and acquired their first fire engine and shortly thereafter, for $300, two more engines in Eastern and Western Markets. Just after 1804, the first fire company was organized: Columbia Firehouse in Capitol Hill.