The modern fire brigade system in China was founded in the late Qing Dynasty. 1868, the earliest modern fire brigade in China was established in Hong Kong, and its members were volunteers convened by the then British Governor in Hong Kong. The first fire brigade in mainland China appeared only after Eight-Nation Alliance captured Tianjin.

The Italian first followed suit and recruited a group of China people to organize official fire brigades in Tianjin Concession, and then the British Concession also organized volunteer fire brigades in Tianjin.

1902, after the Qing government established the Southern Patrol Police Headquarters in Tianjin, the concession fire brigade was handed over to the Qing government and renamed the Southern Patrol Police Headquarters Fire Brigade, becoming the first modern fire brigade in China. The following year, the Qing government also set up a fire police force in Beijing.

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China attached great importance to fire fighting in ancient times;

Due to the extensive use of wood structures in ancient buildings in China, fire prevention is also very important. The Law of the Tang Dynasty records in the Law of the Tang Dynasty: "The second-class crime of not telling the fire, saving it, not saving it or reducing the fire loss (that is, reducing the fire loss from the original)." It means that anyone who finds a fire should call the police immediately and fight with people near the fire. If a fire is found but not reported or put out, it is a crime.

The punishment of this crime is reduced by half according to the crime of fire. If the crime of fire loss is sentenced to two years in prison, if it fails to report or put out the fire, it will be sentenced to one year in prison. It can be seen that the fire fighting in China in the Tang Dynasty mainly relied on civil defense forces.

In the Song Dynasty, the army was mainly responsible for putting out fires. At that time, industry and commerce reached its peak in the Song Dynasty, and a large number of people lived in the capital and other cities, so special attention should be paid to fire control.

During the Song Dynasty, the imperial court specially dispatched elite soldiers from the elite central imperial army to form "firemen", who were responsible for the fire fighting work in the city, and set up lookouts in important places in the city to be responsible for fire warning, and sent observers to be on duty day and night. Once a fire is found, immediately notify the imperial army to put out the fire.

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