Today's firefighters go into action armed with the latest in hi-tech equipment.
But sometimes the old ways are the best, as crews in Dublin showed when they were called to a waste fire in Harmonstown.
The Dublin Fire Brigade reported on Twitter how they tackled the fire in a wooded area.
The firefighters stomped out the fire with their boots and added buckets of water for good measure.
And they added some advice for anyone being careless with fires in woodland - pointing out that trees and bushes can catch light and cause the fire to spread.
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The brigade tweeted: "Firefighters have extinguished waste alight in Harmonstown earlier.
"Fires like this can spread to trees and bushes.
"An old school method of a bucket of water and size 10 boots were used to extinguish the fire."
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