The very daft Tommy Farriner accidentally set fire to his bakery and then the rest of London in 1666. This all happened in the now infamous Pudding Lane. Pudding is apparently the medieval word for - wait for it - guts and entrails. The lane was thus named for the 'puddings' which would fall from the carts coming down the lane from the butchers in Eastcheap as they headed for the waste barges on the Thames.
Here's a jolly little English fire truck from 1934. (Yes, I'm trying to take your mind off the rather repugnant (yet interesting) etymology tidbit:) Cheers!