A Bucket brigade is a method for transporting items where items are passed from one stationary person to the next. More specifically, it refers to a method of firefighting before the advent of hand pumped fire engines, whereby firefighters would pass buckets to each other to extinguish a blaze. This method generally maximizes throughput. The method is applicable only if the number of participants is sufficient compared to the distance to cross. This principle inspired various technical items, e.g. the Charge Coupled Device (CCD).