Short answers, pulled from the story.
Vulcan, also spelled Volcanus, is the ancient Roman god of fire, including the fire of volcanoes, deserts, metalworking, and the forge. He is often depicted with a blacksmith's hammer, and his Greek counterpart is Hephaestus.
The Vulcanalia was held on the 23rd of August each year, when summer heat put crops and granaries most at risk of burning. During the festival bonfires were lit, and live fish or small animals were thrown into them as a sacrifice in place of humans.
The Etruscan haruspices held that a temple of Vulcan should be located outside the city. His cult was placed beyond the city's bounds to avoid the risk of destructive fires caused by the god within Rome itself.
Vulcan was named as the father of Caeculus, founder of Praeneste, of Cacus, and of the Roman king Servius Tullius. According to Hyginus, his sons also included Philammon, Cecrops, Erichthonius, Corynetes, Cercyon, Philottus, Spinther, and Olenus.
In the myth, baby Vulcan was hurled from Mount Olympus by Jupiter, broke his leg, and was raised by the sea-nymph Thetis in an underwater grotto. There he found a glowing coal from a fisherman's fire and taught himself to smelt metal and forge objects of iron, silver, and gold.
Vulcan's oldest and main sanctuary was the Volcanal, an open-air space at the foot of the Capitolium in the northwestern corner of the Roman Forum, holding an area dedicated to the god and a perennial fire. Roman tradition credited its dedication to Romulus, who placed a bronze quadriga there as a war trophy.