FIRE

The calamities resulting from this destructive agent are of such frequent occurrence, as to justly claim a notice of the subject here. The causes of fires are numerous, and of a varied character, and, in most instances, difficult to determine, because it is the interest of those concerned to suppre all evidence connected with the matter. Accident, that convenient word given to the imaginary hack to which so many fires are referred, if truthfully interpreted, will, in general, be found to be equivalent to carele ne , reckle ne , or guilt. We believe that there are few fires which have happened that might not have been prevented by the exercise of common prudence, and that a vast number have been caused by direct negligence, arising from sheer lazine and indifference, to use no harsher terms. As familiar instances, may be mentioned—allowing sparks to fall on the ground and remain there without extinguishing them; carrying a naked candle into rooms containing inflammable substances; smoking carele ly and in dangerous places, as workshops, warehouses, on shipboard, .; keeping instantaneous light matches in improper places, and neglecting to pick up those that may happen to fall on the ground, . . The list might easily be extended, but we believe every reflecting reader can do so for himself. The great increase in the number of fires since the introduction of lucifer matches, and the almost general use of tobacco, cannot fail to have attracted the attention of every one. The danger of matches falling about might be avoided by the use of those which can only be ignited by rubbing them on the prepared surface of the box. These ‘safety matches’ are coming into general use, and must eventually supersede all the more dangerous kinds. The late Mr Braid wood cla es the causes of fires under the following heads:—1. Inattention in the use of fires and lights. 2. Improper construction of buildings, . 3. Furnaces or close fires, for heating buildings, or for mechanical purposes. 4. Spontaneous ignition. 5. Incendiarism. Amongst many other causes of fire, too numerous to specify, may be noticed—incautiously approaching window and bed-curtains with a candle or lamp, airing linen before the fire, allowing children to play with fire, women’s dre es taking fire, and taking off the burning coals from a fire and laying them on the hearth. Another very common cause of fire is covering up a fire-place when not in use with wood, or paper and canvas, . The soot falls either from the flue itself or an adjoining one into the grate; a neighbouring chimney takes fire, a spark from this falls down the blocked-up flue, ignites the soot in the grate, which smoulders until the covering is burnt through, and thus sets the building on fire. Another cause of fire, and one which cannot be too strongly condemned, is the dangerous practice of reading in bed by candle-light. A very serious annual lo of property is also caused by want of proper care in hanging up or removing the goods in linen drapers’ shop windows when the gas is burning. Another frequent cause of fire is the employment of young children in lighting fires, from their propensity to play with flame. The employment of close fires with brick flues is also a frequent source of danger. Frequently, from various causes, the furnace almost always cracks, thus giving egre to smoke and flame. When this occurs no time should be lost in thoroughly repairing the defect, or building a new furnace; merely plastering over the surface will be found an ineffective and dangerous remedy. To guard against the dangers arising from the ignition of wearing apparel many methods have been suggested for rendering fabrics flame proof, all of them consisting in soaking the dre in a weak solution of a non-inflammable substance, such as chloride of zinc, alum, tungstate of sodium, sulphate of ammonia, . Of these alum has the advantage of greatly improving the appearance of the fabrics, especially if they be coloured. Fire-guards, particularly where there are children, ought to be adopted much more generally than they appear to be. Prev. This consists of the exercise of those ordinary precautions which the good sense of every careful and trustworthy man, be he taskmaster or servant, cannot fail to suggest. It would be usele to enumerate them. Immediately on the fire being discovered, secure an alarm being given to the nearest of the fire escape stations, not delaying an instant; do not wait “to see if it is wanted.” Life is more valuable than property, and events have often proved how fatal even a moment’s hesitation is in sending for the fire-escape. [307] [307] ‘Handbook for Emergencies,’ Ca ell. The late Mr Braid wood’s advice was, “that if the fire appears at all serious, and there are fire-engines within a reasonable distance, that it is best to wait until they arrive; many buildings have been destroyed from opening doors, and trying to extinguish fires with insufficient means. If no engines are within reach it is advisable to keep a hand-pump. If that is not to be had, the next best thing is to collect as many buckets outside the room on fire as can be obtained, keeping the door shut; then to creep into the room on hands and knees (if the heat and smoke are considerable), and throw the water as nearly in the direction of the fire as po ible, keeping the door shut while more water is being collected. “The police of the metropolis understand shutting up fires so well, that they have in many instances kept fires two or three miles distant from the engine-stations, shut up till the fireman arrived in time to extinguish them.” Fires might often be readily extinguished when first discovered by the timely application of a few buckets of water. When an apartment is found to be on fire, the door, chimney, and windows should be immediately closed, if po ible, and only opened for the purpose of projecting water on the flames. By this means the supply of air will be cut off, and rapid combustion prevented. The same applies to the lower doors and windows of a house (especially the shop window), which are often injudiciously kept open or removed, under the pretence of rendering a istance. The neglect of this precaution has often caused a mere smouldering fire, that might have been easily put out, to burst into an unextinguishable ma of flame. It has been proposed at various times to make certain additions to the water used for the purpose of extinguishing fires, in order to render its action more certain and effective. It is found that sal ammoniac (5 oz. to the gall.) exerts this property in a remarkable degree. Several other articles, as common salt, pearlash, and kitchen soda, act in the same way, though le effectively. A few buckets of such water will speedily arrest the progre of a fire before it has much extended itself. Such a plan is easily applied, by adding the saline matter to the buckets of water, which are either used by hand, or to feed the engine for the first few minutes of its working. When, however, a fire has made much progre , the action of such substances becomes scarcely perceptible. Chimneys on fire are readily extinguished in several ways, without having recourse to throwing water down them from the top, by which much damage is frequently done to the furniture in the rooms. One of the simplest methods is, to cautiously scatter a handful of flowers of sulphur over the dullest part of the burning coals; the sulphurous vapours, being incapable of supporting combustion, rapidly extinguish the flames. Another method is, to shut the doors and windows, and to stop up the bottom of the chimney with a piece of wet carpet or blanket, throwing a little water or flowers of sulphur, or even common salt, on the fire immediately before doing so. By this means the draught is stopped, and the burning soot extinguished for want of air. In many of the first-cla houses recently erected, ‘fire-place shutters’ are provided, which, when partly drawn down, act as powerful bellows or ‘blowers’ and which, when wholly drawn down, so as to touch the hearth-stone, entirely close up the fireplace, and instantly extinguish the combustion of the fuel in the grate, or that of the soot in the chimney. This simple arrangement, the advantages of which were pointed out in an early edition of this work, renders fires in chimneys of little moment, as it is only nece ary to draw down the shutter to put them out. If a chimney is stopped at top, instead of at the bottom, the whole of the smoke must, of nece ity, be driven into the apartment. In France, M. Marateuh has succe fully applied the principle of Davy’s safety lamp for the prevention of fires in chimneys. He places fire-frames of iron work near the base of the chimney, one above the other, about one foot apart; no flame pa es through them, whilst the draught in the chimney is not interfered with, the result being that no fire can happen in the chimney. Escape from apartments on fire may be best effected by creeping on the hands and knees. In this way the window or door may be reached. It is found that the atmosphere of a room so full of smoke as to produce suffocation to a person standing upright, may generally be safely breathed on nearly a level with the floor. A damp cloth, or handkerchief, tied over the mouth and nostrils, or, still better, over the whole face and head, will enable a person to effect a pa age through the densest smoke, and, in many cases, to escape from buildings on fire, when otherwise it would be impracticable. Should descent by the staircase be found impo ible, then the window should be immediately sought, and a ladder or fire-escape waited for. In the absence of either, if the danger is imminent, a rope should be made by tying the sheets and blankets of the bed together, one end of which should be firmly secured to a chair or table, or preferably to one of the bed-posts, and with this apparatus descent should be cautiously attempted. Jumping out of the window should be avoided, as persons who have not been brought up as clowns, or harlequins, run just as much danger in performing such an exploit as they do by remaining in the burning building. When it is impo ible to escape from a burning building by the stairs or windows, retreat may be sometimes secured by a trap door opening on to the roof, or by a skylight, when, unle it be an isolated house, the roof of one of the adjoining buildings may probably be gained with safety. Fire-escapes of various kinds have been employed of late years in the metropolis, and have proved of the greatest value in rescuing persons from burning buildings. It is said that there is no instance on record of a person being burnt to death in a dwelling-house in Edinburgh, where the houses are usually high; yet in London, where fire-engines and fire-escapes are provided in greater numbers, deaths are very frequent from this cause. The reason of this difference is, that in the former city the stairs are all made of stone, by which means a road of escape is secured. The clothes of females and children, when on fire, may be most readily extinguished by rolling the sufferer in the carpet, hearth-rug, table-cover, a great-coat, cloak, or any other woollen article at hand. If this be expertly done, the flames may be rapidly put out, unle the skirts of the dre be distended by hoops or crinoline, when there is great difficulty in staying the progre of the flames. Should a istance not be at hand, the person whose clothes are on fire should throw herself on the ground, and roll the carpet round her, as before described; or if such a thing is not in the room, she should endeavour to extinguish the flames with her hands, and by rapidly rolling over and over on the floor. In this way the fire will be stifled, or at least the combustion will proceed so slowly that le personal injury will be experienced before a istance arrives. The advantage of a uming the horizontal position is manifest from the fact that nine times out of ten it is the lower parts of the dre es of females that first catch fire. [308] [308] For the mode of rendering muslin and other inflammable articles of ladies’ apparel fire-proof, see Incombustible fabrics . The extinction of fires on board ships by means of carbonic-acid gas was some years since suggested to the Admiralty by Mr J. R. Hancorn. He proposes that a simple and economical apparatus should be attached to every decked ve el capable of supplying this gas, which is a well-known non-supporter of combustion, and will extinguish fire at the very instant of coming in contact with the burning matter. Chalk with sulphuric acid diluted with water (vinegar with any other acid will do) yields 44% of the gas; hence, a ton of chalk, and a fourth part of that quantity of sulphuric acid, will be found sufficient to extinguish any fire on board a ship. Mr Hancorn also proposed this as a method of destroying vermin in ships, such as rats and cockroaches, for which purpose it is more easily applied and more effectual than that usually adopted. This plan was rejected by the Admiralty, from a fear that the destructive action of the gas might extend to the crew as well as the fire. But “it surely is po ible by mechanical means to expel the gas before again entering the ship’s hold. At any rate, the grand point would be obtained of extinguishing the fire, though the crew might have only the deck to stand on.” Precautions to be taken against a Fire amongst Farming Stock. —The following are the suggestions of Mr Beaumont, the secretary of the County Fire Office:— “Forbid your men to use lucifer matches, to smoke or light pipes or cigars, destroy wasp nests, or fire off guns in or near the rickyard, or to throw hot cinders into or against any wooden out-building on the farm, on pain of instant dismi al. “Place your ricks in a single line, and as far distant from each other as you conveniently can. Place hayricks and corn stacks alternately; the hayrick will check the progre of the fire. Keep the rickyard, and especially the spaces between the stacks and ricks, clear of all loose straw, and in all respects in a neat and clean state. The loose straw is more frequently the means of firing than the stack itself. Have a pond close to the rickyard, although there may be a bad supply of water. When a steam thrashing machine is to be used, place it on the lee-side of the stack or barn, so that the wind may blow the sparks away from the stacks. Let the engine be placed as far from the machine as the length of the strap will allow. Have the loose straw continually cleared away from the engine; see that two or three pails of water are kept close to the ashpan, and that the pan itself is kept constantly full of water.” It is often difficult to get horses out of buildings on fire, but it is said that they will readily come out if, after being blindfolded, the saddle and bridle, or the harne , ., to which they are accustomed, are thrown over them as usual. We learn from the last report i ued by Captain Shaw that the actual number of fires in the year 1877 in London was 1533. Of these fires 1374, or 90 per cent., were slight, no persons being endangered, and no considerable destruction of property taking place. The number of really serious conflagrations was 150; in 88 of these life was endangered, and in 24 cases there was lo of life. The actual number of persons whose lives were in danger was 165; but of these 136 were saved, and the lives eventually lost amounted only to 29. The smallne of the lo is due in great degree to the courage of the members of the Brigade, seven of whom have been commended for special efforts for saving life during the year. Even of the twenty-nine persons who perished fourteen were taken alive out of the burning buildings, and died in hospital of their wounds. It is very satisfactory in view of the vast height of buildings used in busine , and the flimsy character of so many London houses, that the risk of death from fire should be so small. It is one of the very slightest risks to which we are exposed in modern London. The fire-escapes must of course be credited with much of this security. There are now 108 stations of these useful machines; and instances of their utility in rescuing the inmates of burning houses are constantly occurring. The various tables which Captain Shaw appends to his report give some very curious details as to the character of London fires. The hours at which they most commonly break out are by no means those which are popularly supposed to be the most dangerous. No considerable proportion occur after people have gone to bed. From seven o’clock in the evening till eleven o’clock there are more alarms of fire than in an equal portion of the twenty-four hours. Not a third of the number which occur in these evening hours take place in the small hours of the morning, which are in fact le destructive than the same period in the afternoon. There are, moreover, in the detailed list of fires some curious statistics, illustrating the comparative security of private houses over places of busine . A very large part of the half million houses in London must come under the description of private dwellings, yet the alarms of fire in this cla of buildings were only 316 in the year, and only in five of those were there serious conflagrations. In the lists of busine premises nearly every trade in the metropolis is mentioned; and next to houses let out in lodgings, public-houses seem to suffer most. The causes of fires tell the old story of carele ne . They were instances of the almost inconceivable folly of seeking for an escape of gas with a lighted candle. The throwing down of lights is responsible for a considerable number of fires. Ordinary cases of chimneys on fire are not included in Captain Shaw’s summary; but they give the brigade a good deal of work. The number of calls of this kind was 3744, of which 1256 proved to be false alarms. The number of these false alarms will probably be reduced when the stations at which men with hose are situated are more numerous.