Fire hazard

“ Blinded by smoke and flame, made frantic by the red death that was sweeping the forest, confused, terror-stricken, weakened by gas and fumes, the poor beasts had finally crowded together and perished under the onrushing wave of fire. ”

“ The very best way not to have fires is not to set them. If you stop to think of it, there are not so very many different things that will start fires. Matches, kerosene, gas, gasoline, hot sparks, burning tobacco, fires in stoves, furnaces, and fire-places, hot ashes, lightning, and fires [Pg 118] which start themselves by "spontaneous combustion," are the common causes of our losses ”

“ The last four miles across the prairie was made at a round trot, and within thirty minutes after first sighting the rapidly approaching column, the astonished Indians beheld thirty well-armed men gallop boldly up, range themselves in front of their lodges ready to open fire, and heard the peremptory summons to decide instantly for peace or war. Needless to say that they, too, were friendly and for peace. They were taken completely by surprise, and had no alternative but to choose the olive branch. Only three hours before they had heard that Governor Stevens had gone down the Missouri. ”

“ Whether applied in the form of bonfires blazing at fixed points, or of torches carried about from place to place, or of embers and ashes taken from the smouldering heap of fuel, the fire is believed to promote the growth of the crops and the welfare of man and beast, either positively by stimulating them, or negatively by averting the dangers and calamities which threaten them from such causes as thunder and lightning, conflagration, blight, mildew, vermin, sterility, disease, and not least of all witchcraft. ”

“ Children are allowed to burn dry leaves in the fall, and their clothing catches fire from the flames; women pour kerosene on the fire in their kitchen stoves, or cleanse clothing with gasoline near an open blaze; thoughtless men toss lighted cigars and cigarettes into a heap of rubbish, or drop them from an upper window into an awning; the head of a parlor match flies into muslin draperies; a Christmas-tree is set on fire with lighted candles, or a careless hunter starts a forest fire which burns for days and destroys valuable timber lands. ”

“ The energies of each band of firemen were commonly reserved for the protection of property only in which their own insurance company or parish was immediately interested. As a rule, whatever water was thrown upon a burning building was dashed against the walls, windows, and roof from the outside only, very little if any really reaching the actual seat of the fire within. ”

“ The burden of the day came with great weight on the officers of engineers. It is the universal sentiment of the army that they did their duty. We see it in the individual deportment of every officer with whom we are associated on duty. We had exciting times. Friends whom I had not seen since I left West Point, I shook for the first time warmly by the hand under the heavy fire of the enemy’s batteries. I met Haskin and Callender in such a conjuncture. There was not the least shrinking from duty, but each one stood up manfully to his task and did his whole duty; we all worked hard. ”

“ The danger to which firemen are most exposed is catching [Pg 78] cold, from their being so frequently drenched with water, and from their exposure to the sudden alternations of heat and cold. A man is turned out of bed at midnight, and in a few minutes after quitting it he is exposed to the sharp air, perhaps, of a frosty winter night; running to the fire as fast as he can, he is, from the exercise, joined to the oppressive heat inside the place on fire, in a few minutes in a state of the most profuse perspiration ”

“ As soon as Longstreet’s attack was well in progress, all the rebel guns upon the high ridge were turned upon our right, for they dared not continue firing upon the left and centre for fear of injuring their own troops now swarming onward against the Union positions, and the concentric fire of forty guns now pounded with a perfect hail of shot and shell the Union troops and batteries on that wing. ”

“ If the gas be copious, the flame elongates into a sharp spire, as well as the top. It is in general reckoned dangerous when the tip changes from the bluish-gray to a fine blue colour, accompanied with minute luminous points, which pass rapidly upwards through the flame and top. When the symptoms are manifestly dangerous, a sudden movement of the hands or body is liable to produce ignition by agitation of the fire-damp. ”

“ Even should the wind fan them into a flame again they could do no harm, for there was nothing for them to feed upon. Along the entire edge of the burned area the fire crew had made sure there was a wide belt of ground in which no spark remained. Thus, though these glowing embers might continue to smoulder for hours, they could do no harm. The quantity of smoke arising was still considerable, but it did not shut off the vision as the dense clouds of smoke had done during the fire. So the onlookers could get a fair idea of the extent of the blaze. ”

“ At daylight the next morning, with Craig, Pearson, and the four Nez Perce chiefs, Looking Glass, Spotted Eagle, Three Feathers, and Captain John, the governor pushed on, leaving directions for the train to follow and come in next day. The evening sun was just sinking behind the mountains when the seven well-armed horsemen dashed up in front of the Cœur d’Alene village, rifles in hand and presented ready to fire, and in peremptory tones demanded of the astonished Indians, as they poured out of their lodges, “Are you friends or enemies? Do you want peace or war?” ”

“ Smoke is even a greater danger than fire, and may hamper the helpers terribly. The possibility of opening a window has saved many a life.
Safety of Property.—As far as the protection of property is concerned, the prevention of outbreaks can be influenced by the careful construction of flues, hearths, stoves, and in certain classes of buildings by the construction of floors and ceilings, the arrangement of skylights, shutters and lightning conductors. Then comes the prevention of the fire spreading, first, by the division of risks, and secondly, by the materials used in construction. ”

“ But when no such precaution has been adopted, when even the bare possibility of fire has not been considered, when no attention has even been paid to the subject, and no provision made for it; the inhabitants are generally so alarmed and confused, that the danger is probably over, by their property being burned to the ground, before they can sufficiently recollect themselves to lend any effective assistance. ”

“ The opportunities for inattention to fires and lights are so various, that it is impossible to notice the whole.
One of the prevailing causes of fire is to be traced to persons locking their doors, and leaving their houses to the care of children. I believe one-half of the children whose deaths are occasioned by accident suffer from this cause alone: indeed, almost every week the newspapers contain some melancholy confirmation of what I have here stated. Intoxication is also a disgraceful and frequent cause of fire. The number of persons burned to death in this way is really incredible. ”

“ The fire from the camp—shot, shells, and small-arms—on the front was terrible, and the enemy’s pickets advanced in force, threatening the batteries. The leading regiment of Pierce, the 9th infantry, Colonel Ransom, conducted by Lieutenant Stevens, now gallantly dashed forward through the fire that swept the path, crossed a cleared cornfield in direct view of the enemy’s battery, pressed from cover to cover, driving clouds of the enemy’s skirmishers before them, crossed the rapid stream that ran in the ravine, and gained the opposite bank, within three or four hundred yards of the camp. ”

“ When things are set on fire by the heat within themselves, it is said that the fire was caused by spontaneous combustion.”
“Oh, yes; that is the word Joe used. Then it is true. Lots of us boys didn’t believe that such things could happen.”
“They do happen and would happen very much oftener if the city did not have public servants who come to carry such dangerous things away.”
“Public servants—oh, mother, do you mean the ash and rubbish collectors?”
“Yes, Walter; you know they come regularly for ashes and rubbish. If they did not, there would be many more fires, I fear.” ”

“ Another very common cause of fire is covering up a fire-place when not in use with wood, or paper and canvas, &c. 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. ”

“ Too great precaution cannot be taken in all kinds of manufactories, where combustible dust is produced, against fire, especially in those establishments where it is conveyed in thick clouds by air-draughts through spouts and rooms. ”

“ In rural farm communities there are the forest and brush fires, which we need consider but grudgingly here, the many fires which catch from roof to roof, and the fires from the chimney which start one’s own roof afire. Then there are lightning, incendiary fires by tramps, kerosene oil lanterns; creosote from the smoke and soot in wood-burning communities disintegrates the mortar in the masonry, and as the woodwork comes in contact with the chimneys, fires are the result. To these are added the other hazards common to all modern life to-day. ”

“ About an hour after the accident, and while the inmates of the hotel who had been startled by the lightning and thunder were still awake, and in some alarm, a smell of fire was perceived to be pervading the house. The landlord at once rose and proceeded to investigate the cause, and was led by the odor of burning wood to one of the cellars in the basement, where he found the small gas-pipe fixed to furnish it with light melted for several inches, a large flame issuing from the improvised gap, and a beam of wood a little above the blaze already on fire. ”

“ Eighty-eight were traced to piles of leaves left burning, twenty-nine to camp fires, and six to cigar-stubs and burning tobacco from pipes.
Every fire, when it first starts, is nothing but a little blaze which might easily be extinguished; but as it grows and spreads it quickly gets beyond control, unless [Pg 63] there is a force of well-trained men to fight it.
There are three kinds of forest fires,—"top fires," "ground fires," and the fires which burn the whole trees and leave nothing standing but stumps and blackened trunks. ”

“ The smoke is sometimes so thick, that he comes under the range of the branch of the engine without being aware of it till the water strikes him. If he escape this chance, the water rushing on some other object, recoils on him, and produces the same effect; and if the fire be in the roof of the apartment, he must lie down on his back on the floor, and in this manner gets completely steeped.
A bath of this sort is neither very safe nor pleasant; and the only preventive of injury to the health is to keep the men in constant motion. ”

“ The process, which lasts altogether twelve hours or more, is divisible into two portions:—First, the fire is allowed to char and smoulder, out of the free access of air, till all the heap becomes a glowing red-hot mass, just as in charcoal-burning or ballast-burning at home. But after the fire has penetrated the whole heap it is poked up, the air admitted, and there is a thorough blazing fire, which goes on burning till all the fuel is turned into ashes, amongst which are discernible some of the hardest bones—as the malar, temporal, and shafts of the long bones—semi-vitrefied. ”

“ If there be enough of water, however, two, three, or any convenient number of people may be employed in throwing it; on the contrary, if the supply of water be insufficient to employ even one person, the door should be kept shut while the water is being brought, and the air excluded as much as possible, as the fire burns exactly in proportion to the quantity of air which it receives.
One great evil, and which ought to be strictly guarded against by people not accustomed to fire, is, that on the first alarm they exert themselves to the very utmost of their strength. ”

“ When they are allowed to stand still or sit down, the danger is considerable. When the fire is extinguished, or in two or three hours after its commencement, I make it a rule to give every man a dram of spirits. ”

“ Disinfectants of all kinds are being freely used by the car load, and, in addition to this, a score of blazing piles in every direction shows that the purifying element of fire is being applied as rapidly as possible for the safety of the living. ”

“ The minute the engine starts, the connection with the pipes underneath is shut off automatically, and then as soon as the wheels cross the threshold of the building, the fire is lit, and as the swift motion of the street acts as a sort of draught, there is a big blaze going in less than two minutes. ”

“ We are informed by the Post-Office authorities that about eight persons daily drop their letters into the post without directing them–we know that there is an unvarying percentage of broken heads and limbs received into the hospitals–and here we see that a regular number of houses take fire, year by year, from the leaping out of a spark, or the dropping of a smouldering pipe of tobacco. ”

“ A slight blaze had started in some cotton waste in a five-story brick building used for manufacturing purposes, and by the time the firemen arrived the smoke was pouring out of the upper windows in dense clouds, while the workmen and women were escaping, bareheaded, to the street, many of them coming through the big door on the ground floor, while others, in their anxiety to save themselves, came crashing through the lower windows and jumped to the sidewalk, heedless of the flying splinters of glass. ”