Fire hydrant

“ As a part of the night’s irony the firemen were blistered by both fire and frost. While cold gales bit their necks and backs, and the wet streets congealed their feet to mere hobbles, the blast from the flames blistered their cheeks.
Everywhere the pavements squirmed with black snakes of hose, limp and empty; for the hydrants were frozen, the cisterns sucked dry. In the face of such fire, little new fires had to be started around the hydrants to thaw them out, but when the water came it turned to ice in the hose as the chilled engines refused to work. ”

“ The value of the system of hydraulic transmission for the extinction of fire can hardly be overestimated where, as in London and most large towns, the ordinary pressure in the water mains is insufficient for the purpose. ”

“ They will be thoroughly dry when the smoke from the top of the kiln loses its dark color and becomes transparent. When the fires are well started, the mouths of the fire-holes may be built up so as to leave only sufficient room to put in fresh fuel, and if the wind is high, the fire-holes, on the side against which it blows, should be sheltered by some sort of screen which will counteract its influence, and keep up an even heat on all sides. ”

“ A great deal of fire-apparatus is destroyed by freezing water during the winter months, and therefore a special inspection of all such apparatus should be made late in the autumn, when the water should be drained from all portions of the system where there is liability of freezing, and all hydrants and valves should be well oiled, preferably with mineral oil. ”

“ Two or three men seize the nozzle of the great hose and rush with it into the burning [Pg 173] building to seek the heart of the fire. Smoke pours from the doors and windows in dense clouds, blinding and choking them until they gasp for breath. Water slops and spatters everywhere, steam rises from the blazing timbers, and the intense heat scorches and stifles them as they work. ”

“ At midnight residents of Dayton watching the course of the flames from across the wide stretch of flood waters believed the fire got its new start in the afternoon in the store of the Patterson Tool and Supply Company, on Third Street, just east of Jefferson, whence it ate its way west, apparently aided by escaping gas and exploding chemicals in two wholesale drug establishments.
Throughout the night fires lighted the sky and illuminated the rushing waters. Fifty thousand people were jammed in the upper floors of their homes, with no gas, no drinking water, no light, no heat, no food. ”

“ When the hose is attached and the engine filled with water, the man who holds the branch-pipe, accompanied by another, should get so near the fire, inside the house, that the water from the branch may strike the burning materials. If he cannot accomplish this standing, he must get down on his hands and knees and creep forward, those behind handing up the hose. A stratum of fresh air is almost always to be depended on from six to twelve inches from the floor, so that if the air be not respirable to a person standing upright, he should instantly get down. ”

“ Water shall be used from the said hydrants for the extinguishment of fires and necessary fire practice and for flushing sewers and gutters only, provided that for fire practice and flushing sewers no more than two hydrants shall be opened at one time, and not more than once in each week. ”

“ It hardly swelled the hose. The engine choked. Before it was put in order the hose was stopped with a mush of freezing water. They built a fire from the too abundant fuel, and stretched the hose over it like a long snake being warmed.
As the taskless volunteers waited, twiddling their wintry thumbs and stupidly regarding the dark building before them, the fire subtly arrived in its eaves. Along the cornice it ran like an autumnal vine of poison ivy reddening on a wall. Soon the roof was a miter of white flame. ”

“ Fire-mains laid through the streets terminate in deep water at points accessible to the boats, the pumps of which can be connected to them and made to fill them with water at high pressure. In cities where a high-pressure hydraulic supply system is available, a relatively small quantity of the pressure water can be used, by means of Greathead hydrants or similar devices, to draw a much larger quantity from the ordinary mains and force it in jets to considerable heights and distances, without the intervention of any engine. ”

“ 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. ”

“ He could see that there was nothing on the brick roof to burn; the heat and not the flames would be their danger. The fire was at its worst in the light-well, and at the point farthest from it there was an enormous water tank, protected with a covering of tin, and supported across the angle of the walls on steel beams, so that, even if the roof should fall, the tank would not go with it. Here was the greatest safety. They would have water to prevent the heat from baking them alive, and they would have the tank to shelter them from the drift of smoke. ”

“ The men who attend to the starting of fires should be instructed not to depend upon the water-glass for the level of the water, but to see that it runs out of the gauge-cocks. I have known several cases where boilers were burned through those firing up being deceived by a false show of water in the glass, and starting the fire when the boiler was empty. If the boiler has been filled with water through the feed-pipes by the round-house hose, care should be taken to see that the check-valves are not stuck up. ”

“ Thus, only a thin layer of the large-sized fuels can burn before the small fuels are entirely consumed. As a result, the smaller fuels—generally those less than one-half inch in diameter—contribute most to heat production in the main flame wave of a spreading fire in most wildland fuels. ”

“ Then let the boiler cool down before putting in fresh water. Banking the fire is better than drawing or dumping it, as either of these make the heat greater for a moment or two, and that additional heat might cause an explosion. Dashing cold water upon the fire is also very dangerous and in every way unwise. Again, do not open the safety valve, for that also, by relieving some of the pressure on the superheated water, might cause it to burst suddenly into steam and so cause an explosion. ”

“ The furnace should be of brick, with double iron doors, and a damper above in the first part of the flue, and a valve in the door of the ashpit for regulating the draught. In determining the dimensions it is well to remember that a comparatively large fire burning slowly is to be preferred to a small fire with a brisk draught. But here, again, the nature of the fuel to be burnt must also be considered, for if it is of a kind that produces little smoke, the opening in front may be dispensed with. ”

“ Heating by hot air, steam, and hot water are objectionable. First, because there must be a furnace and furnace flue, and the flue used is generally that built for an open fire only; and second, the pipes are carried in every direction, to be as much out of sight as possible. By this means they are constantly liable to produce spontaneous ignition, for there appears to be some chemical action between heated iron and timber, by which fire is generated at a much lower temperature than is necessary to ignite timber under ordinary circumstances. ”

“ One breathed there all sorts of vapours, which came out of the coal with the low bubbling sound of a spring, so abundantly sometimes that the lamps would not burn; to say nothing of fire-damp, which nobody noticed, for from one week's end to the other the men were always breathing it into their noses throughout the seam. She knew that bad air well; dead air the miners called it; it was below the heavy asphyxiating gases, above the light gases which catch fire and blow up all the stalls of a pit, with hundreds of men, in a single burst of thunder. ”

“ More frequently, however, the fuel is scraped away to form a firebreak around the fire and the fine fuel within the break allowed to burn out. Since the burning time of these fuels is short, heat production is soon drastically reduced, and the chance for further fire spread greatly diminished. ”

“ Bare ground or burned-over areas provide good protection, and you can enlarge or create these by burning out the fuel around you to increase the distance between you and the main fire when it passes—always carry matches for this purpose. At least partial shelter from radiation can often be found in road cuts or at the base of a cut bank on the fire side of the road. Fine fuel should be cleared from these areas before they are used, however. On bare ground, additional shelter can be found behind boulders and logs, or in depressions in the ground. ”

“ The cost of fuel would be far less than with existing arrangements, and the labor of attending to the one or two fires and the valves would also be less than that now required in the carrying of coal-scuttles, the removal of ashes, the cleaning of fireplaces, and the curtains and furniture they befoul by their escaping dust and smoke.
It is obvious that such a system of ventilation may even be applied to existing houses by mending the ill-fitting windows, shutting up the existing fire-holes, and using the chimneys as upcast shafts in the manner above described. ”

“ The reason is, that in a close fire the whole of the draught must pass through the fire. It thus becomes so heated that, unless the flue is properly built, it is dangerous throughout its whole course. In one instance of a heating furnace, the heat in the flue was found to be 300°, at a distance of from forty to fifty feet from the fire. In open fireplaces, the quantity of cold air carried up with the draught keeps the flue at a moderate heat, from the fire upwards, and, unless the flue is allowed to become foul, and take fire, this is the safest possible mode of heating. ”

“ All night the fight went on. At 4 A. M., when the water was pouring out of the orifice of the cavity as fast as it was sent in by the hose, it seemed as if the cavity must have been thoroughly flooded and the fire out. To make sure of the absolute extinction of the fire, borings were made, which showed that the fire had worked its way along individual timbers, especially those which were “fat” with resin, and that the fourth roof course was still a mass of burning timber. It was then decided that the caisson must be flooded, which was done by pumping in 1,350,000 gallons of water. ”

“ This arises from the door on that particular floor having been shut, and the draught directed elsewhere. If the person who has examined the fire finds a risk of its gaining ground upon him, he should, if within reach of fire-engines, keep everything close, and await their arrival, instead of admitting air to the fire by ineffectual efforts to oppose it with inadequate means. In the meantime, however, he should examine [Pg 64] where a supply of water is most likely to be obtained, and communicate that, and any other local information, to the firemen on their coming forward. ”

“ As long as the slow-burning fuels are producing heat, they pose a threat of fire escape, and must be extinguished to assure fire control. Because of their long burning time, it is not often feasible to allow them to burn out, and stopping the pyrolysis by cooling or other means of heat removal is necessary. ”

“ When the wood is nearly charred, most of the smoke has been driven off and the chimney is hot enough to draw the smoke up the flue. All fires should be banked before they are left, to avoid setting fires. Banking can be safely and effectively done by raking the coals and unconsumed fuel into a pile on the hearth and covering the pile with a few inches of earth. Water thrown on a hot fire may result in scalds from the steam and may crack the fireplace. ”

“ Avoid flimsy, unpainted wooden structures—they ignite easily and burn hot and fast. Wooden buildings in heavy fuels are also a poor choice because of the length of time a hot fire persists in such fuels. ”

“ In heating by hot-water pipes, those hermetically sealed are by far the most dangerous, as the strength of the pipes to resist the pressure is the only limit of the heat to which the water, and of course the pipes, may be raised. In some cases a plug of metal which fuses at 400° is put into the pipes, but the heat to which the plug is exposed will depend very much on where it is placed, as, however great may be the heat of the exit pipe, the return pipe is comparatively cool. ”

“ The supply of water is the most vital part of any exertions towards extinguishing fire. Where the pressure is sufficient, and the mains large enough, by far the most efficient and economical mode of using the water is to attach the hose directly to the mains. ”

“ Enough oxygen for combustion is almost always available in our wildland areas, and fuel is usually abundant. However, we cannot have a fire until the third ingredient, heat, is added—usually in the form of a firebrand of some sort. But the mere presence of a heat source does not necessarily mean that a fire will start. For a flaming or hot firebrand to start a fire, some of its heat must be transferred in some way to the fuel. And if the fire is to continue to burn and to grow, heat must be transferred to the unburned fuel around the fire. Hence, heat transfer is essential for wildland fire. ”