Signal fire

“ The general scheme of a fire-alarm telegraph system embodies a central office to which notice can be sent from any number of signal boxes of the outbreak of a fire in the district covered by the box, the central office in turn calling out the nearest fire engines, and warning the fire department in general of the occurrence. Such fire alarms can be exchanged automatically, or by operators, and are sometimes associated with a large fire-alarm bell or whistle. Some boxes can be operated by the passing public; others need special keys. ”

“ If there is none, again shout the lost signal and continue the calls every little while for quite a time. Another call for help is the ascending smoke of three fires. This, of course, is for daylight. Build your fires some distance apart, twenty-five feet or more, that the smoke from each may be clearly seen alone, not mingled with the rest. Aim to create smoke rather than flame; a slender column of smoke can be seen a long distance, therefore the fire need not be large. ”

“ The Indians of the West used it much, and whenever an army detachment or other strangers traversed the plains and the hills their course was marked by the smoke signals of Indian scouts. To make smoke signals, first a moderate blaze is started; then damp or green stuff is piled on, for a smudge; and the column of smoke is cut into puffs by a blanket or coat held over like a cup and suddenly jerked off. A high place should be selected for the smoke signal, so as to distinguish it from the ordinary camp-fire, which is not as a rule made on a high place,—that is, in hostile country. ”

“ Here guards are stationed, who descry the first indications of fire, and immediately give, from the top of the towers, the requisite signal, by hoisting, in the day-time, an immense globe, painted red, and at night by producing a bright and steady light—these signals remain until the fire is extinguished. ”

“ Another well-known pyrotechnic sound signal is the fog signal used on the railways, which consists of a tinned iron envelope containing a mixture of chlorate of potash and red phosphorus. It is secured in position on the rail by two lead 179clips provided for the purpose, and is fired by percussion on the impact of the engine wheel. Bird scarers, consisting of a series of single crackers connected by a time fuse, and so arranged as to fire at regular intervals, have been much used for the protection of seed and crops. ”

“ The airplane communicates with the battery largely by means of the radio telegraphy, but as it was not practicable to receive the radio signals in the plane from the ground, we used these panels. Among the signals formed by these white panels, which are quite clearly discernible from the air, are those meaning that the “Battery is ready to fire,” “Battery has fired,” “Fire by Salvo,” “Change target,” and many, many others including the signal “There is an Enemy Plane near you,” which is the most dreaded panel that can be displayed. ”

“ If a rocket misses fire it is to be taken from the stand and laid on the ground. Its place is at once supplied by a similar rocket, fired in its stead. The failing rocket is laid on the ground pointed away from the station in order that if it has only hung fire and [40] should afterwards ignite it may not disarrange the signal shown or injure any one of the party. If the wind blows freshly the rocket to be fired should be inclined slightly against the wind.
Signal rockets and shells are furnished in sealed cans and should not be removed therefrom until ready for use. ”

“ If a glass should be broken and an extra one is not available to replace it, signaling can be continued by turning the flame on full and using the heliograph shutter, [35] a cap or piece of board in front of the lantern to obscure and reveal the flash. Without the protection of the cover the flame is easily blown out when turned low, but will not be extinguished even in a strong wind if the gas is turned full on. ”

“ The telephone rings; a spark traveling down one of those fine wires, loosens a spring that throws the trap open, tissue paper unfolds like a fan, a taper is lighted that fires the trap, and all is prepared for the fire alarm. ”

“ He starved and froze, and baked in the hot sun, and marched from forty to fifty versts in the frost or in the burning heat. It also happened that he was often under fire, but, thank God, no bullet ever touched him. ”

“ Rising into the air with showers of sparks, and rolling one above the other, were sheets of flame, lighting the atmosphere for miles round, and driving clouds of smoke in the direction where he stood. The shouts grew louder as new voices swelled the rear, and he could hear the cry of Fire mingled with the ringing of an alarm-bell, the fall of heavy bodies, and the crackling of flames as they twined round some new obstacle, and shot aloft as though refreshed by food. ”

“ He took me into his box, where there was a fire, a desk for an official book in which he had to make certain entries, a telegraphic instrument with its dial, face, and needles, and the little bell of which he had spoken. On my trusting that he would excuse the remark that he had been well educated, and (I hoped I might say without offence) perhaps educated above that station, he observed that instances of slight incongruity in such wise would rarely be found wanting among large bodies of men ”

“ As before stated, every man can be taught these simple signals, where but very few men can be taught to handle even the simplest of wireless telephones.
Thus, smoke has already begun to complicate, and in the future will complicate still more, every phase of fighting. It will be used for deception, for concealment, for obscuring vision, for signalling and to hide deadly gases. The signal rocket will be used to start battles, change fronts, order up reserves, and finally to stop fighting. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If you can send some one else to ring the alarm, telephone to the nearest fire station. The number of this station should always hang in a conspicuous place near your telephone. If there is no fire alarm system, and you have no telephone, shout "Fire!" and arouse the neighbors.
If you leave the house to summon help, be sure to close the door. Fresh air will make the flames burn faster, and spread more rapidly. If the fire is in one room, try to keep it there by closing the doors and windows. If it is in a closet, shut the door until you can get help. ”

“ Two gun-barrels united, and as highly electrified, will give a spark at a still greater distance. But if two gun-barrels electrified will strike at two inches distance, and make a loud snap, to what a great distance may 10,000 acres of electrified cloud strike and give its fire, and how loud must be that crack! ”

“ The forester took the microscope and examined the charred fragment, handing both, when he had finished, to Lew.
"This is our clue to the incendiary," he said slowly. "We must find where pasteboard like that comes from and who had some of it. Meantime, do not breathe a word of this to any one. Do not let a soul know that we have discovered how the fire originated. Let them think we know nothing. And bear in mind what I told you before: suspect anybody that circumstances point to, no matter who he is. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Another class of war store which naturally suggests itself is that used to give light for the purpose of signalling. The light is either burnt on the ground as a hand light or fitted to a rocket. Fireworks for this purpose have been in use from earliest times, being the logical development of the signal beacon, but it was not until the introduction of genuine colour—that is to say, colour distinguishable at a long distance—that they reached their full standard of utility. ”

“ Running to fires, at least in cities, is now a thing of the past. The alarm is communicated silently by telegraph to the various engine-houses, a team is instantly harnessed to the engine, and with two or three men it is driven to the fire, which is often extinguished without the inhabitants of the next street knowing that there has been a fire at all. ”

“ The action of the different lamps in the presence of gas varies, but in general the size of the flame increases in direct proportion to the increase in the amount of gas mixed with the air. Each morning, before the men go to work, the fire boss takes his safety-lamp and makes the round of the mine. When he goes into a room he watches the flame, and if it burns up to the point which indicates that it would not be safe to enter with a naked light, he makes a mark on the wall which serves as a danger line beyond which the men do not go. ”

“ By a very simple contrivance, the electric spark is discharged through the mixture, when I hold the flask toward the conductor of the machine. A cork is fitted tightly into the neck of the flask, and at the moment the spark passes you hear a loud explosion, and you see the cork driven violently up to the ceiling.
GUN-COTTON SET ON FIRE BY ELECTRIC SPARK.
Destruction of Life.—The last effect of lightning to which I shall refer, and which, perhaps, more than any other, strikes us with terror, is the sudden and utter extinction of life, when the lightning flash descends on man or on beast. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Weirder than this strange wake are the long slow fires that keep burning at a distance, out in the dark. Nebulous incandescences mount up from the depths, change form, and pass;—serpentine flames wriggle by;—there are long billowing crests of fire. These seem to be formed of millions of tiny sparks, that light up all at the same time, glow for a while, disappear, reappear, and swirl away in a prolonged smouldering. ”

“ Then you want a forestick on the andirons; and upon these build the fire of lighter stuff. In this way you have at once a cheerful blaze, and the fire gradually eats into the solid mass, sinking down with increasing fervor; coals drop below, and delicate tongues of flame sport along the beautiful grain of the forestick. There are people who kindle a fire underneath. But these are conceited people, who are wedded to their own way. I suppose an accomplished incendiary always starts a fire in the attic, if he can. ”

“ We have heard of the danger from fire through its use in theatres and houses, but I want to show you that, when I place a cambric pocket handkerchief round a lamp, which I then break while electricity is going through it, no spark or fire of any kind occurs, but the lamp instantly goes out. There is also danger from wires coming in contact with each other, and in that case they short circuit the machine; they cause an increased strength of current to flow, producing heat, and in that manner setting fire to houses. ”

“ Some men are reading, others writing reports, mayhap; a few are in their shirt-sleeves working, polishing the reserve engine: a calm reigns. We glance up at the automatic fire-alarm which,when just heated, rings the call, and "it will warm up also with your hand." ”

“ The Fire of Incandescent Lamps.—An active incandescent lamp may be broken in the midst of cool combustibles, even of gun-cotton, without setting them on fire, so rapid is the destruction of the carbon filaments in the open air. But a long continuance of the lamp in immediate contact with a combustible envelope may determine ignition, the more readily the more slowly heat and air pass through the envelope. Thus gummed cotton or other goods will take fire more rapidly than similar goods ungummed or loose. ”

“ But although he courageously and undauntedly led forward single detachments again and again, although the engines incessantly hurled their hissing streams into the fiercest of the flames, yet the fire had an overpoweringly strong ally in the prevailing wind, and, in union with it, defied all their exertions. Like fiery serpents the flames darted out of the house windows, licking the walls and shooting their tongues forth venomously from the roof. ”

“ 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. ”