Chapter 9

Upon a fire breaking out, the superintendent shall lose as little time as possible in stationing chimney-sweepers on the roofs of the adjoining houses, to keep them clear of flying embers; and also persons in each flat of the adjoining houses, to observe their state, and report if any appearances of danger should arise; such persons taking as much care as possible _to keep all doors and windows of said flats shut_, and the doors and windows of the premises where the fire happens to be shall, so far as practicable, be carefully kept shut.

The superintendent shall forthwith prepare regulations for the firemen, &c., under his charge, and report the same to the committee on fire-engines for their approval. Every fireman shall be furnished with a copy of such regulations, and shall be bound to make himself master of its contents; and it shall be the duty of the superintendent to see that the instructions are duly attended to in training and exercising the men.

IV.--HEAD ENGINEMEN.

Each head engineman shall attend to the engines placed in his district, and all the apparatus connected therewith, and report to the superintendent when any repairs or new apparatus seem requisite, and shall be responsible for the engines being in proper working condition at all times.

Upon receiving notice of a fire, the head enginemen shall call out the firemen in their respective districts; and they shall all repair, perfectly equipped, with the utmost expedition, to the spot where the fire happens to be, carrying along with them the engines and apparatus.

The head enginemen shall have the carts and barrels attached to their several districts always in readiness, in good order, and the barrels filled with water, which shall accompany the engines to the fire.

On arriving at the spot, the head enginemen shall take their instructions from the superintendent, or, in his absence, from the chief magistrate in attendance on the spot; or, in their absence, from a member of the fire-engine committee, and from no other person whatever.

V.--FIREMEN.

The firemen shall attend at all times when required by the head enginemen or superintendent, as well as upon the days of general inspection. They shall keep their engines in good order and condition, and shall be equipped in their uniform at all times when called out.

They shall observe the instructions of no person whatever, except those of the superintendent or head enginemen.

VI.--HIGH CONSTABLES AND COMMISSIONERS OF POLICE.

Upon occasions of fire, the moderator of the high constables shall call out the high constables, and, if necessary, he shall also call out the extra constables, and give notice to call out the constables of their districts; and it shall be the duty of the constables to preserve order and to protect property, to keep the crowd away from the engines, and those employed about them; and, when authorized by the chief magistrate, superintendent of engines, or, in the absence of a magistrate, by a member of the committee on fire-engines, to provide men for working the engines.

Neither the constables nor the commissioners of police shall assume any management, or give any directions whatsoever, except in absence of a magistrate and the superintendent of engines, in which case any member of the committee on fire-engines may give orders to the head enginemen.

In cases of protracted fire, when extra men may be required to relieve the regular establishment, it shall be the duty of the high constables to collect those wanted, from amongst the persons on the street who may be willing to lend their assistance, mustering them in such parties as may be required, taking a note of their names, and furnishing each individual with a certificate or ticket, with which the moderator of the high constables, or chief constable at the time, will be supplied; and no person shall receive any remuneration for alleged assistance given at a fire who may not produce such certificate or ticket.

The party or parties so mustered shall be placed and continue under the care of two high constables, until required for service, when they shall be moved forward to the engine.

The men relieved by the party so moved forward, shall be taken charge of by two high constables, who shall see them properly refreshed and brought back within a reasonable time, so that the men employed may thus occasionally relieve each other without confusion, and without being too much exhausted.

VII.--MAGISTRATES, &c.

Upon occasion of fires, the magistrates, sheriff, moderator of the high constables, the superintendent of the water company, the managers of the different gas-light companies, and the fire-engine committee, will give their attendance. They will assemble in such house nearest to the place of the fire as can be procured, of which notice shall be immediately given to the officer commanding the police on the spot.

The orders of the chief magistrate in attendance shall be immediately obeyed; and no order, except those issued by such magistrate, and the particular directions given as to the fire and engine department by the master of engines, or, in their absence, by a member of the fire-engine committee on the spot, shall be at all attended to.

The magistrates and sheriff further declare, that all porters holding badges shall be bound to give their attendance at fires when called upon for that purpose.

VIII.--GAS-LIGHT COMPANIES.

The managers of the different gas-light companies, on receiving notice of a fire, shall instantly take measures for turning off the gas from all shops and houses in the immediate neighbourhood of the fire.

IX.--SPECIAL REGULATIONS FOR THE FIREMEN.

_Captains._--On the alarm of fire being given, an engine must be immediately despatched from the main office to whatever district the fire may be in; and the captain in whose district the fire happens shall bring his engine to the spot as quickly as possible, taking care that none of the apparatus is awanting. On arriving at the spot, he must take every means in his power to supply his engine with water, but especially by a service-pipe from a fire-cock, if that be found practicable. Great care must be taken to place the engine so that it may be in the direction of the water, with sufficient room on all sides to work it, but as little in the way of persons employed in carrying out furniture, &c., as possible. He must also examine the fire while the men are fixing the hose, &c., that the water may be directed with the best effect.

The captains shall be responsible for any misconduct of their men, when they fail to report such misconduct to the superintendent.

The engines must be at all times in good working order, and the captain shall report to the superintendent when any part of the apparatus is in need of repair.

When the fire is in another district, the captain of each engine shall get his men and engine ready to proceed at a moment's notice, but must not move from his engine-house till a special order arrives from a lieutenant of police or the superintendent of brigade.

_Sergeants._--The sergeant of each engine will take the command in absence of the captain. When the captain is present, the sergeant will give him all possible assistance in conducting the engine to the fire; and it will there be more particularly the sergeant's duty to see that the engine is supplied with water, and that every man is at his proper station, and to remain with his engine while on duty, whether it is working or not, unless he receives special orders to the contrary.

_Pioneers._--Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of each engine will be considered pioneers. Nos. 1 and 2 will proceed to the fire immediately, without going to their engine-house, in order to prepare for the arrival of the first engine, by ascertaining and clearing a proper station for it, and by making ready the most available supplies of water, as also to examine the state of the premises on fire and the neighbouring ones, so as to be able to give such information to the captain on his arrival as may enable him to apply his force with the greatest effect. _The pioneers will attend particularly to the excluding of air from the parts on fire by every means in their power, and they will ascertain whether there are any communications with the adjoining house by the roof, gable, or otherwise._ When the several engines arrive, the pioneers will fall in with their own company, and take their farther orders from the captain or sergeant.

_Firemen._--On the alarm of fire being given, the whole company belonging to each engine (Nos. 1 and 2 excepted) shall assemble as speedily as possible at their engine-house, and act with spirit under the orders of their officers in getting everything ready for service. Each man will get a ticket with his own number and the colour of his engine marked upon it; and on all occasions when he comes on duty he will give this ticket into the hands of a policeman, who will be appointed by the officer of police on duty to collect them at each engine-house, and who will accompany the engine if it is ordered to the fire.

If the ticket be not given in, as before provided, within half an hour after the alarm is given at their engine-house, or at all events, within half an hour after the arrival of the engine at the fire, the defaulter will forfeit the allowance for turning out, and also the first hour's pay.

If not given in within the first hour, he will forfeit all claim to pay.

The superintendent, however, may do away the forfeiture in any of these cases, on cause being shown to his satisfaction.

On quarter-days and days of exercise, every man must be ready equipped at the appointed hour, otherwise he will forfeit that day's pay, or such part of it as the superintendent may determine.

Any man destroying his equipments, or wearing them when off duty, will be punished by fine or dismissal from the service, as the superintendent may determine.

Careless conduct, irregular attendance at exercise, or disobedience of superior officers, to be punished as above-mentioned.

The man who arrives first at the engine-house to which he belongs, _properly equipped_, will receive three shillings over and above the pay for turning out.

The first of the Nos. 1 and 2 who arrives at the fire, _properly equipped_, in whatever district it may be, will receive three shillings over and above the pay for turning out.

No pay will be allowed for a false alarm, unless the same is given by a policeman.

As nothing is so hurtful to the efficiency of an establishment for extinguishing fires as unnecessary noise, irregularity, or insubordination, it is enjoined on all to observe quietness and regularity, to execute readily whatever orders they may receive from their officers, and to do nothing without orders.

The first engine and company which arrive at the fire are not to be interfered with, nor their supplies of water diverted from them by those coming afterwards, unless by a distinct order from the superintendent, or, in his absence, from the chief magistrate on the spot. The same rule will apply to each succeeding engine which takes up a station.

The men must be careful not to allow their attention to be distracted from their duty by listening to directions from any persons _except their own officers_; and they will refer every one who applies to them for aid to the superintendent, or to the chief magistrate present at the time.

All the firemen must be particularly careful to let the policemen on their respective stations know where they live, and take notice when the policeman is changed, that they may give the new one the requisite information.

The men are particularly cautioned not to take spirituous liquors from any individual without the special permission of the captain of their engine, who will see that every proper and necessary refreshment be afforded to them; and as intoxication upon such alarming occasions is not merely disreputable to the corps, but in the highest degree dangerous, by rendering the men unfit for their duty, every appearance of it will be most rigidly marked; and any man who may be discovered in that state shall not only forfeit his whole allowances for the turn-out and duty performed, but will be forthwith dismissed from the corps.

All concerned are strictly enjoined to preserve their presence of mind, not to lose temper, and upon no occasion whatsoever to give offence to the inhabitants by making use of uncivil language or behaving rudely.

*** Every one belonging to the establishment will be furnished with a printed copy of these Regulations, which they are enjoined carefully to preserve and _read over at least once every week_.

MEANS OF ESCAPE FROM FIRE.

[The following was written in the year 1830, and does not refer to Public Fire-Escapes other than those that can be carried with a Fire-Engine.--EDITOR.]

When the lower floors of a house are on fire, and the stairs or other ordinary means of retreat destroyed, the simplest and easiest mode of removing the inhabitants from the upper floors, is by a ladder placed against the wall. In order to be able at all times to carry this plan into effect, the person having charge of the engines should (as far as possible) inform himself where long ladders are to be had, and how they can most easily be removed.

But if a ladder of sufficient length is not to be procured, or is at too great a distance to render it safe to wait for it, recourse must immediately be had to other means.

If it happens that the windows above are all inaccessible, on account of the flames bursting through those below, the firemen should immediately get on the roof (by means of the adjoining houses,) and descend by the hatch. The hatch, however, being sometimes directly above the stair, is in that case very soon affected by the fire and smoke. If, on approaching, it is found to be so much so as to render an entrance in that way impracticable, the firemen should instantly break through the roof, and, descending into the upper floors, extricate those within. If it should happen, however, that the persons in danger are not in the upper floor, and cannot reach it in consequence of the stair being on fire, the firemen should continue breaking through floor after floor till they reach them. In so desperate a case as this the shorter process may probably be to break through the party-wall between the house on fire and that adjoining, when there is one; and when there is no house immediately contiguous, through the gable, taking care in either case to break through at the back of a closet, press, chimney, or other recess, where the wall is thinnest. If an opening has been made from the adjoining house, it should immediately (after having served the purpose for which it was made) be built up with brick or stone, to prevent the fire spreading. All these operations should be performed by slaters, masons, or house-carpenters, who, being better acquainted with such work, are likely to execute it in a shorter time than others--time, in such a case, being everything, as a few minutes lost may cost the lives of the whole party. It is not impossible, however, that circumstances may occur to render all or either of these plans impracticable; in that case, one or two of the lower windows must be darkened, and by this means access gained to the upper ones. The plan recommended by the Parisian firemen is, for a man to wrap himself up in a wet blanket, and thus pass swiftly through the flames. But this effort is only to be attempted when the flames from a single door are to be passed; in any other case the stair will most likely be in flames, and impassable.

A simple means of escape from fire is to have an iron ring fastened to the window sill, and inside of the room a cradle, with a coil of rope attached to it. The rope is put through the ring, and the person wishing to escape gets into the cradle, and lowers himself down by passing the rope through his hands. The great objection to this plan, which is certainly very simple, is the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of persuading people to provide themselves with the necessary materials. Many men, too, are incapable of the exertion upon which the whole plan depends; and if men in a state of terror are unfit for such a task, what is to become of women and children?

Any fire-escape, to be generally useful, must, in the first place, be capable of being carried about without encumbering the fire-engine; and, in the next place, must be of instant and simple application. The means which appear to me to possess these qualifications in the highest degree, is a combination of the cradle plan, with Captain Manby's admirable invention for saving shipwrecked seamen.

The apparatus necessary for this fire-escape is a chain-ladder eighty feet long, a single chain or rope of the same length as the ladder, a canvas bag, a strong steel cross-bow, and a fine cord of the very best workmanship and materials, 130 feet long, with a lead bullet of three-ounce weight attached to one end, and carefully wound upon a wooden cone seven inches high and seven inches broad at the base, turned with a spiral groove, to prevent the cord slipping when wound upon it, also a small pulley with a claw attached to it, and a cord reeved through it of sufficient strength to bear the weight of the ladder.

In order to prevent the sides of the ladder from collapsing, the steps are made of copper or iron tube, fastened by a piece of cord passed through the tube and into the links of the chain, till the tube is filled. The steps thus fastened are tied to the chain with copper-wire, so that, in the event of the cord being destroyed, the steps will be retained in their places by the wire. The ladder is provided with two large hooks at one end, for the purpose of fixing it to a roof, window-sill, &c. The bag is of canvas, three feet wide and four feet deep, with cords sewed round the bottom, and meeting at the top, where they are turned over an iron thimble at each side of the mouth of the bag. The steel cross-bow is of the ordinary description, of sufficient strength to throw the lead bullet with the cord attached, 120 feet high.

When the house from which the persons in danger are to be extricated is so situated that the firemen can get to the roof by passing along the tops of the adjoining houses, they will carry up the chain-ladder with them, and drop it over the window where the inmates show themselves, fastening the hooks at the same time securely in the roof. The firemen will descend by the ladder into the window, and putting the persons to be removed into the bag, lower them down into the street by the single chain. If the flames are issuing from the windows below, the bag, when filled, is easily drawn aside into the window of the adjoining house, by means of a guy or guide-rope.

If the house on fire stands by itself, or if access cannot be had to the roof by means of the adjoining houses, the lead bullet, with the cord attached, is thrown over the house by means of the cross-bow; to this cord a stronger one is attached, and drawn over the house by means of the former; a single chain is then attached, and drawn over in like manner; and to this last is attached the chain-ladder, which, on being raised to the roof, the firemen ascend, and proceed as before directed.

If the house be so high that the cord cannot be thrown over far enough to be taken hold of by those on the opposite side, then the persons to be extricated must take hold of the cord, as it hangs past the window at which they may have placed themselves. By means of it they draw up the small pulley, and hook it on the window-sill. The chain-ladder is then made fast to the end of the cord, and drawn up by those below. When the end of the chain-ladder comes in front of the window, the persons inside fasten the hooks of the ladder on its sill, or to the post of a bed, the bars of a grate, or anything likely to afford a sufficient hold. After having ascertained that the ladder is properly fixed, the firemen will ascend and proceed as in the former cases.

I must here remark, that before this plan can be properly put in execution, the firemen must be regularly trained to the exercise. When the firemen here are practised with the fire-escape, the man ascending or descending has a strong belt round his middle, to which another chain is fastened, and held by a man stationed at the window for that purpose; if any accident, therefore, were to occur with the chain-ladder, the man cannot fall to the ground, but would be swung by the chain attached to the belt round his body. The men are also frequently practised in ascending and descending by single chains. The firemen here are very fond of the above exercise; the bagging each other seems to amuse them exceedingly.[I]

The last resort, in desperate cases, is to leap from the window. When this is to be attempted, mattresses, beds, straw, or other soft substances, should be collected under the window; a piece of carpet or other strong cloth should be held up by ten or twelve stout men. The person in the window may then leap, as nearly as possible, into the centre of the cloth, and if he has sufficient resolution to take a fair leap, he may escape with comparatively little injury.[J]

FIRE-ENGINES.

In the application of manual power to the working of fire-engines, the principal object is, to apply the greatest aggregate power to the lightest and smallest machine; that is, suppose two engines of the same size and weight, the one with space for 20 men to work throws 60 gallons per minute; and the other, with space for 30 men, throws 80 gallons in the same time; the latter will be the most useful engine, although each man is not able to do so much work as at the former.

The reciprocating motion is generally preferred to the rotary for fire-engines. Independent of its being the most advantageous movement, a greater number of men can be employed at an engine of the same size and weight; there is less liability to accident with people unacquainted with the work, and such as are quite ignorant of either mode of working, work more freely at the reciprocating than the rotary motion. To these reasons may be added, the greater simplicity of the machinery.

Various sizes of engines, of different degrees of strength and weight, have been tried, and it is found that a fire-engine with two cylinders of 7 inches diameter, and a stroke of 8 inches, can be made sufficiently strong at 17-1/2 cwt. If 4 cwt. be added for the hose and tools, it will be found quite as heavy as two fast horses can manage, for a distance under six miles, with five firemen and a driver.

This size of engine has been adopted by the Board of Admiralty and the Board of Ordnance, and its use is becoming very general.

When engines are made larger, it is seldom that the proper proportions are preserved, and they are generally worked with difficulty, and soon fatigue the men at the levers.

When an engine is large, it not only requires a considerable number of men to work it, but it is not easily supplied with water; and, above all, _it cannot be moved about with that celerity on which, in a fire-engine establishment, everything depends_. When the engine is brought into actual operation, the effect to be produced depends less on the quantity of water thrown than upon its being made actually to strike the burning materials, the force with which it does so, and the steadiness with which the engine is worked. If the water be steadily directed upon the burning materials, the effect even of a small quantity is astonishing.