The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-02-22
OUT OF THE FLAMES.
A DEPARTMENT CAPTAIN TALKS
-. ABOUT FIRE ESCAPES.

Building-It Is Well to Know How t.
Take Care of Yourself at such a Time.
"Wrap the rope around the body, al
ways put n hand below and one hanG
above on the rope, then slide" was the
advice of Captain McAdam in reply te
my query Of how to get out of q burn.
ing building.
The question was provoked by seeing
q number of blue coated firemen &C
speeding down a rope suspended from
the sixth story OF a building. They were
testing IRE escapes, and their ease and
confidence made me wonder why some
of this level headedness couldn't be i'm.
parted to women-or men either, for
that matter-in cases Of emergency.
So | went inside the great, admirably
kept drilling rooms and interviewed the
captain.
"Well," he added, "you can preach
to women about the way to use ropes
and fire escapes, but when a person is
scared out of her sense you cant expect
her to do calmly what she would trem-
BILE to do in time of safety.
"Why, I don't dare take a raw man
and send him down from the sixth story
for his trial, If l did, he would never
appear again. I get him broke in by
commencing at the first, then increas-
ing his slide, not reaching the seventh
story for two weeks"
Then you don't think it silly for
people to forget all common sense in
time of fire?' / Il asked.
Never. No one realizes more than l
the horrible, feeling of being caught in
q trap. Fire seems to ~demoralize the
'bravest. Women are just as brave as
men, for l have known a man to rush
down stairs, leaving a wife and FIVE chill
dren, when if all Of Hagenbeck's ami
mails were placed in a field and his child
among them he would dash over the
fence alone to it's rescue"
Whats best to remember"
First, how to use the ropes that are
placed in hotel rooms and should be in
every private residence. They are at
tached firmly to a link in the window.
Should the rope be without appliances,
simply drop it out of the window; then,
sitting on the sill, place the rope around
the body under the arms. Make no loop,
only pass the long end of the rope over
the other in front Of the chest. AS you
lower yourself place the right hand firm
ly o n the end of the rope, which reaches
to the ground. This prevents the rope
from slipping off the body. Throw the
weight Of the body ON that hand and
guide with the left, which is ON the up
per end of the rope. The friction of the
ropes passing each other over the chest
prevents a too rapid descent, and thus
the hands are saved from severe blister
ing, for rs soon as the rope cuts through
the flesh man or woman will let go;
the agony is too great. In descending
keep the body nea the wall and break
the slide by scraping the feet along the
walls"
Suppose the fire broke out from a
window below while the person is com
ing down-then what?'
1.-THE only thing is to swing close to
the wall until the heat is too intense,
then give the body a herculean push
outward by the feet from the wall. The
momentum will send the body flying
out into space, clear of the flames; then
slide just as fast as rope and gravita-
ton will take you, even if the hands
are cut. 1t is the only safe measure.
There is 10 time to take any other pre-
caution"
Captain McAdam, however, does not
approve of the plain rope. Of course the
iron fire escape is every fireman's pref
a~an0a 80 - Z, f~oo l-A -.-A.- -
supports a mob that is equally danger
Gus. Again, certain occupants are cut
of from it by fire, so next to this comes
a rope, attached to an iron pulley,
which in turn is fastened to a hook in
the window. One end of the rope is
thrown to the ground; the other has a
small loop which can be quickly pulled
to fit the body. 1t is slipped under the
arms and the body lowered. No holding |
on Is necessary, for it is the primitive
science of q bucket ON a pulley line 60
ing down a we'll. The rope goes around
several small wheels inside the pulley.
which materially check the run of the
rope, limiting it to ten feet in ten Sec
onda. The moose can't slip of the body. |
The wheels must 60 around as long as
the weight is there, and, to quote the
captain, "Kick and boiler as she will,
she's bound to come down"
I'm Ease of being caught by the fire,
captain, what is the best thing to do?
Put a wet blanket around yourself and
run through it,"
Theoretically that is fne," he an
swered, but remember that it takes |
buckets OF water to soak a blanket, and |
II there is not a bath tub near to accom-
plish this no few pitchers are adequate.
10 next best Is to wrap the head up in
coat Or. anything wooden. This keeps
out the fire and not the air from the
lungs, and the greater danger comes
from the former being inhaled.
"Should the smoke commence to fill
the room and you want to crawl to an
other part of the building, drop ON your
hands and knees and crawl as close to
the floor as possible, for the smoke goes
first to the top and to the floor last, SO
that much time is secured. If ALI escane