Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-04-17
TO Escape Being Burned to Death If the
Home IS on Fire.

| TO Escape Being Burned to Death If the
Home Is on Fire.
Ones ability to extinguish a starting
fire or to escape if caught in burning
! building depends upon intelligence and
self-control.
Ifthe blaze is just starting, throw wa
ter on the material that is burning-not
at the blaze. One bucket of water will
do more good thrown on by handfuls,
or with broom, than dashed on at
once.
A small fire may be smothered with
rug or blanket, or beaten out with a wet
| broom.
Ifyou cannot put out the starting fire
in minute, yell fire and then, if in a
city, call for the department. Every
one living in the house should know the
telephone number to be used for getting
the fremen, and it should be on the
wall by the telephone for strangers to
use. There is no time for looking in
the directory, even if one should not be
too nervous to find a number. Every
one should know where the nearest fire
alarm box is, and how to use it,
But do not leave a door open when
you run out to give an alarm. If the
doors and windows are closed when a
fire starts, one can always get the fire.
men there in time to put it out while it
is in only one room. The fire soon uses
all the oxygen in a closed room and may
die out if it gets no fresh air.
WHILE THE FIREMEN ARE COMING.
After the fremen are called, work at
getting out the things you want most to
save. Don't throw the clock from the
window and then carry out your cloth
ing, as some persons have done.
Ifawakened in the night by the smell
of fire, don't dress. Wrap yourself in a
blanket or quilt from the bed and get
out the quickest way you can. Shut the
doors you pass through. After calling
help look in and see where and what the
danger is. You can then tell if it is best
to try to carry out the household
goods. If the fire is on the first floor,
it is very dangerous to go above, be-
cause the heat and choking smoke 60
up.
One can often get out through hall
filled with smoke by going on his hands
and knees, when he would fall choking
if he ran. The smoke is thickest at the
ceiling. Holding wet towel, or any
thing made of flannel, or even coat
collar over the mouth, greatly lessons
the danger of injury to the lungs, or
death, from the carbonic acid gas in the
smoke.
Most fires start in the first floor or
basement of the building and burn a
hole up through the roof. In house
the flames travel by the stairways; in a
big store or hotel they 60 quickly up the
elevator shaft. After reaching the top
the fire spreads and slowly goes down,
burning the wood that is left.
If man working in big store or
factory sees fire starting he should
turn in the alarm, if there is one in the
building; try to put it out with the
water in any pail near by then use a
chemical extinguisher, if there is one.
If one is in burning building with
no fire escapes and the stair below is
burning, or the hall is filled with smoke,
he should shut the door and transom to
keep out the deadly gases. Then he
should throw open the window to get
cool air and to let the fremen and
neighbors see where he Is, so that they
may bring ladder to the window.
One should wait at the window until
he is scorched or choking. By that
time the fremen will be holding big
hoop covered with canvas in which they
will catch him when he jumps, or the
neighbors will hold blanket to catch
him. If no one is near, he should
throw out the bedding, tick and all, and
Jump on that. 1t is safer to jump into
to- top of tree than to the ground.
FRANK A. CRAFT,
State Fire Marshal.