The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-03-10
The BattlC With Fire.

It is a stock remark that people
lose their heads in time of fire"
but there are quite as many instances
of their having unwonted GOODNESS at
such times, says John II. woodruff.
PHI. D.. in the March issue OF The
Mothers Magazine" Undoubtedly
1t has never entered the heads Of
many persons that fire cannot burn
unless supplied with a large volume
Of air, and 1t Is very easy to check
any fire in Its early stages by re-
straining the supply OF air.
A kettle of fat caught fire upon the
kitchen stove. The cook, surely a he
roine, though a misguided one, seiZ-
ed the bail OF the kettle and with the
flames playing upon her bare arms,
rushed with it to the sink. She had
an indistinct thought that water has
some magic power to quench fire.
Setting the burning fat under the
faucet she turned on the water. This
being heavier than the grease, went
to the bottom OF the kettle ana foat-
ed the burning fat out over the kitch-
en- floor, thus setting fire to the house.
Four gallons Of air are required to
burn one thimb1eful Of fat Wry not
throw on the pot lid and let the fire
put Itself out? / believe the cook
said something about being afraid
that there might, be- an explosion II
she put the i'd On. Words are not
always signs Of ideas. This word ex-
plosion is certainly one to con3ure
sene lamps "exploding7" Yet for
twenty years ! have canvassed in vain
for one who has ever seen a kerosene
lamp explode. offer any one the
the Immortality Of honorable mention
in these articles who will make a
kerosene lamp xplode without first
heating the kerosene to $50 degrees.
A few more decades OF experience
with gasoline engines. and people Will
begin to discover that 1t Ia not even
easy to make gasoline explode. I'm
der no circumstances can gasoline be
made to explode unless a very dein-
ite mixture OF one quart of air with
about four drops of gasoline be made.
We burned gasoline in an ordinary
kerosene lamp for six hours, until 1t
was half used up, and no one could
discover any difference between II
and kerosene. The lamp had ca
pacity of one pint and 1t requires
something over five thousand PiHts
OF air to burn one pint OF gasoline.
The burning went on quietly, each
thimbleful OF gasoline being unable
to get Its required sixteen quarts OF
remote the chance for explosion was
may be determined as follows: If
we had allowed the lamp to burn
twelve hours. and II exactly tive drops
of gasoline had then remained In 1t.
and Ii pint OF pure air could have
then entered .le lamp and II the two
drops Of gasoline had become COM
pletely vaporized and thoroughly
mixed with just one pint Of air. we
might have an explosion-if the fame
remained long enough to start the
combustion! An explosion Is simply
combustion throughout the mass all
at once, and the Whole purpose Of this
paper Is to show that combustion re-
quires definite proportions Of air and
fuel
One of the most effective ways Of
extinguishing a fire Is to separate
the burning fuel into small portions.
Thus a considerable fire in a fireplace
may be quickly extinguished by
merely distributing apart from each
other the burning embers. Their mu-
tual heat is necessary to keep them
above the lsindling temperature. A
shovelful of burning Goals when TAX
en- from the FURNACE soon cools be-
low its kindling temperature. The
heat OF the rest of the burning Goals
is necessary to keep these burning.
The fireman's axe and pick enable
him to .extinguish fire by separating
in small pieces the burning portions
of wood In floor or wainscot of build
ings When thus treated. The wood
soon falls below its kindling temper
allure, and burning ceases.