The remedies best adapted to prevent robbery in these various ways are:—(1) Be careful to have trustworthy servants, or all other precautions are unavailing. (2) Have plate-glass to all windows in the house, for this cannot be broken, as common sheet-glass can, without noise. (3) As shutters are really no protection at all, and frequently are not fastened at night, let all windows and openings that can be reached easily from the ground have strong bars built into the stone or brickwork, not more than 5 in. apart, where this can be done without disfigurement; and let the windows on every upper floor have either Hopkinson’s or Dawes’s patent window fasteners, which cannot be opened from the outside, and are simple and strong in construction and cheap in price. (4) Keep a dog, however small, inside the house; this is a wonderful safeguard, and extremely disliked by burglars. (5) Have any number of bells on shutters, electric wires, or other gimcracks that you please, and place no reliance on any of them. (6) Never allow a stranger to wait inside the door. (7) Leave as little property as possible, certainly no silver plate or jewellery, lying about, so that if a thief should overcome all obstacles to entrance, he may not find much ready to hand.
Precautions against fire are of still greater importance. A few of the commonest causes of fire are guarded against by observing the following simple rules:—(1) Keep all matches in metal boxes, and out of the reach of children; wax matches are particularly dangerous, and should be kept out of the way of rats and mice. (2) Be careful in making fires with shavings and other light kindling. (3) Do not deposit coal or wood ashes in a wooden vessel, and be sure burning cinders are extinguished before they are deposited. (4) Never put firewood upon the stove to dry, and never put ashes or a light under a staircase. (5) Fill fluid or spirit lamps only by daylight, and never near a fire or light. (6) Do not leave a candle burning on a bureau or a chest. (7) Always be cautious in extinguishing matches and other lighters before throwing them away. (8) Never throw a cigar-stump upon the floor or spitbox containing sawdust or trash without being certain that it contains no fire. (9) After blowing out a candle never put it away on a shelf, or anywhere else, until sure that the snuff has gone entirely out. (10) A lighted candle ought not to be stuck up against a frame-wall, or placed upon any portion of the woodwork in a stable, manufactory, shop, or any other place. (11) Never enter a barn or stable at night with an uncovered light. (12) Never take an open light to examine a gas-meter. (13) Do not put gas or other lights near curtains. (14) Never take a light into a closet. (15) Do not read in bed, either by candle or lamp light. (16) The principal register of a furnace should always be fastened open. (17) Stove-pipes should be at least 4 in. from woodwork, and well guarded by tin or zinc. (18) Rags ought never to be stuffed into stove-pipe holes. (19) Openings in chimney-flues for stove-pipes which are not used ought always to be securely protected by metallic coverings. (20) Never close up a place of business in the evening without looking well to the extinguishing of lights, and the proper security of the fires. (21) When retiring to bed at night always see that there is no danger from your fires.
A few other unsuspected causes of fire may be mentioned. A common habit with some people, when ironing, is to rub the hot iron clean with a piece of stuff, paper, or “anything” at hand, and then throw the same aside without further thought. The small piece of stuff, usually more or less scorched, may lie smouldering for hours unsuspected in some corner, especially if shut up in a cupboard or drawer. The danger here alluded to applies equally to the careless throwing aside of anything likely to smoulder, such as cloths caught up at random for holding hot baking tins, kitchener handles, &c. No room ought ever to be left unoccupied without a guard being placed on the fire. Most of us have had experience of sudden small explosions of the coals, and holes being burnt in the hearthrug, even when there is some one at hand to stamp out the fire at once; and we can imagine what the consequences would be if the hearthrug had been left to smoulder. In the case of steam-pipes, after wood has remained a long time in contact with steam, hot-water, or hot-air pipes, the surface becomes carbonised. During the warm season, the charcoal absorbs moisture. When again heated, the moisture is driven off, leaving a vacuum, into which the fresh air current circulating around the pipes rapidly penetrates, and imparts its oxygen to the charcoal, causing a gradual heating and eventually combustion. The rusting of the pipes contributes also to this result, inasmuch as the rust formed during the hot season may be reduced by the heat of the pipes to a condition in which it will absorb oxygen to the point of red heat.
With respect to the detection of fires there is very little to say; but every one should acquaint themselves with the best means of getting from the house in case of fire cutting off the usual exit. At such a critical moment, when, perhaps aroused from a sound sleep, one finds oneself in a house on fire, presence of mind is the first thing required, yet a few simple suggestions that will start to the memory may be of value. If, on the first discovery of the fire, it is found to be confined to one room, and to have made but little progress, it is of the utmost importance to shut, and keep shut, all doors and windows. If the fire appears at all serious, and there are fire-engines at a reasonable distance, it is best to await their arrival, as many buildings have been lost from opening the doors and attempting to extinguish fires with inadequate means. If no engines are within reach, and you have not a hand-pump or an extincteur, the next best thing is to collect as many buckets outside the room on fire as can be obtained, keeping the door shut while more water is being collected. A rough-and-ready protection from breathing smoke may be had by thoroughly wetting a towel and fastening it firmly round the face over the mouth and nostrils. But if the flames have too great a hold to allow of escape by the staircase or roof, and the window of the room is the only means of egress, the situation becomes serious, unless its possibility has been foreseen and guarded against.
Only as the last resource should a person run the risk of jumping to the ground; either endeavour by tying the bedclothes together to make some sort of rope, fastening one end to a heavy piece of furniture, and going down the rope hand-over-hand—a rather difficult thing to do without practice—or, if within reach of one, wait as long as possible for the arrival of a fire-escape or ladder. Some people always keep a stout knotted rope in their room, and have an iron hook fixed inside the window, to which it may be attached. Merryweather and Sons, 63 Long Acre, London, make domestic fire-escapes which admit of even women and children lowering themselves from windows. As to means of escape available from the outside for high houses, there are many obvious plans which might be adopted, but among these there are two which appear to be specially easy of attainment, and within the reach of all concerned, at a moderate cost. The first is to fix on buildings external ladders of wrought iron or some other material able to resist the effects of fire at its commencement, and extending from the roof to within 40 ft. of the ground; the other, to provide on every story continuous balconies of wrought iron or any other material proof against immediate destruction by heat; and if the balconies on the several stories were made to communicate with each other by means of external stairs, great additional safety would be attained.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire has published the following directions for saving life at fires. See also p. [1002].
For Bystanders.—1. Immediately on the fire being discovered give an alarm to the nearest fire-escape station, not delaying an instant; do not wait to see if it is wanted. Life is more precious than property, and events have too often proved how fatal even a moment’s hesitation is in sending for the fire-escape. It is the fire-escape man’s duty to proceed to the place of alarm immediately.
2. In the absence of a fire-escape, or pending its arrival, ladders and ropes should be sought for. Two constables or other qualified persons should ascend to the roof through the adjoining houses. The most efficient assistance can sometimes be rendered by an entrance to the upper part of the house on fire, either by the attic windows, the loft-door, or by removing the tiles; or sometimes the aid of one end of a rope (knotted) might be afforded from the adjoining window, which, being passed by the person in danger round some article in the room, he could lower himself or others into the street, and the other end of the rope being controlled of course by those rendering the aid from the adjoining house. A short ladder can often be made available at the second or perhaps the third, floor of houses built with a balcony or portico, by the constable or other person first ascending to the balcony, and then placing the ladder thereon, reach the rooms above.
3. In a narrow street or court assistance may be given from the windows of the opposite house, particularly by a ladder placed across the street from window to window.
4. When no other means present themselves the bystanders had better collect bedding at hand, in case the inmates throw themselves from the windows. A blanket or carpet held stretched out by several persons will serve the purpose. The Metropolitan Fire Escape Brigade carry jumping-sheets with them for use upon emergency.