out of a burning house. Study all the possible ways of getting out of a house. If it is a tenement or apartment building, with a fire escape, see if the escape is kept clear. If other tenants block up the escape, tell a policeman and have it stopped. See if the school is safe, and has fire drills. If not, refuse to send your children into a fire-trap, and arouse public feeling about it, so the school will be made safe.
When you go to a theater, public hall, church gallery, department store or factory, mark the EXIT and the red light nearest you. If a fire starts make your way out quietly. Don’t scream or push in a crowd. A panic is easily started, and more people are killed by falling and being trodden on than by the fire. Talk cheerfully to people near you. Tell them how quickly a big school house is emptied in a fire drill. Help old people and children. If you are stopping in a hotel, locate the stairways, the elevator and the fire escape from your room. If there isn’t a coil of stout rope in your room, long enough to reach the ground, ask the clerk for one.
A small fire can be smothered. You know fire cannot burn without air. If your clothing catches fire, roll up in a rug or heavy bed clothes. If out of doors roll on the ground. A boy’s or man’s thick coat will often put out a small fire. Pull a blazing curtain down and smother the flame. Throw a mattress on a burning floor. If you are caught in a burning house get out, if you can, without going through flames and smoke. When air is full of smoke the oxygen is burned out, so it can not be breathed. That is why people fall and are killed by smoke, even when the flame does not touch them. The best air is always near the floor, so you would better crawl. If you cannot get out, close the doors between you and the fire, go to a window, open it and stand there and scream for help. Then wait for the firemen. Don’t jump. You can lower yourself from a second or even third story window, by a rope made by tearing sheets in wide strips, knotting them together and tying one end to a bed post. You can let a child down by such a rope.
Do you know how quickly a fire company can get to a fire? You ought to be in a city engine house sometime at midnight, when an alarm is turned in. It’s like a cavalry charge on a battle field. A man sits at a desk under a gas jet. Another man is reading. This is the night watch. The big engine’s shining brass trimmings wink in the light. The horses stand with drooping heads in the stalls. The harnesses hang from the ceiling, above the engine pole. Over-
