Lögberg - 19.12.1946, Blaðsíða 32

32
LÖGBERG, FIMTUDAGINN 19. DESEMBER. 1946
•A tf-ew- Pöirití o*i
HOW TO ESCAPE FROM
BURNING BUILDING
NIAGARA
FIRE INSURANCE
COMPANY
Established
1850
Assets $39,042,638.00
SATISFACTION
SECURITY
UNION
INSURANCE SOCiETY
of
CANTON, LIMITED
Established
1835
Assets $29,720,700.00
Three-quarters of our Dwelling-Fire deaths occur UP-
STAIRS from downstairs fires, simply because heat rises.
When a fire gets underway, super-heated air and combustion
gases ranging from 800 to 1,000 degrees in temperatures,
quickly flood the upper ha.ll of a house. People, roused from
their sleep, who dash excitedly into that hall from their bed-
rooms are often felled in their track, dead long before the
actual flames reach them.
A little advance thought and training would save count-
less lives. If you wake up and smell smoke, don’t jerk open the
bedroom door. First, put the palm of your hand on the door
panel above your head, if the wood is hot, DON’T open the door:
It is too late, the hot wood (or even the hot door knob) means
that the ha.ll beyond is charged with deadly heat and you can’t
possibly make the stairs.
Instead, leave the door closed: Escape by a window if
possible; or, at least, yell for help from the window. With a
closed door between you and the fire, you have a good chance
to survive until resuce comes.
If the door panel on the door isn’t hot, open it cautiously.
Brace your hip and foot against it, to be prepared in case you
have to shut it quickly. Put the palm of your hand across the
crack above your head, then open the door an inch or so. If
there is any pressure against the door — or if you feel an in-
rush of heat on your hand — slam the door shut and take to
the window.
Next to that of opening doors properly in a burning build-
ing, is the business of CLOSING THE DOORS. Time and time
again, the person who discovers a fire rushes off in a frenzy
of excitement, leaving the door of the room wide open. Natur-
ally, the accumulating heat and fumes are free to sweep up-
ward through the rest of the house, unimpeded. If that door
were instantly slammed shut, the fire and its advance guard
of heat and gases would be bottled-up for quite a few minutes,
and perhaps the house could be saved.
An oft-cited case is that of the young housewife who tried
to pep up the coal-fire in her kitchen range with some kero-
sene; tþe vapors exploded, blowing the fire all over the room.
By the time she regained her wits, the whole kitchen was
in flames. Her first thought was for her baby. asleep upstairs,
so she tore out of the kitchen to the nursery, grabbed the child,
and started back downstairs.
Meanwhile, neighbors had telephoned an alarm. The Fire
Department responded promptly from a station not far away,
but when they arrived they found mother and child dead in
the upstairs hall. They were killed by the deadly fumes which
raced up the stairs. HAD SHE CLOSED THE KITCHEN DOOR,
she would possibly have escaped down the stairs, or HAD SHE
CLOSED THE BEDROOM DOOR, they would likely have been
rescued through the bedroom window. Both lost their lives
because she did not close the doors behind her.
CAMDEN
FIRE INSURANCE
ASSOCIATION
Established
I84I
Assets $18,583,702.00
STABILITY
SER VICE
SECURITT
INSDRANCE COMPANY
Of
NEW HAVEN, CONN.
Established
1841
Assets $19,553,562.00
May we join in the spirit of the Festive
Season and wish each and all of you
a MERRY CIÍRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
J. J. SWANSON & CO.. LIMITED
308 AVENUE BUILDING
PHONE 97 538