Page:Fires and Fire-fighters (1913).djvu/23

Rh caused a corresponding advance in the theory and practice of fire-fighting. Questions of such import as the alleviation of congestion in crowded districts, the provision of suitable accommodation for domestic and business premises and the supply of the minimum of light and air compatible with modern ideas of hygiene, have led architects to find their only solution in the piling up of story upon story till, with the Woolworth building in New York, realms of space hitherto unpierced except by the Eiffel Tower have surrendered to their all-conquering demand. And finality has by no means been reached in this direction. No wonder, therefore, that those responsible for fire control have paused, perplexed momentarily at the problems confronting them. Generally speaking, except under the rarest of circumstances, it is only possible to fight fires from the street up to a height of seven stories, after that reliance must be placed upon the fire appliances within the building coupled with the tactical skill of the firemen in using the same. This is one of the instances in which the scientific training of a fire department is manifested. The isolation of elevator shafts, the prevention of flames being drawn from floor to floor through windows and the avoidance of that most dangerous enemy, back draught, constitute features of enormous significance.

Similarly fire apparatus has grown in complexity and its handling requires a corresponding degree of judgment and skill. The old days of the manual have gone forever, and though for many centuries little advance was made in the mechanical aspect of fire-fighting equipment, the last fifty years have witnessed a complete revolution in the means and methods employed. As the hand drawn "manual" gave way to the horse drawn steam engine, so has the latter in its turn been succeeded by the automobile gasoline pump. Likewise the Roman ladder, which for years marked the limit of human ingenuity as applied to means of entry to and rescue from burning buildings, has been superseded to a large extent by mechanically operated extension ladders of great length. Such apparatus as water towers,