FIRE PROTECTION IN COLLEGES.

FIRE PROTECTION IN COLLEGES.

最近火堡爱德华的研究所是一个再保险minder that very few of our colleges and institutes of learning are properly provided with life-saving apparatus in case of fire. College buildings which are used as dormitories are usually very high buildings, the approaches to the several floors being by ordinary wooden stair-ways. It is a well understood fact that lire nearly always seizes upon tho stair-way8 the very first thing, which is natural, as theso openings in the floors makes chimneys of the passages, through which the air rises, creating a draft for the flames, and sucking them up through the building. The stairs themselves are usually constructed of highly inflammable material, thus feeding the flames as they ascend. Suppose a lire to start in the lower story of one of these lath dormitories, and get possession of the lower half, what possible channel of escape have the occupants of the upper floors. The halls become clicked with smoke immediately, the stairs are in flamos, and the occupants are pennod in with no way of escapo except through the aid of outside assistance.

Elsewhere in this number we print an article from the World, wherein thejcomplaints of college students at the lack of means of escape from their dormitories are loud and long. Every such building should be abundantly supplied with tire escapes. Thoso should bo in the shape of flexible ladders affixed to a window in each room, so nrranged that they can be lowerod at a moment’s notice, and used as a means of escape. Permanent ladders outside the building have boon shown to bo of little value. If made of wood, they are as liable to bo burned in the oarly stages of a fire as are the stairs. If made of iron, they are liable to become heated, and thus rondorod unavailable. Flexible rope ladders, properly constructed and attached, would give the protection required at little cost. Then, when attached, it should be made the business of some one to examine them daily, and see that they aro in order. This crowding of persons into six and eight story death traps, and denying them all means of oscape in cases of emergency, has already cost hundreds of lives, and will continue to cost lives until every such occupant is provided with a life preserver in the shape of an individual firo escape. Tenement houses in cities need the same appliances that are provided for colloges in this respect, and until owners of buildings are compelled by a law', rigidly administered, to provide such means of escape, we shall continue to hear of loss of life whenever such structures are burned.