Fire escapes on the back of a Cincinnati building. This style is common in the U.S.

Typical American style fire escapes in a street of midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Typical American style fire escapes in a street of SoHo, Manhattan, New York City.

A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency that makes the stairwells inside a building inaccessible. Fire escapes are most often found on multiple-story residential buildings, such as apartment buildings. At one time, they were a very important aspect of fire safety for all new construction in urban areas; more recently, however, they have fallen out of common use. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2464x1929, 1612 KB) Fire escapes in Cincinnati. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2464x1929, 1612 KB) Fire escapes in Cincinnati. ... Nickname: The Queen City Location in Hamilton County, Ohio, USA Coordinates: Country United States State Ohio County Hamilton Founded 1788 Incorporated 1819 Mayor Mark L. Mallory (D) Area    - City 206. ... Image File history File links NYC_Fire_Escape. ... Image File history File links NYC_Fire_Escape. ... The Borough of Manhattan, highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1280x960, 388 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Fire escape Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1280x960, 388 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Fire escape Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Soho is an area of central Londons West End, in the borough of the City of Westminster. ... The Borough of Manhattan, highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ... Emergency Exit, by Manlio Santanelli, is a play written originally in Italian. ... For other uses, see Building (disambiguation). ... Conflagration redirects here. ... Stairs, staircase, stairway, flight of stairs are all names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. ... A residence may be a house, a place to live, like a nursing home. ... A red brick apartment block in central London, England, on the north bank of the Thames An apartment building, block of flats or tenement is a multi-unit dwelling made up of several (generally four or more) apartments (US) or flats (UK). ... For other uses, see Safety (disambiguation). ... An urban area is a term used to define an area where there is an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. ...

A fire escape consists of a number of horizontal platforms (usually steel gratings), one at each story of a building, with ladders or stairs connecting them. Railings are usually provided on each of the levels, but as fire escapes are designed for emergency use only, these railings often do not need to meet the same standards as railings in other contexts. The ladder from the lowest level of the fire escape to the ground may be fixed, but more commonly it swings down on a hinge or slides down along a track. The moveable designs allow occupants to safely reach the ground in the event of a fire but prevent persons from accessing the fire escape from the ground at other times (Such as in the middle of the night to perpetrate a burglary or vandalism). For other uses, see Steel (disambiguation). ... A ladder A ladder is a vertical set of steps. ... The introduction of this article does not provide enough context for readers unfamiliar with the subject. ... A hinge is a mechanical device that connects two solid objects, allowing rotation between them. ... A caricature of Gustave Courbet taking down a Morris column, published by Le Père Duchêne illustré magazine Vandalism is the conspicuous defacement destruction of a structure or symbol against the will of the owner/governing body. ...

Exit from the interior of a building to the fire escape may be provided by a fire exit door, but in some cases the only exit is through a window. When there is a door, it is often fitted with a fire alarm to prevent other uses of the fire escape, and to prevent unauthorized entry. As many fire escapes were built before the advent of electronic fire alarms, fire escapes in older buildings have often needed to be retrofitted with alarms for this purpose. A window is an opening in an otherwise solid and opaque surface through which light and, sometimes, air can pass. ... A Wheelock MT-24-LSM fire alarm horn and strobe. ...

History

A fire escape on Unité d'Habitation, Le Corbusier's archetypical Brutalist housing building.

As building codes became more common in industrialized countries around the turn of the 20th century, fire safety became an important concern for new construction. Building owners were increasingly required to provide adequate escape routes, and at the time, fire escapes seemed the best option available. Not only could they be included in new construction at a low cost, but they could be very easily added to existing construction. In many urban centers, all new construction above a certain number of stories was required to have external fire escapes throughout much of the 20th century. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (683x1024, 103 KB) Closeup of fire escape of w:Unité dHabitation by rightee Credit: rightee Date: 2/5/05 (stated date) Source: w:Flickr URL: http://photos1. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (683x1024, 103 KB) Closeup of fire escape of w:Unité dHabitation by rightee Credit: rightee Date: 2/5/05 (stated date) Source: w:Flickr URL: http://photos1. ... Unite dHabitation, Marseille The Unité dHabitation (French, literally, Housing Unit) is the name of a modernist residential housing design principle developed by Le Corbusier (Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris), which formed the basis of numerous housing developments designed by Le Corbusier throughout Europe with this name. ... Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, widely known as Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887– August 27, 1965), was a French Swiss born architect, famous for his contributions to what is now called modernism, or the International Style. ... Brutalism is an architectural style that spawned from the Modernist architectural movement and which flourished from the 1950s to the 1970s. ... A building code is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...

However, with the urban sprawl and increase in the amount of construction in the mid-20th century, particularly the increase in public housing in major cities in the United States and Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, certain problems with fire escapes became clear. In the poorer areas of cities like Chicago and New York, fire escapes were commonly used for everything but their intended purpose. Urban sprawl (also: suburban sprawl), a term with pejorative implication, refers to the unplanned, rapid and expansive growth of a greater metropolitan area, traditionally suburbs (or exurbs) over a large area. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... A local authority tower block in Cwmbrân, South Wales Public housing or project homes is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... // Recovering from World War II and its aftermath, the economic miracle emerged in West Germany and Italy. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... This article is about Illinois largest city. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1613  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ...

In the hot summer months, residents of mid-rise apartment buildings would sleep outside on the platforms of their fire escapes. Such a situation triggered the plot premise of Cornell Woolrich's 1947 short story, "The Boy Cried Murder," about a boy on a fire escape who one night witnesses a murder in a neighboring apartment; this story was filmed as the suspense thriller The Window (1949). The practice of sleeping on fire escapes can also be seen in Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 movie Rear Window (also based on a Woolrich short story), as well as Weegee's photography of the Lower East Side). Diagonal shadows of fire escapes made them a constant motif in film noir, and the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet was transposed to a fire escape for the musical West Side Story. Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich (December 4, 1903 - September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... This article is in need of attention. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was a highly influential film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... See also: 1953 in film 1954 1955 in film 1950s in film years in film film Events May 12 - The Marx Brothers Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda. ... Rear Window (1954) is a motion picture directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on Cornell Woolrichs short story It Had to Be Murder (1942). ... Weegee photograph, The Critic, November 22, 1943, first published in LIFE Magazine, December 6, 1943. ... Categories: Manhattan neighborhoods | Stub ... This still from The Big Combo (1955) demonstrates the visual style of film noir at its most extreme. ... For other meanings see Romeo (disambiguation) and Juliet (disambiguation). ...

Boston Herald American photographer Stanley J. Forman won a 1976 Pulitzer Prize for his powerful photo of two people plunging from a faulty fire escape during a 1975 Boston fire, and the controversial, unforgettable image resulted in tougher fire safety codes in several states. The gold medal awarded for Public Service in Journalism The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical compositions. ...

People would use fire escapes as balconies for throwing parties. In some cases, the excess weight has caused fire escapes to collapse. In addition, fire escapes proved ill-suited to modern construction techniques for high-rises. Today, external fire escapes are rarely part of new construction. High-rise is a 1975 novel by J. G. Ballard. ...

External links

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Fire escape

• An Escape, and a Retreat: Porches in the Sky Bind a Neighborhood by David W. Chen, New York Times, August 15, 2004.