— Fire Engineering, 1948
RED CIRCLES TO FACILITATE RESCUE The red circle will show the way in and out of Syracuse’s burning buildings.
Fire Chief William J. Connelly has announced that red circles will be painted
shortly on upper-floor windows of factories, warehouses and other business
places.
According to press accounts furnished
Fire Engineering by James R. Jackson,
Oswego, N. Y., the circle will indicate the window opens into an aisle or passage-
way which will give firemen easy access to fight flames or effect rescues.
Persons trapped inside a particular building will know that any window bearing
the red circle will be the first place from which they will be rescued.
The details of painting the red circles on windows, Chief Connelly said, are in
the hands of Lieut. John Dacey of the fire prevention bureau. Each circle will
measure eight or more inches in diameter, depending upon the size of the window.
Employers and employes alike, the reports say, have agreed to keep
free of obstructions all aisles leading to red circled windows.
ST. JOHN, N. B., USES WHITE CROSS The idea of identifying windows and passageways to facilitate fire department
operations has been employed in New Brunswick for a number of years with
reported success.
In 1946, Donald M. Baird. Fredericton, N. B, wrote: “The Saint John, N. B. Fire
Department, with the cooperation of building owners, recently inaugurated
this system (marking windows! as an aid to operations at fires in mercantile
buildings containing large stocks of merchandise. Certain windows on each
floor are selected for aisles between stockpiles. No obstructions are allowed
in these aisles between the window and the interior of the building. A white
cross about two feet high is then painted on the outside wall below the window.
A small cross on one pane of the window serves as a marker for workers on
the inside. Thus the fire department can tell at a glance where to raise their
ladders or operate heavy streams without hindrance due to large stockpiles.”
The Saint John’s idea of installing identification marks below the windows
as well as on the windows has an added advantage of providing identification
tor windows or apertures where and when the window markings may be
obscured due to smoke or missing because the frame or glass was blown out.