FIRE RAISING 



3162 



FIRE-WALKING 



suggested in connexion with it. No 

 method has yet succeeded in ren- 

 dering any such materials incom- 

 bustible. The most that has been 

 achieved is to render them less in- 

 flammable than they are in their 

 natural conditions. That is to say, 

 the materials may after treatment 

 slowly burn away, if the surround- 

 ing temperature be raised suffi- 

 ciently high, without bursting into 

 flame. This may obviously be an 

 important end attained, as if flame 

 can be avoided the risk of a fire 

 spreading is immensely reduced. 



The substances proposed as fire- 

 proofing agents include common 

 salt, alum, sulphate of zinc, sul- 

 phate of ammonia, sulphate of 

 soda, sal ammoniac, borax, sul- 

 phate of lime and of baryta, lime 

 water, ammonium phosphate, fer- 

 ric sulphate, and silicate and tungs- 

 tate of soda, the two latter pro- 

 bably being those most generally 

 and successfully employed. Many 

 of these substances are unsuitable 

 for use on fabrics, for the reason 

 that they rot them more or less. 

 All such substances, which are ap- 

 plied by soaking the fabric in a 

 solution of the salt in water, act by 

 depositing minute crystals of the 

 salt in the pores of the fabric. 

 By thus closing up the pores of the 

 material with a non-inflammable 

 substance, access of air to the 

 pores is prevented, and thus, while 

 the fabric may char superficially by 

 the exposure of its surface to a high 

 temperature, it will not take fire. 



To secure the best results it may 

 be necessary to soak the material in 

 the solution more than once, drying 

 carefully after each immersion. 

 Also it may be necessary to repeat 

 the process from time to time if 

 the proofed material is much used, 

 as, for example, in the case of 

 theatre fabrics, as the crystals are 

 only held mechanically in the pores 

 of the fabric and will gradually 

 shake out. In fireproofing wood, 

 for which purpose tungstate and 

 silicate of soda and sulphate of 

 zinc are chiefly used, the penetra- 

 tion of the pores of the wood by 

 the solution is usually assisted in 

 the best processes by first exhaust- 

 ing the air from the wood as far as 

 possible by keeping the material 

 under a vacuum for some time 

 before the solution is introduced. 



In addition to substances which 

 are intended to penetrate the 

 material, certain so-called fireproof 

 paints are employed for coating 

 wood superficially. These paints 

 are composed chiefly of sodium 

 silicate, zinc chloride, and asbestos, 

 frequently in combination. They 

 undoubtedly assist to prevent wood 

 from catching fire, but are liable to 

 peel off more or less. Brushing 



timber with common limewash two 

 or three times will render it to a 

 great extent non-inflammable. 



Fire Raising. Term used in 

 Scots law for the act of wilfully 

 setting on fire the property of 

 another. The English equivalent 

 is arson (q.v.). 



Fireship. Wooden vessel filled 

 with combustibles that used to be 

 set on fire and made to drift down 

 upon an enemy fleet when it was at 

 anchor or in harbour. The fireships 

 were sent in thus to create panic or 

 set on fire enemy vessels as they 

 came in contact with them. The 

 coming of steel and steam made 

 the fireship obsolete. 



A notable instance of the use of 

 fireships was the attack made by 

 means of them on the French fleet 

 in the Basque Roads, on April 11, 

 1809. At Lord Cochrane's sugges- 

 tion eight fireships and three 

 explosion vessels, containing 1,400 

 barrels of powder with 400 shells 

 and thousands of hand-grenades 

 were sent against the French on a 

 dark night. So great was the panic 

 caused by the explosion of these 

 vessels that most of the French 

 crews cut the cables and allowed 

 their ships to drift ashore. An 

 earlier instance was their use 

 against the Spanish Armada. See 

 Armada. 



Fire Step. In the military 

 sense, the raised portion of the 

 floor of a fire trench on which 



Fire Step. Sectional diagram illustrating 

 method of trench construction 



stand the men who are actually 

 firing over the parapet or through 

 the loopholes. In temporary 

 trenches, which are made narrow, 

 the lower portion of the floor has 

 little width, and chiefly acts as a 

 drain to remove any water which 

 may find its way into the position. 

 In trenches which are to be occu- 

 pied for a considerable length of 

 time, the whole excavation is 

 made wider and the floor arranged 

 at three different levels, the 

 highest on the forward face being 

 the fire-step, one at an inter- 

 mediate level, furnished with duck 

 boarding, providing a walk-way, 

 along which people may pass 

 without interfering with the men 

 who are firing or acting as lodk- 

 outs, and where the parapet affords 



them complete cover while in an 

 erect position, the lowest portion 

 of the floor serving as a drain. 



Fire Tactics. Term employed 

 to designate the arrangements 

 made for bringing hostile troops 

 under effective fire, whether from 

 small arms or artillery. Fire tac- 

 tics includes both the dispositions 

 made of the troops who bring fire 

 to bear and the fire control by 

 which the fire is directed. It is 

 always a great advantage if some 

 troops can be located so as to be in 

 a position to bring enfilade fire to 

 bear on the enemy, while indirect 

 fire, which is brought to bear from 

 a position in which the enemy is 

 not visible, is usually demoralis- 

 ing. Surprise effect is always of 

 the greatest value, and may fre- 

 quently be obtained in defence by 

 some units withholding their fire 

 until a definite stage has been 

 reached by the attack, and in at- 

 tack by working some units round 

 to a position in which the enemy 

 does not expect them. 



The method was occasionally em- 

 ployed by the Germans during the 

 Great War of placing machine guns 

 in the area over which an attack was 

 expected in such a way that they 

 remained concealed until the at- 

 tacking troops had passed, and 

 then fired into their rear. The 

 extensive use of strong field en- 

 trenchments necessitated violent 

 artillery bombardments in order 

 to obliterate these 

 defences as a 

 preliminary to any 

 infantry attack. 

 Barrage fire was 

 developed in order 

 to screen any area 

 from reinforcements and sup- 

 plies, and the creeping barrage 

 was a most successful method 

 of protecting attacking troops. 

 Another role played by the 

 artillery in fire tactics is coun- 

 ter battery work, certain units 

 being detailed for the special duty of 

 keeping the hostile artillery under 

 such heavy fire that they will be 

 unable effectively to support their 

 infantry. Successful fire tactics 

 are largely dependent on effective 

 observation and communications 

 in order that every advantage may 

 be taken of the changing situations. 

 See Artillery ; Tactics. 



Fire- Walking. Magical rite 

 practised by several primitive peo- 

 ples, mainly to ensure sunshine and 

 bountiful crops. The celebrants 

 walk barefoot over heated stones 

 or embers, and are reputed to 

 emerge unscathed. S. P. Langley, 

 witnessing the ceremony at Ta- 

 hiti in 1901, found that the vol- 

 canic rock used was a bad con- 

 ductor, the upper surface being 



