11 



when it is impossible to enter the floor 

 on fire) an utter waste of labour, and in 

 such a building as the British Museum 

 would most inevitably cause a large 

 destruction of valuable property by 

 saturation. 



Until the arrival of a responsible 

 officer of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, 

 all doors and windows should be kept 

 closed, except, where it is necessary to 

 have them open for the purpose of 

 applying water to the fire. The fid- 

 mission of air causes fire to burn 

 rapidly, whereas its exclusion, if com- 

 plete, will extinguish it ; and even its 

 partial exclusion will keep fire in check. 



A comparatively small quantity of 

 water properly applied will extinguish 

 fire much more quickly and effectually, 

 and of course with much less damage 

 by saturation, than a large quantity 

 of water carelessly scattered or driven 

 in an intermittent or irregular stream. 

 In every case of extinguishing fire by 

 water, there must be a certain amount 

 of damage done by the latter, and it 

 is one of the most important duties of 

 a good Fireman not only to extinguish 

 the Fire in the shortest possible time, 

 but also to reduce damage by water to 

 the minimum. While therefore it is of 

 the utmost moment to get the water on 

 as quickly as possible after the breaking 

 out of the Fire, it must not be forgotten 

 that the next most important point, 

 which should never be lost sight of by 

 the Officer in charge, is to stop the 

 water in time, or at least to stop the 

 large streams from the Engines or 

 Hydrants, and to finish up with hand- 

 pumps. The working of hand-pumps 



