Fields of Gold: The Fire Escape

Let me take this time to tell you about something my grandmother had built in her days as handywoman of the house. She felt it necessary to build a fire escape on the side of the house, maybe about 20 feet up, in the unsightly event of a fire, which was fine. Safety first, right? But the worst part about it was the manner in which it was constructed.

What she had done was take her trust ladder and essentially build a scaffold onto the side of the house, along one of the bedroom windows and the bathroom window, with the goal being to be able to escape from said bathroom in the event of a bonfire going awry (Of course that's why). What she didn't count on though, was the improbability of this plan succeeding, for you see the window was about 5 feet up from the floor, and no normal sized adult could get out of it, and certainly not elderly folks. My brother and I did test runs with moderate amounts of difficulty ourselves, so how was anyone else to use such a thing?

A great idea on paper, not so great when played out, sadly. This construct had led from the window, onto a second roof which was actually added onto the house after it was built. Apparently my grandma added another couple of rooms to the house, or something. Then, one would be able to traverse this sloped second roof, onto a wobbly homemade wooden staircase and make your way to the bottom. If you made it that far, you can say you not only survived a fire, but the fire escape as well.

Fortunately, years went by, and no fires happened in the house, and the the fire escape was left to rot in the elements. One winter, my brother and I were climbing it, and an icicle dislodged and cracked him in the head.

Safety first.