What person today has not been
taught the principle to stop, drop, and roll when they catch fire? Ask anyone
on the street and they should know this basic fire safety tip; however, when
did this brilliant concept first come to light? Did you know this fundamental principle,
which has saved countless lives, can be dated back to the experiment of Sir
Richard Phillips in 1810? That is right, stop, drop, and roll is a concept that
is at least a two hundred and five year old! There is a good reason why Sir
Phillips set out to discover this principle when he did; it is because the good
old days were dangerous around the fireside and something had to be done to
prevent the many fire related deaths so prevalent during this time.
Not too long ago in human history, it
was not uncommon for a woman in a long dress working near a hearth, or a child
playing by a warm fireplace, to have their clothing catch on fire. The Monthly Magazine and British Register
article that published and detailed Sir Phillip’s fire experiment, reported
that “four ladies and three children [had] already burn[ed] to death within the
present winter.”[1] Even the Vermont Telegraph, twenty-six years
later in 1836, had stated that these fire related deaths frequently “happen[ed]
every year,” when they recounted Sir Phillip’s experiment as a fire safety tip its
readers.[2]
“A fate more dreadful…than that of being burned to death” now could be adverted
with Sir Phillip’s sound and scientific advice, the American newspaper reported.[3]
In Sir Phillip’s experiment, he took
two separate pieces of material made of “muslin,” and set them on fire, which
would offer interesting results.[4]
When one strip was held up vertically and lit at its base; and in “half a
minute,” it was engulfed in flames “rising with great intensity to the height
of two feet.”[5] Next, he lit the second
strip of muslin; but this time, he “laid [it] hollow in an horizontal
direction.”[6] Astonishingly, the second piece
of material took “nearly ten minutes before it burnt from one end of the piece
to the other.”[7] The height of the flame
was also greatly reduced, compared to the first experiment, at only “half an
inch.”[8]
Sir Phillips also reported how easy it was to extinguish the flame in this
position with simply the “thumb and finger, or by drawing the hand over it.”[9]
Now all these horrible deaths could be adverted by simply lying down horizontally
on the floor at the first sight of fire; and then the individual could with
ease, either extinguish the flame with the hand, or as Phillips advised, “leisurely
call for assistance.”[10]
What an amazing discovery Sir
Phillips made that can so easily be taken for granted today. Just as the Vermont Telegraph stated, “this plain
and easy experiment ought to be read in the presence of every family.”[11]
Just do not forget to start this family safety meeting without, ‘did you know…?’
[1]
“Varieties, Literary and Philosophical,” The
Monthly Magazine; or, British Register, vol. 30, part 2, (1810): 556.
[2]
Vermont telegraph. (Brandon [Vt.]), 04 Feb. 1836. Chronicling America: Historic
American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
<http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025661/1836-02-04/ed-1/seq-4/>
[3]
Ibid.
[4]
556.
[5]
Ibid.
[6]
Ibid.
[7]
Ibid.
[8]
Ibid.
[9]
Ibid.
[10]
Ibid.
[11]
Vermont telegraph.
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