What would burn in those manhattan buildings? Are the internal walls wood?

I don't know what would burn in the building I live in now. It's all cement construction. The internal walls are brick with gypsum over. The window coverings and furniture is flame resistant. I suppose I'd be screwed if my downstairs neighbor had a bunch of flammable stuff though. Also we have an underground parking lot full of cars... maybe I should invest in a ladder.

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marcosdumay 39 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, the odds are good that some of your neighbors has a room so full of stuff that it will become dangerous to you in case of fire.

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Shitty-kitty 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A old brick-wall building is basically a pretty shell protecting a wood frame.

	▲	pvab3 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Not usually for anything over a few stories. Most of those taller buildings are a combination of masonry and steel. Steel started being used in the 1880s/1890s.

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washadjeffmad 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The most essential unspoken purchase for anyone living higher than the ground floor in an older building is an emergency escape ladder.

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mhb 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Is that because a fire extinguisher is spoken or that it's not essential?

	▲	bluGill 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		A fire extinguisher will not get you out. A fire extinguisher it to clear a path so you can get to the path outside. Many people get this wrong - they put the fire extinguisher by the door, but if you are at the door you should be going outside not trying to fight the fire. (most fires are small enough that you can put them out with a fire extinguisher so this seems to work - but that is not the primary purpose) What you need is a path out when there is a large fire. Both exits and fire extinguishers are part of that. Everything else is a nice to have (sometimes very nice), but you still have to prepare for when everything else fails.

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paulryanrogers 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Is this really a phenomenon? Where and since when?

No one told me in either of my apartments.

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walthamstow 6 hours ago | parent [-]

In my 4th floor apartment in Tokyo there was a box containing what seemed to be basically an abseiling harness. Instructions in Japanese but seemed like if shit hits the fan you smash the window, clip it to the building and get yourself down to street level asap.

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vidarh 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Our AirBnB in Tokyo last year had a box mounted on the balcony which (according to the instructions on the outside) held some crane-like thing with a harness to let you swing out over the balcony and rappel down in the case of emergency.

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slfnflctd 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

My parents had something very similar to this in their apartment in the midwestern US in the 80s. I recall it as being an aluminum mount with a chain ladder.

	▲	dd8601fn 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I remember those often being mentioned in “keep your home prepared in case of fire” educational materials, too. I’ve just never actually seen one.

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bluGill 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wood is a great construction material. It has better insulation value than brick, and the CO2 costs are vastly better.

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nobody9999 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>What would burn in those manhattan buildings? Are the internal walls wood?

Me? I'd certainly prefer that didn't happen.

Which is why I'm glad I have a fire escape. Should there be a fire that either blocks access to the main stairwell and/or my front door, there's an additional egress point at the other end of my apartment.

I'd much prefer that there wasn't a fire at all, but I'd much rather have multiple egress points for me and my animals than having to sit and wait to die of smoke inhalation if a serious fire were to rip through my (more than a century old) apartment building.

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cwillu 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Your flame resistant furniture will pyrolize just fine once the apartment gets hot enough. Just takes one idiot keeping their budget lithium bike inside to ignite the whole mess--ask me how I know.

The construction is there to isolate suites and delay the spread, but don't kid yourself that a given suite doesn't contain enough fuel to have a major fire, given the right ignition source and tinder.