Fireescapism
A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency that makes the stairwells inside a building inaccessible. Fire escapes are most often found on multiple-story residential buildings, such as apartment buildings. At one time, they were a very important aspect of fire safety for all new construction in urban areas; more recently, however, they have fallen out of common use. This is due to the improved building codes incorporating fire detectors, technologically advanced fire fighting equipment, which includes better communications and the reach of fire fighting ladder trucks, and more importantly fire sprinklers. The international building codes and other authoritative agencies have incorporated fire sprinklers into multi-story buildings below 15 stories and not just skyscrapers. A modern type of evacuation slide is the vertical spiral escape chute, which is a common means of evacuation for buildings and other structures.
#fireescapism became my distraction and ongoing project during the pandemic. Living in Washington Heights, NY with only my fire escape to travel to, I created moods, scenes, escapes from the world around. There was no agenda merely nostalgia on places I have visited and those I have only imagined.
