They are
sometimes also placed at an equal distance from each of two separate
fire-cocks; on the call being given to move forward, each party starts
for the fire-cock to which it is ordered, and the first which gets
into play is of course held to have beat the other. The call to stop
is then given, and both parties return to their former station, with
their hose coiled up, and everything in proper travelling order; the
first which arrives being understood to have the advantage.

The men are also carefully and regularly practised in taking their
hose up common-stairs, drawing them up by ropes on the outside, and
generally in accustoming themselves to, and providing against, every
circumstance which may be anticipated in the case of fire.

When a fire occurs in a common-stair, the advantages arising from this
branch of training are incalculable. The occupants, in some cases
amounting to twenty or thirty families, hurrying out with their
children and furniture, regardless of everything except the
preservation of their lives and property, and the rush of the crowd to
the scene of alarm, form altogether, notwithstanding the exertions of
an excellent police, such a scene of confusion as those only who have
witnessed it can imagine; and here it is that discipline and unity of
purpose are indispensable; for, unless each man has already been
taught and accustomed to the particular duty expected from him, he
only partakes of the general alarm, and adds to the confusion. But
even when a hose has been carried up the interior of a common-stair,
the risk of damage from the people carrying out their furniture is so
great, that the hose is not unfrequently burst, almost as soon as the
engine has begun to play. If the hose be carried up to the floor on
fire by the outside, the risk of damage is comparatively small, the
hose in that case being only exposed for a short distance in crossing
the stair.

During a period of four years the only two firemen who lost their
lives were run down by their own engines; and, in order to avoid
danger from this cause, they are frequently accustomed suddenly to
stop the engines when running down the steep streets with which this
city abounds. It is a highly necessary exercise, and is done by
wheeling the engine smartly round to the right or left, which has the
effect of immediately stopping its course.

There is a branch of training which I introduced amongst the Edinburgh
firemen some time ago, wh