Install portable fire extinguishers.  They are inexpensive.  One to each floor with an extra one for kitchen and cellar is good fire insurance.  Be sure every member of the family knows how to use them.  Nearly all fires start in a small way and a shot or two of liquid from one of these machines usually extinguishes any but the most stubborn blaze.

Sometimes, however, outside help is needed.  So post the number of the nearest fire department prominently near the telephone.  Make sure every one knows where to call, what to say, and how to give clear and distinct road directions.

These are little things.  Yet houses have gone up in smoke for want of their application.  I know of one instance where a competent but city-bred house man was sent to open a country house for the summer.  In the course of the day an oil stove in the kitchen was lighted.  The man went to get some drinking water.  He returned less than five minutes later to find a corner of the room was in flames.  There was no extinguisher at hand and his bucket of water was as nothing.  There was a telephone in the house and a fire department equipped with a high-powered chemical machine was less than six miles away.  Unhappily the man neither knew of its existence nor how to direct it to the place.  By the time he had found help and the department had finally been summoned, it was too late.  Neighbors and firemen alike could only look on at a magnificent bonfire, piously lamenting the loss, of course, but getting a vicarious pleasure out of the spectacle.

As an example of foolhardiness on the part of the owner it is perhaps beyond comment.  Against it I know of another family that goes to the other extreme.  In addition to taking the fire precautions suggested here, they have tacked a small typewritten notice on the back of the front door.  It reads: 

                “STOP
    Is the furnace checked
    Is the water heater out
    Is the range turned off
    Is the oil heater upstairs out”

This little evidence of fire-policing has amused many of their guests, but their house is still standing and the fire insurance inspector performs his annual duties in a perfunctory manner after reading it.

Unless there are glaring defects in chimney construction, electric wiring, or furnace flues, these simple details and a reasonable amount of old-fashioned caution will practically keep home fires in their place.  For those who wish to cut the fire hazard still further there are more elaborate precautions that involve some rebuilding and renovation.  Whether any or all of them are advisable is a matter for the owner and his architect to decide.

[Illustration:  AN IMPOSING COUNTRY HOME OF CLASSIC DIGNITY

Robertson Ward, architect. Photo by Samuel H. Gottscho]

If a fireproof cellar is wanted, cover the ceiling with metal lath and a good cement plaster.  This should extend up the stairway, and the cellar door should be of fire resisting construction.