Remembering a rope and a prayer — a fire escape rope, that is

From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:

It sounds like a scene from a Looney Tunes cartoon: a building is engulfed in flames and escape means sliding down a rope that is hanging out a fourth-floor window. Fire burns down the rope. Flames and sparks chase the escapee to the ground.

However, as outlandish as it may now seem, fire escape ropes (a single length of rope, not to be confused with rope ladders) were a very real fire safety measure that was used in at least seven of our hotels locally.

In a 1969 article from The Sault Daily Star, then Fire Chief Ray Barrett remarked that though not compulsory, the fire ropes were a “darn good fire safety device” for any hotel. The ropes “used Tarzan-style” were said to provide a quicker escape route than some of the stairways.

The rope was kept coiled by the windows of two-story plus hotel rooms and in some bars. Fastened inside the room, they were able to be flung out the window in case of fire, allowing people to climb out, cling to the rope and slide or climb down to the ground.

At the time of the 1969 article exploring the use of fire ropes in Sault Ste. Marie, sprinkler systems were not yet compulsory for hotels and motels.

The hotel rooms containing the fire ropes did, however, still need compulsory devices such as fire escapes and extinguishers. Most of the hotels had the fire ropes installed when they were built or shortly after.

Chief Barrett believed that the ropes were an excellent escape device and had proved their worth many times over the years.

“There is absolutely no question about it…The ropes were, and still are a darn good safety device and because of them, many lives have been saved” Barrett said in the 1969 interview.

Fire escape ropes were even a hot commodity at one time. 

On Saturday, July 21st, 1923 The Sault Daily Star published an article in their ‘Today’s News’ section about a crime spree in Kansas involving fire-escape ropes.

The article explains that in Kansas at that time bad roads were creating plenty of headaches for motorists. Their muddy, impassable roads were causing vehicles to constantly get stuck or break down. This issue led to, of all things, a string of thefts of the fire escape ropes from hotels, enraging the local hotel keepers. 

The intrepid thieves were sneaking into the hotel rooms and stealing the fire ropes, stashing them in their vehicles for the inevitable moment they got stuck in the mud. They were the perfect device not only for escaping fires but for pulling a stuck motor carriage.

The fire escape ropes were also considered important safety devices by many in Sault Ste. Marie.

In fact, in 1975 The Sault Daily Star reported on complaints by the residents of the trailer park at Aweres Townships. The residents were concerned about the safety of the Aweres Township School. A delegation of residents began petitioning to have their tax dollars directed to the school to address what they saw as fire hazards and specifically requested that fire ropes be installed in all the portables.

Additionally, several Sault Ste. Marie hotel managers who planned to renew their fire safety equipment in 1969 said they had no intention of removing the ropes.

But as the older hotels slowly disappeared, were remodelled, or reconstructed, the fire ropes went the way of the horse-drawn fire pumpers. Newer, more modern fire equipment replaced the old and buildings were required to have fire-resistant construction.

There is mention in The Sault Star as late as 1987 of fire escape ropes in hotel rooms in Ontario.

Who knows, perhaps one still lays coiled next to a hotel or bar window somewhere in the Soo, ready to assist in case of fire.

Each week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and its Archives provide SooToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past.

Find out more of what the Public Library has to offer at www.ssmpl.ca and look for more "Remember This?" columns here.