fire escape

fire escape (plural fire escapes)

1. Any of the series of emergency doors, ladders, or stairs used to evacuate a building if a fire breaks out.
   • 1975, Private Eye, numbers 340–366, page 198:

     Eight ladies with Ugandan associations had ascended the fire escape and were making their way through his room.

2. The entire escape route viewed as a whole.
3. (historical) Any apparatus designed to allow people to escape a burning building, such as a canvas tube for sliding down.

• emergency escape
• emergency exit
• emergency stairs
• fire stairs

• escape fire