Editing 1794: Fire
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
| Latest revision | Your text | ||
| Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
In the United States and Canada, the term {{w|multiple-alarm fire}} is used to categorize the level of response to fires by local authorities, for instance how many units responded to the alarm. The range typically only goes through a small number of levels: typically a one-alarm fire, two-alarm fire, and three-alarm fire, perhaps up to five or six alarms in some cities, though a ten-alarm fire did occur near where Randall lives two months before the comic. | In the United States and Canada, the term {{w|multiple-alarm fire}} is used to categorize the level of response to fires by local authorities, for instance how many units responded to the alarm. The range typically only goes through a small number of levels: typically a one-alarm fire, two-alarm fire, and three-alarm fire, perhaps up to five or six alarms in some cities, though a ten-alarm fire did occur near where Randall lives two months before the comic. | ||
| β | In the comic, a newspaper front page is shown with its cover story reporting a "50,000-alarm" fire, with a picture of a factory on fire. The humor lies in the | + | In the comic, a newspaper front page is shown with its cover story reporting a "50,000-alarm" fire, with a picture of a factory on fire. The humor lies in the misuse of the term. Instead of indicating the severity of the fire, the number merely indicates the number of alarms being manufactured or stored in the factory at the time of the fire. As indicated by the sound waves shown in the image, (this is a cartoon so that is possible), at least some of those alarms appear to have been set off. It is unclear what the causal relationship between the alarms and the fire is. The presence of fire might have activated those alarms (e.g. if they are smoke detectors), the sounding of alarms might have caused the fire to start (e.g. due to workers' attention being diverted from other critical operations), or they might be unrelated events that happened at the same time. |
The title text mentions the musician {{w|Billy Joel}} being detained briefly as a suspect for the fire. But he was quickly released, likely because ''{{w|We Didn't Start the Fire|he didn't start the fire}}'', which is a reference to his song "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g We Didn't Start the Fire]". In other words, Billy Joel's claim that he is not responsible for the fire at the alarm factory has been taken seriously enough for him to be released. Also, the reference is humorous because it compares the literal fire depicted in the factory to the metaphorical fire in people's hearts, in the song. (Or just ignores the fact that the song's fire was metaphorical, for the sake of the joke.) | The title text mentions the musician {{w|Billy Joel}} being detained briefly as a suspect for the fire. But he was quickly released, likely because ''{{w|We Didn't Start the Fire|he didn't start the fire}}'', which is a reference to his song "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g We Didn't Start the Fire]". In other words, Billy Joel's claim that he is not responsible for the fire at the alarm factory has been taken seriously enough for him to be released. Also, the reference is humorous because it compares the literal fire depicted in the factory to the metaphorical fire in people's hearts, in the song. (Or just ignores the fact that the song's fire was metaphorical, for the sake of the joke.) | ||
