A fire escape is the outside stairs for fleeing a burning building. Down the fire escape, the fire escape is blocked, a rusting fire escape.
Blocking one is an offence, since a fire escape is only useful if it is clear on the worst night of the year. Modern buildings use protected internal stairs instead, which is why the iron kind belongs to old cities.
1nounfire escapeThe outside stairs for fleeing a burning building.
“When the alarm went off, we climbed down the fire escape at the back of the building.”
fire escape is a stairway.
Practised in In the City, Hotel & Staying Away