The  kindling  is  placed  on  this  and  ignited.  After  it  has  de-


314  THE    CUSTODIAN    AT    WORK

veloped  a  good  blaze  more  coal  is  sprinkled  over  the  fire.  The
coal  below  will  be  heated  and  ignite.  The  gases  coming  from
this  coal  will  be  forced  to  pass  through  the  hot  blaze  and  more
of  them  will  be  consumed.  As  a  result  there  is  usually  less
smoke  when  firing  up.
Banking  Fires

The  first  step  in  banking  a  fire  is  to  have  a  good  bed  of  coals.
Some  janitors  let  the  fire  die  down  about  one-half  an  hour  be-
fore school  closes  and  then  attempt  to  bank  the  fire  without
having  a  satisfactory  bed  of  coals  when  they  leave  one  or  two
hours  later.  In  making  up  a  work  schedule  the  janitor  should
know  how  long  heat  will  probably  be  needed  each  evening  and
then  plan  the  banking  accordingly.  The  fire  should  be  banked
with  fresh  coal  and  not  with  ashes.  The  by-pass  damper  should
be  open  and  the  ash  pit  damper  closed.  Use  of  the  turn  damper
will  depend  on  draft  conditions.  It  is  usually  found  practical  to
bank  with  the  conical  or  coking  method.  The  practice  of  leav-
ing the  fire  door  open  on  banked  fires  is  hazardous  and  should
be  discouraged.  Banking  methods  will  vary  with  the  type  of
coal  used.  In  some  school  buildings  a  night  man  is  kept  on  duty.
In  some  of  the  northern  cities  a  flying  firing  squad  of  night
firemen  visits  each  building  one  or  more  times  each  night  dur-
ing cold  weather.  In  either  case,  the  building  is  not  permitted
to  cool  down  and  banking  fires  is  not  necessary.  It  is  felt  in  these
schools  that  the  night  cooling  of  the  building  is  more  expensive
than  the  added  help.
