fire escape

an apparatus or structure used to escape from a burning building, as a metal stairway down an outside wall.

Origin of fire escape

First recorded in 1670–80

On either side was gracefully arranged an American flag, while the harp of Erin hung just in the middle of the fire-escape.

The Leaven in a Great City |Lillian William Betts
If it's the north room on the fire-escape, sir, it must be the room young Mr. Prentiss has to-night.

In And Out |Edgar Franklin
A fire-escape would impart security to sleep, and might be taken down into the country.

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, No. 580, Supplemental Number |Various
There's no fire-escape and it's too far up for anything to come in from the street.

Average Jones |Samuel Hopkins Adams

With a rush of impulse she stepped out upon the fire-escape, the letter fluttering in her hand.

Phases of an Inferior Planet |Ellen Glasgow

fire escape

a means of evacuating people from a building in the event of fire, esp a metal staircase outside the building