When fire breaks out, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is often quick to declare a state of emergency.

BBC: California faces up to year-round forest fires

"There are many blocks with one central stairwell and questions will have to be asked about what happens when a fire breaks out, " she said.

BBC: Questions over fire escape routes

Training includes the art of wielding a Pulaski, a tool that's part-shovel, part-axe and is used to establish fire breaks intended to stop approaching flames.

MSN: Federal officials investigate Idaho wildfire death

If you're in the Apple store's pyramid on Fifth Avenue and a fire breaks out, who do you call for help: the Genius Bar or the FDNY?

FORBES: Magazine Article

As for Fatah el Islam, they've been floating some cease-fire agreements but each time that cease-fire breaks down, either the army starts shooting or the militants start shooting again.

NPR: Lull in Fighting Allows Refugees to Flee

The five percent rule of the London market seems a good idea too, but you could argue that hard coded fire breaks could lead to a kind of moral jeopardy.

FORBES: How To Regulate Robots With Fat Fingers

It took a year for the markets to fully recover and the NYSE market implemented a host of fire-breaks to prevent the computers going mad.

FORBES: Fat Fingers And Asteroid Events

This was how it was when his mind turned to high open windows or unlocked rooftop fire doors or breaks in the chain-link fences lining bridge walkways.

NEWYORKER: Another Manhattan