Daniel McCree recognized the safety benefits enjoyed by hotels, apartment buildings and office buildings and decided to extend that safety to homeowners. Basing his model on fire escapes being used by bigger buildings, McCree created a portable version made of wood that could be attached to the windowsill of a home, enabling people within to escape from second and third story levels during a fire.

McCree patented the portable fire escape on November 11, 1890 and it is the basis for similar models used today.