Jim Yanik wrote:

Bad thing about burglar bars is that they often trap the occupants inside
if a fire occurs

I've seen on TV a kind of burlgar bars that are like a hinged steel gate
mounted inside the house. A cable-linked, pedal-operated mechanism
allows the burglar bars to be unlocked from the inside.

It's not an elegant solution (nor a perfectly safe one -- firefighters
would still have a hard time breaking in to rescue unconscious victims),
but I think an emergency release of some sort is a must for burglar bars.