I recently moved into a 3rd floor apartment in a relatively upscale, low-crime neighborhood in Boston. The only problem is that there is a fire escape that leads right up to my window. As a result, I am keeping the window locked at all times, but I am still disturbed by the fact that a person could walk up three flights of stairs, starting from the back alley, and have access to my window.
If I understand correctly, fire escapes usually dangle off at the very bottom so that someone can drop off, but no one can climb onto it. Either that, or access to the fire escape is restricted by a locked gate or something.
I recently emailed the landlord, asking if I could install one of those gratings on my window that open from the side (allowing me to use the fire escape if necessary) but prevents someone from say breaking my window from the outside), but he said that the fire escape complies with all regulations and they can't do anything about it. Am I out of luck? Should I just continue with just a locked window? I know I'm being a little paranoid, but this issues is literally kinda keeping me up at night.