Earlier quoted context omitted.
Canaries were used in mines to signal pockets of unbreathable gas; they would die before the humans giving them an opportunity to escape. Canary has developed into a standard term for warnings which are detecting the danger allowing mitigation as opposed to predicting the danger which would allow avoidance.
> Canary has developed into a standard term for warnings which are detecting the danger More succinctly, a canary is an early warning system.
This is exactly what I was trying to avoid saying, what kills a Canary kills a human, yet fire isn't always what triggers the fire alarm