Just came across this term as I near the end of the book:

The rector sends for more ringers to raise the alarm and says 'let them pull the bells as they like and fire at intervals'.

'Firing' means to ring all the bells simultaneously, not in rounds or any method, but all at once.

We sometimes do this at weddings, ringing rounds then firing the bells seven times, before breaking into rounds, and repeating the whole process twice more. It takes some practice to do this accurately, especially on the lighter bells, since they must be held on the balance and the rope pulled fractionally later than the tenor rope, to allow for the different size wheels, and angular momentum of the turning bell.

The effect, obviously, is to sound one very loud crash of the bells each time they are fired, and is obviously different from normal rounds, plain hunting or anything people would normally hear.

simon