Occasionally I see news stories like “man runs back into burning house and rescues beloved pet”
However, I’ve also been told that you will most likely die in seconds if you inhale the smoke. I’ve read that in a fire you have to crawl to escape. I’ve read that you have to sprint quickly through the flames if you have a chance (the exact opposite of crawling low?).
In: 223
Most of the people who die from smoke inhalation don’t die in seconds instead in seconds they do enough damage to their body to kill them later, so inhaling hot smoke can burn your lungs and make it almost impossible to breath later, keeping low will keep you out of the worst of the smoke will reduce the amount of damage, but it isn’t a safe place to be.
I’m not a firefighter, but… (deep inhale)
(holds breath and runs into burning building)
If you know exactly where you need to be, you might get in and out on one breath. Also, a burning building doesn’t have to have every room filled with smoke. You might have one room fully on fire, and other rooms gradually filling up. It all depends on the situation. Also, if you hear a dog barking, it must still have some breathing room.
When you run into a burning building, the heavy amount of smoke can anesthetize your throat, so you don’t feel any pain and think you’re fine. It’s only later, when you get to a doctor or hospital, that you begin to realize the painful damage you’ve done.
FUN FACT: The vast majority of people in the house when a fire starts manage to escape. It’s primarily the people who instinctively run in *after* the fire starts to retrieve someone or something that drive up the number of fatalities.
Fire isn’t nearly as dangerous as you think it is (which, perversely, is why it’s so dangerous). A burning building still often has open spaces you can cross to get to things, and is very hot but not lethally so.
I’ve done it… Twice.
It happened so fast and everything was beyond any normal experience that I felt like I was not making actual decisions but running on autopilot. You can do a lot in 60 seconds, which I had in both cases, before the flames and smoke got too intense. It was more than enough time to warn neighbors and grab pets before running barefoot into the snow.
The real answer to your question is that it depends on how much the fire has progressed before you take action. I had 60 seconds before the flames got to the point where they were shooting out the window. It would have been a suicide mission for sure if I had waited any longer.
Running into a burning building is incredibly dangerous, please don’t do it without proper training and equipment. The news report on people who successfully go into a burning building to rescue children/pets/loved ones but they don’t report on the people who don’t make it back out.
Having said that, just because a building is burning that doesn’t mean the entire building is engulfed in flames. I was in a 5-unit apartment building that caught on fire. My unit wasn’t touched by the fire, smoke, or water from the fire department. I didn’t need to run back in and I wouldn’t have because of the severe danger, but it turned out that I would have survived if I did.
But don’t do it.
Most fire fatality I’ve seen has either been while sleeping and overcome then burnt or severe laryngeal oedema that kills them later.
It really depends on what stage the fire is in. Most fires start with the kitchen stove, and there’s (hopefully) a smoke detector in or near the kitchen. The smoke detector ideally alerts everyone in the house with plenty of time to try to put out the fire, before the fire and smoke are out of control. Running in at that point still means you might risk smoke inhalation, but most of the house is not yet touched by fire.
If the fire has had enough time to spread throughout the house and fill it with smoke, or even affect the structure, running in is suicide.
As a general rule, pure luck.
You’ll scar your throat and lungs from the smoke, experience at least significant first degree burns if you’re really lucky, and irritate your eyes badly. The true danger in doing this is not nust passing out from suffocation, but from being trapped inside or crushed under debris.
My dad was a fire fighter for decades and always told my brother and I to never enter a burning building. “If you dont have equipment, you aren’t equipped.”
Edit for additional safety info: do not run through a fire, that’s how you die. Get as low as you can and move as quickly, but purposefully, as you can to the nearest exit. Avoid windows, any glass, or metals as they will be far hotter than you think. If necessary, use as much fabric as you can as a rudimentary oven mitt to touch such surfaces. Call out and make your presence known to others, alerting them to the fire. Depending on where you live and when the building you are in was built, it is likely that any exterior doors open outwards. This is so you can slam into them and get yourself out of the building if youbare unable to safely touch the handle. Do not take elevators as heat weakens the cables and emergency brake systems, as well as the fire alarm tripping an emergency circuit break that prevents them running, so its a waste of time. To get out, hit the emergency stop, disabling the door lock, and pry the doors open as fast as possible, then head for a fire escape or stairwell. If you have water (and time), douse your shirt and use it to cover your mouth to prevent as much smoke inhalation as possible.
Sometimes they *don’t* survive. A 19 year old man I knew rescued 6 neighbor kids from a house fire, but died from smoke inhalation.
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