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?).
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Hypothetically, if you _absolute_ had to, how can you increase the chances of your survival? Would a wet towel over your mouth and nose help?
You only hear about the ones that do survive for the most part but I’m sure there are many more that did not make it back out than did.
They don’t always survive. I drive past a house on the way to work, where a father died trying to save his daughter’s life. I think about that every time I go by the house.
Former firefighter here (well, volunteer firefighter).
Going back into a burning house is extremely dangerous. Fire spreads faster than you think, houses are filled with stuff that will burn extremely well (like sofas) and frequently release very toxic gasses when it burns (insulation and various plastics in particular tend to release very bad stuff. And you’ve probably got more plastics in your house than you think. Not to mention that pretty much everything is covered with various plastic- or oil-based paints).
In most cases where you see “man runs back into burning house and rescues X” the fire is contained to a part of the house, and by luck or precautionary measures (like closing the doors to any burning rooms as you exit) the effect outside that part of the house is minimal. It’s deceiving headlines, so when you imagine that it’s a house that’s a blazing inferno it’s really a relatively slowly burning fire that’s contained to a section of the building.
Even so it’s generally a really terrible idea.
For getting OUT of a fire. Staying low is good for your lungs. The lower you are the colder the air is (heat goes up, the roof could be on fire while the floor is still just sauna temperatures) and the less expose you get to all the nasty stuff that’s in the smoke (smoke tends to be hot, so it will stay up). Lowering exposure to radiating heat and creating an insulating layer of air around you is also a good idea (with as little skin exposed as possible). Wrapping a fireproof blanket (or natural fibers) around you is a good idea. Avoid synthetic fibers, because they tend to create horrific plastic/flesh injuries if they melt into the skin (pantyhose and stockings of synthetic fibers is the absolute worst).
It’s not that the smoke kills you in seconds, I don’t think. But if you run into a cloud of acrid, poisonous smoke and inhale, you start coughing/choking and your eyes tear up.
You couldn’t see very well before (smoke) and now it’s worse (eyes tearing) and you’re still in the cloud so every time you gasp (can’t control that, you’re choking) you suck in more smoke and all the above get worse. You have a couple minutes to live, but it’s going to be incredibly hard to do anything useful with them. :/
Adrenaline is a hell of a drug. It really is. Most people don’t understand how powerful & dangerous a human being can be while amped up on adrenaline. It’s truly a remarkable thing. There are accounts of humans lifting up cars, or fighting bears off with basically nothing. I remember I read an account of some 80 year old man who was attacked by a mountain lion, or cougar. It jumped on his back and went for his neck, and he was like, “Yeah so in that moment I realized I was a thousand times faster than a cat, so I just reached back and put my hand down its throat.”
So yeah, fucking with people is a good way to find out. Not all people are built that way, but the ones who are built that way can do some pretty remarkable things given the right motivation… which in this case involves saving people from a fire.
It depends how on fire the place is, in part. If your living room on the first floor is billowing smoke out the window and you have a baby on the 2nd floor, its a very smoky house, but that’s different than running into a room that’s completely ablaze.
People often talk about smoke, but you can understand what is a wall of heat from a fire until you feel one. You really need a crazy determination to overcome this. Most exactly you need a motivation that doesn’t allow you to think to anything else.
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Fight or flight kicks in. They just get the chance to catch their breath before to make the fight possible. Also adrenaline.
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