Why is it that when you’re clothes catch fire, your supposed to stop drop and roll? I do understand how stop-drop-roll works. But wouldn’t it be better to just remove your clothes? Especially if its clothes that don’t need to go over ur face to be taken off.
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It’s MUCH quicker to drop to the ground and smother the lit areas by rolling onto them, than to – while panicking and in pain – try to individually remove clothes that are on fire. Plus it’s safer. If the t shirt you are wearing catches fire, are you gonna quickly and calmly lift it *over your face and hair* without injuring those areas? Remove your shoes and socks first if your pants catch?
When you’re in shock and must react fast, your ability to have “complex” thoughts or perform a complex “maneuver” diminishes drastically.
Stop, drop, and roll is a simple “command” that can be drilled into you and practiced to the point where it’s second-nature, whereas “stop, think about what’s best, think about how to remove your clothes, belt first, then button, then zipper, then push your pants down, then kick them off, no not with your hands you’re going to get burned on your hands…” is something that’s almost impossible.
Also, imagine this scenario:
* Ok class, today we’re going to have fire safety practice. The best thing to do when your clothes are on fire is to remove your clothes as soon as possible.
* So everybody stand up, and STRIP! GO GO GO the timer is running!
Removing clothes takes significantly more time than hitting the deck and rolling it out. You can also remove clothes while rolling to extinguish the fire rather than having the flames engulf more as you struggle with fasteners, etc.
Not only is stop drop and roll faster and safer, but it can be done WITHOUT HESITATION. If your pants catch on fire in front of a bunch of strangers and the only thing you’ve been taught is to take your pants off in that situation, don’t you think that, even for a second, you might hesitate?
Also, fire burns *up*. By getting horizontal, you get less fire and smoke on your face, eyes, nose, lungs, etc.
A lot of people are talking about speed, but another big factor is some clothes MELT. Good luck taking off a polyester shirt that’s trying to become one with your chest.
Removing your clothes is a relatively complex process when you’re burning and panicking. You’re more likely to just get your head stuck in your burning shirt. Rolling is much faster.
In addition to the others which have basically nailed it—speed of getting things off—fire spreads everywhere it can so long as there’s fuel and oxygen. If the outside of your jacket is on fire, and you start taking your jacket off, you now have oxygen between your jacket and your shirt, which means the fire now has access to *three times the fuel* it had a moment ago (outside of jacket, inside of jacket, outside of shirt). This means the fire is going to burn hotter and closer to your skin, both of which mean you’ll get burned more.
The goal of stop-drop-roll is to *smother* the fire, and adding surface area by taking off some clothes has the opposite effect.
In addition to what others have said…
Stop drop and roll PUTS OUT the fire. If you managed to get your burning pants off without more damage to yourself, now you have a big burning rag to still deal with.
My demise might come from me trying to undo my belt in a panic if there wasnt stop drop n roll.
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