Just learned about the Kaprun disaster in which 155 people lost their lives when an underground train caught fire.
There were only 12 survivors all of whom followed the advice of a retired firefighter who advised them to run downhill through the flames in the rear of the train.
The steep incline of the tunnel acted as a blast furnace that sucked in fresh air from the low end and funneled toxic smoke to the high end.
Not sure how applicable this will be to anyone here, but I thought it a great example of how a little more widespread knowledge of how fire works could have saved a lot of lives.
Tl;dr fire bad but smoke worse. Get to fresh air.
To be fair, do they carry around any sort of badge? Could have seemed like a crazy person to- oh it was in Austria, not New York
Regular guy seeing fire: “this is my chance to lie about being a firefighter”
I doubt that happens often.
Tweakers and the mentally infirm. There is also a type of character who just compulsively lies about things, especially in the worst situation.
I can see why some people wouod be unwilling to trust the advice of “run towards the fire,” regardless. Maybe the firefighter took the time to explain the ohysics briefly, in which case we have 12 survivors who understood the physics (thus could trust him) and a couple dozen or so who were less physics literate. Science saves lives!
I’ve known compulsive liars . They aren’t good at lying during emergencies. When people panic they have a hard time opening up doors without instructions. People don’t make up lies on those situations. Atleast it’s very unlikely. Tweaked or not.
As for mental illness I guess if the person already believes themselves to be a fire fighter because of mental illnesses they might continue that belief on a fire. But again that has to be pretty rare.
“I’m a retired firefighter! Quick, everyone eat your Metro cards!”
“i’m a retired metro driver. everyone strip down and grab a handful of this petroleum jelly!”