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.
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Perhaps worth pointing out that the 12 who survived did not run into the fire. They broke a window and went downwards past the fire. From Wikipedia:
Twelve people from the rear of the train broke a window with a ski pole and, advised by an escapee who had been a volunteer fire fighter, escaped downwards past the fire and below the smoke.
followed the advice of a retired firefighter
The actual YSK.
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’m a retired firefighter! Quick, everyone eat your Metro cards!”
Direction to go in case of a public transit fire is probably highly context dependent. The real lesson here is to follow instructions of trained emergency response personnel
The real lesson here is to follow instructions of trained emergency response personnel
We just went through CoViD, like a week ago (a week, right? It also feels like a million years, so I’m not sure). We found that, largely, MANY people didn’t follow the sane, simple advice to lessen the load on trauma centers – “Do like a billion people in china do every day, and wear a thing on your face”. And the defiance-as-religion types didn’t die fast enough.
NO ONE’s gonna listen to an authority on this either. I’d want them all to run into the zombie horde and stare them down or something like hillbilly tough guys, but I need someone to farm the bran in my good, good, whole-wheat shreddies.
a very shitty Team sport
I’d never taken the time to realise firefighters have to learn about physics-nonsense for their line of work. On top of having to stay really fit? That’s tough
That guy would have evaluated the size of the fire, the progression of fire over 30s, 1min, and 2min, danger levels from direct-flame, radiant-heat, and smoke-inhalation, effects on structure, in about a second.
Determined the best course of action was to get below the fire, in another second.
Fire travels faster uphill, smoke fills available space from top down.
Most people understand fire in a controlled situation, such as campfires, hearths, or bonfires.
If someone seems to understand what that uncontrolled fire is going to do, listen to them.
Yep. Covid ruined my belief in sanity. If it were a zombie apocalypse there would be people saying “I have a right to be eaten by zombies!” While they just end up making many more zombies.
It would be fine if they asserted their right to get eaten by zombies. The problem is that they decide they have the right to let a zombie loose in middle of the haven.
So it’s really about getting under the fire, even if that means going through it first.
Specifically, you want to be up wind of the fire, and it the fire is creating that wind in an inclined tunnel that might involve heading down, through the fire. Funicular railways and stairwells could both be places that’s necessary.
No. Structures on fire tend to collapse, and then you have fire falling onto you. That sounds like a bad idea.
It may either be that or waiting at the top of a burning structure thats going to collapse?
I guess if you ever find yourself owning the high ground to fire this is useful, or find yourself in a tube whose bottom is aflame.
Might also be that your only way out of a room is through a burning doorway. Gotta find a bottle of water and Riddick that shit.
