TreePapa said:
. . .
My prayers for the victims and even more for the survivor. I'm sure if it were me, I too would have had to be held back. Heck, prolly even if I knew I wouldn't make it out. With his family in there, not being able to rescue them, or die trying, must have torn him apart. Who here, in those circumstances, would NOT have tried to get back in?
Peace,
- Sequoia
True . . . most folks may try . . . but trust me many folks have never truly experienced the full power of a fire and contrary to what folks see on TV just the extreme heat of a fire will not allow you to get close to the fire without protection (and covering your mouth with a wet washcloth doesn't quite cut it as adequate protection.)
A number of years ago we had a tragic fire in my hometown . . . the quick synopsis . . . some autistic triplets in a home died along with our former Fire Chief (cardiac arrest) . . . the worse fire I have ever experienced . . . almost decided to quit as a volunteer after that fire . . . sadly I found out later that my wife actually beat me to the fire as she was a student nurse at the time and was one of the first folks on scene as she was coming home from school and saw the fire . . . she said the mother and her young daughter had just escaped the fire and was screaming for someone to rescue her three boys still inside . . . my wife and a couple of other neighbors tried to run inside . . . . couldn't get within 20 feet of the house due to the extreme heat (not to mention the smoke, CO and other toxic chemicals.)
Folks all say they will try to go inside (and some manage to do so) . . . a lucky few actually come out and may even save someone . . . many more end up dying and/or becoming the second (or third or fourth) person we need to rescue so now instead of concentrating all our resources on saving the people inside we now have to work twice as hard to get out the would-be rescuers.
Don't believe me . . . try this little experiment with your spouse or children (this is something I do with high school students to make a point. I show a video where the temps spike to 1,400 degrees F (about 3 times the hottest setting on your oven), thick, black smoke obscures the room/home and in about five minutes time the windows in the room/home are blown out as the fire seeks out a new oxygen source . . . I believe however while the video is good folks will still be convinced that they can and will attempt a rescue -- after all, love conquers all, right?
Tonight have your spouse or child leave the room or house . . . just have them wait outside the room/exterior door. Take a teddy bear and tell them that this is you . . . or a brother, sister, etc. and that you're pretending that there is a fire and while they escaped this person did not. Now time the person from the time it takes to enter the room/house to the time it takes to get the bear and then get out from the home. In most cases quite honestly time should not be an issue.
Now blindfold the person and do this same experiment again. You may want to move the position of the bear (because let's face it, folks don't always stay right in the same spot that they were when they went to bed . . . children hide, go to their parent's room, etc. In most cases the time it takes to do this experiment doubles or triples . . . and the only thing you have done is take away the person's vision . . . they're not having to deal with the extreme heat, choking smoke, CO levels, etc.
The fact is folks that have escaped a fire are not prepared to go back inside to attempt a rescue. They don't have the training . . . they don't have the bunker/turnout gear that firefighters wear to protect them from the high heat . . . and they don't have the air pack to protect them from the smoke/CO.
A few facts I tell folks in my fire safety classes . . .
-- Smoke detectors save lives. Plain and simple -- they're cheap and they work . . . providing that they work. Sadly, in most fatalities folks are in homes without detectors or without working detectors. Buy 'em and keep 'em up and running. Just having one detector more than doubles your chance of surviving a fire -- and in general the more you have the greater the chance of surviving a fire (the only better odds come if you're in a home or apartment with a sprinkler system -- then your odds go up to 80%).
-- Fire prevention is the first step to not even getting put into this situation. Get into the habit of thinking about how fires could start and take steps to prevent them. Know the common causes -- unfortunately many folks either know they're doing something dangerous and do it anyway (i.e. using gasoline to start a wood fire) or do not know what they are doing can have lethal consequences (i.e. not realizing floor protection requirements and stove clearances are there for a reason and not just an arbitrary rule or number.)
-- Don't expect us to save you . . . occasionally we get lucky, make a save and it gets front page billing and is the lead story on the news. Most often however, we don't get there in time. Teach your family what to do in a fire (i.e. get out when you hear the smoke detector, stay out, etc.) and most important of all . . . refer back to the first thing I said -- smoke detectors save lives, but not if they're absent or not working.
-- People often ask me what I would do if my wife was inside a burning building . . . to which I reply I have done everything in my power to make sure that I never have to face that situation. I have working detectors, we have talked over our escape plan, we have fire extinguishers in the home and we attempt to practice good fire prevention . . . having a good fire prevention plan in place will hopefully prevent a fire from occurring . . . and if a fire occurs having smoke detectors and an escape plan will hopefully prevent either one of us from still being inside the home if a fire does break out.
