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.
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.