At 10 am on June 9, 2022, a fire broke out in the Hangzhou Bay Building Materials Market at No. 588 Wangmei Road, Linping District, Hangzhou City. The fire broke out in the Ice and Snow World on the second floor of the Building Materials Market.
Worthy of attention is: As the fire happened on the second floor, the floor is not high, some of the victims panicked, so jumped directly from the second floor to escape.
(Hangzhou fire scene map)
Although it is human nature to "seek advantage and avoid harm", it still arouses heated discussions: Is it advisable to jump off a building when a fire breaks out? What are the chances of escaping by jumping from a lower floor?
Fire is ruthless: the whole story of jumping off the building
According to the owner of a shop near the Ice and Snow World, he first heard a huge explosion, so he hurried out the door and saw thick smoke billowing from the Ice and Snow World opposite the shop.
Another eyewitness also reflected: Although the Ice and Snow World was a kilometer away from him, he could still smell the smoke through the balcony window, even through a mask, he still felt choking.
(thick smoke at the scene)
Later, people saw such a thrilling scene from the video of the incident: some girls’ hair was burned; Jumping down the building; there are also people who jumped from the second floor and hung on the wire of the external air conditioner, and then fell down again.
The rapid advance of the firefighters on the scene, countless screams and shouts, intertwined with the sound of blunt objects falling from the second floor of the trapped people who had nowhere to go, constituted a fire tragedy.
Later, the reporter came to the entrance of the hall of the emergency department and saw a woman in green lying on the hospital bed. Although her clothes were intact and there were no obvious signs of burns, her face full of pain from the injury still attracted the attention of the reporter.
After detailed questioning by reporters, I learned that she was the one who bravely jumped off the building during the fire. The lady in green revealed to the reporter that she was on the second floor when the incident happened, and saw a fire next door, and the intense smoke at the scene choked her out of breath.
Seeing the flames grow higher and higher, attacking her all the way, she had no time to think at the critical moment, and jumped out of the window on the second floor by instinct. She kept it, she felt that she did the right thing by jumping off the building.
(woman in green jumping off the building)
In addition to the woman in green who is currently lying on the hospital bed, some netizens also saw another man in white jumping off the building from a video uploaded online. While many netizens condemned passers-by for their indifference, also said that if he were this man, he would choose to escape from the second floor.
Because people with a little knowledge of firefighting will understand that in addition to fierce open flames approaching the point of ignition, the fire is even more frightening is the dust and smoke. Many victims first inhaled a large amount of dust particles and were choked to death by the thick smoke. carbonization. In this case, if the floor is not high, jumping from a building in a fire seems to be a way to escape in a desperate situation.
So what is the chance of surviving a low-floor fire by jumping off a building?
What are the chances of jumping to escape from a low-floor fire:
In life, there are very few examples of successful escape by jumping from a building in case of fire. For example, on April 4, 2021, a fire broke out in the flea market in Simao District, Pu'er, Yunnan. Many stores on the first floor were instantly engulfed by the fire. A man jumped from the third floor to escape successfully. But this man's situation is very special. Because there is a large sofa downstairs as a buffer, the man only sprained his feet.
(jumping survivors)
In other cases, jumping from a building due to fire is not so lucky. according to Zhuhai NewsAccording to incomplete statistics, more than 70% of the deaths in building fires are due to jumping from buildings.
Because the outdoor floor is all cement floor, the hardness is extremely high and the cushioning capacity is extremely poor. If people jump off the stairs rashly, although they escaped the fire, they are very likely to break their ribs or pelvis, resulting in massive blood loss and death.
And now most of the floors are about 2.9 meters high, and if it is a commercial floor, the height is about 4.5 meters. In this way, the height of jumping from the second floor is actually not low at all. This kind of vertigo height of six or seven meters, ordinary people can't convince themselves to jump down psychologically.
(the height of the ice and snow world)
may see this, and some people will be in a dilemma. The fire is ruthless. If you don’t jump off the building, you will face the fire. If you jump off the building, you will face falling to death. Next, should I jump off this building?
Should we escape from a low-floor fire:
First of all, fire brigade professionals do not advocate jumping to escape because the death rate of jumping from a building in a fire is higher than that of house collapse and fire smoke in an earthquake.
Secondly, if there is no other way out in desperation, jumping from a building is only suitable for lower floors, and the highest cannot exceed the third floor.
Even if you choose to jump off a building in such a critical moment, must not jump down in a daze! You must throw quilts, sofa cushions, or all soft things downstairs to ensure that the landing position is cushioned to reduce the impact after jumping.
If you can’t find anything soft on the second floor, and you’re burned by the fire, you can choose to jump off the building to escape, but you must pay attention to your jumping posture. Make sure your legs and feet are close together, pay attention to the center of gravity, and protect your fragile head.
（杭州冰雪大世界火灾跳楼者）
至于身处四楼以上的受灾人员，不到万不得已千万不要选择跳楼逃生，因为这种高度即使楼下有专业的救生气垫，也It can't play a protective role, and it will still bring great physical impact and injury to the person who jumped from the building.
So in a fire, besides jumping off a building, how to deal with it correctly and improve the fire escape rate?
Correct way to escape in a fire:
Use evacuation channels to escape: Generally speaking, public places such as shopping malls and KTVs will post a safety evacuation diagram at the gate, and the escape routes will be marked on it, so you must pay more attention to it The specific location of these escape routes, in case of fire, you must keep calm and quickly evacuate the escape routes.
Correctly judge the fire point: Because the fire spreads upwards, not downwards. So when your own floor is lower than the fire point, you can choose to run downstairs to escape. If your own floor is higher than the fire point, you must close the doors and windows to reduce the spread of the fire, call the fire alarm immediately, and then cover the gap between the doors and windows with a wet blanket Try to block the clothes to prevent the spread of smoke, cover your mouth and nose with a wet towel and wave bright cloth out of the window to send a distress signal to attract the attention of rescuers.
Crawling and crawling to avoid poisonous gas damage: Some public gathering places use a lot of decorations such as sponges, foam plastic boards, fibers, etc. in the decoration process. After a fire, these substances produce a lot of toxic gases. Therefore, during the escape process, in addition to covering the mouth and nose with wet towels or clothes, it is also necessary to walk in a low posture to minimize the damage of smoke.
Crawling is the most scientific escape method to avoid poisonous gas damage. the fireIf you walk standing up, you will suffocate if you don't go far. Most of the trapped people just don't have this kind of common sense. The people upstairs ran downstairs, and the people downstairs ran upstairs, crowded in the stairwell, and died of suffocation due to poisoning.
is written at the end:
The fire is ruthless, and the fragile human body seems so powerless in the face of the waves of fire. I hope to pay attention to this fire, find out the cause of the fire, and prevent such things from happening in the future. After all, human life is at stake, and it is by no means a child's play. Pray for those affected by the disaster in Hangzhou.
References:
[1] Jiang Qinqin . Ten ways to escape quickly in a fire. HowNet
[2] Liu Bing. Should I jump off a building in the face of a fire? plum
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