Ray D
Well-known member
Fire! Fire! Fire! What Would You Do?
There is another thread going, ?WalMart Crime,? and this memory has been nagging me, as that thread continued. In common, it?s a night time emergency, and a mistake can cost dearly. I didn?t add it to that thread, out of concern that it might kill that thread, off topic. This is a personal security issue, so I am back here, without messing up the WalMart crime thread.
We?ve had a pretty free wheeling discussion in that thread, about bad guys, and the challenges they might present. We explored that a lot, and fairly deeply. Hopefully, we have learned something. Did we all become Boy Scouts - ?Be Prepared?? Let?s test it.
Have you ever thought about fire? What would you do? Do you have a ?Fire? plan? Bad Guys can come in the middle of he night - and RVs can catch fire just like stick houses. I will relate a real event, from 1991, and stop midway through for advice. (A luxury I didn?t have, that night!) I know how it turned out, of course. But, I made some mistakes. Use what we have learned. Help me out.
I was awakened at about 3:00 AM, that morning, to someone banging, very loudly, on the door, shouting ?Your house is on fire! Get out! Get out! Fire! Fire! Fire! - - - -.? He continued without let up. There are no smoke alarms going off, no odor of burning. Maybe, I have some time!
It took seconds to wake up. My house was on fire! My terminally ill wife, is bedridden in the room next to me! She is hooked up to two IV systems on a metal ?tree.?. I need time! I could just cut the lines and get her out of there, through the window. The house is a tri-level, about a ten foot drop. She will have minor to serious injuries from the drop. There are medical issues with ?cutting the lines.?
I would need to have her in a hospital pretty quickly, after that. Or, if I had time - I could do a ?Hep Lock.? take the needles out of the ports, cap them, and she?d be good for a couple of hours. I figure I could do that in two or three minutes, in a fire. (Five to ten minutes, otherwise.) How much time do I have? Fire can move very rapidly!
If I have time, and can remove the lines carefully, I can help her onto her scooter and she can drive out. The ramp is by the garage! If the fire is in the garage, I am in a hurry! Our scooter exit may be cut off, pretty quickly! Hurry!
I look out the bedroom window, on the west side. No fire evident, there. I could see one person dressed similar to the problematic druggies, across the street. He?s yelling ?Fire!? Hey, he?s human, at least he?s trying to help! I don?t, actually, recognize him.
Most likely, he saw the fire from the street, on the south side. Most likely, it?s in the garage - maybe the lawnmower, or the 5 gallon gas can sitting next to it. Maybe it?s the acetone, or the paint thinner, up on the shelf! If it?s there, I won?t be able to see it from inside the house.
I run to my wife?s room to look out the east and north windows. No fire east or north! Probably the garage, on the south. I hear her say ?Yes ma?am! Our house is on fire. We live at - - - -.? She?s talking to 911. - - - - Good! I make my run to see what I can see, on the south side. I have to go out the front, west side door, to look at the south side, the garage.
I hear sirens! Several of them, actually. They are distant. Three or four minutes, at least. I may not have three or four minutes left.
As I run down the hall, a hint - just a smidgeon of - well - suspicion - paranoia - - - just a little. Enough that as I pass the hall closet, I pause, reach in and pull a .357 Magnum from the holster. Pausing only a second and feeling a bit guilty at that, I continue my dash toward the front door, big gun in hand! Believe it! I felt guilty hauling out into the yard - to look for fire - with a gun in my hand! Did I waste a second on Paranoia, in a fire? !!!
I?ll stop, here - - -. Help me out! I?ve been awake less than a minute. I have a million things to do, and no time to get them done! I may have made a mistake! Have I missed an important detail? (I?ll answer questions, if there are any.)
I may be doing something wrong. How fast does a fire spread? Do I need to change anything I?m doing? What should I be doing?
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
There is another thread going, ?WalMart Crime,? and this memory has been nagging me, as that thread continued. In common, it?s a night time emergency, and a mistake can cost dearly. I didn?t add it to that thread, out of concern that it might kill that thread, off topic. This is a personal security issue, so I am back here, without messing up the WalMart crime thread.
We?ve had a pretty free wheeling discussion in that thread, about bad guys, and the challenges they might present. We explored that a lot, and fairly deeply. Hopefully, we have learned something. Did we all become Boy Scouts - ?Be Prepared?? Let?s test it.
Have you ever thought about fire? What would you do? Do you have a ?Fire? plan? Bad Guys can come in the middle of he night - and RVs can catch fire just like stick houses. I will relate a real event, from 1991, and stop midway through for advice. (A luxury I didn?t have, that night!) I know how it turned out, of course. But, I made some mistakes. Use what we have learned. Help me out.
I was awakened at about 3:00 AM, that morning, to someone banging, very loudly, on the door, shouting ?Your house is on fire! Get out! Get out! Fire! Fire! Fire! - - - -.? He continued without let up. There are no smoke alarms going off, no odor of burning. Maybe, I have some time!
It took seconds to wake up. My house was on fire! My terminally ill wife, is bedridden in the room next to me! She is hooked up to two IV systems on a metal ?tree.?. I need time! I could just cut the lines and get her out of there, through the window. The house is a tri-level, about a ten foot drop. She will have minor to serious injuries from the drop. There are medical issues with ?cutting the lines.?
I would need to have her in a hospital pretty quickly, after that. Or, if I had time - I could do a ?Hep Lock.? take the needles out of the ports, cap them, and she?d be good for a couple of hours. I figure I could do that in two or three minutes, in a fire. (Five to ten minutes, otherwise.) How much time do I have? Fire can move very rapidly!
If I have time, and can remove the lines carefully, I can help her onto her scooter and she can drive out. The ramp is by the garage! If the fire is in the garage, I am in a hurry! Our scooter exit may be cut off, pretty quickly! Hurry!
I look out the bedroom window, on the west side. No fire evident, there. I could see one person dressed similar to the problematic druggies, across the street. He?s yelling ?Fire!? Hey, he?s human, at least he?s trying to help! I don?t, actually, recognize him.
Most likely, he saw the fire from the street, on the south side. Most likely, it?s in the garage - maybe the lawnmower, or the 5 gallon gas can sitting next to it. Maybe it?s the acetone, or the paint thinner, up on the shelf! If it?s there, I won?t be able to see it from inside the house.
I run to my wife?s room to look out the east and north windows. No fire east or north! Probably the garage, on the south. I hear her say ?Yes ma?am! Our house is on fire. We live at - - - -.? She?s talking to 911. - - - - Good! I make my run to see what I can see, on the south side. I have to go out the front, west side door, to look at the south side, the garage.
I hear sirens! Several of them, actually. They are distant. Three or four minutes, at least. I may not have three or four minutes left.
As I run down the hall, a hint - just a smidgeon of - well - suspicion - paranoia - - - just a little. Enough that as I pass the hall closet, I pause, reach in and pull a .357 Magnum from the holster. Pausing only a second and feeling a bit guilty at that, I continue my dash toward the front door, big gun in hand! Believe it! I felt guilty hauling out into the yard - to look for fire - with a gun in my hand! Did I waste a second on Paranoia, in a fire? !!!
I?ll stop, here - - -. Help me out! I?ve been awake less than a minute. I have a million things to do, and no time to get them done! I may have made a mistake! Have I missed an important detail? (I?ll answer questions, if there are any.)
I may be doing something wrong. How fast does a fire spread? Do I need to change anything I?m doing? What should I be doing?
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?