Life or death, jump or burn

[romelus]

you've all watched the grisly footage of people jumping from the towers in 9/11. i've always wondered what i might do in such a situation. i think there are several reasons people jump from burning buildings

1. they want the less painful and quicker way of dying. if you jump it'll be over very soon. if you try to run through fire you could die a very painful death

2. they want their bodies to be recognizable to the family. in an apartment fire where people jumped, some of them survived the jump long enough to tell rescuers their motive was to save their bodies

3. they want to control when they die. it's the last decision they could make, and they exercised that decision.

i think there also may have been people in the towers who ran into the fire toward the exit in hopes of making it, but they didn't. so the only good thing i can see about running into the fire is the remote hope of making it to the exit, however badly burned

so here is the question: what would you do if you were stranded in a burning building where your only alternatives were to either jump to your death, or trying to run through the fire to the exit, where the possibility of surviving the run is almost nil

i would probably run for it, there is always the slightest hope that i'd be able to run through the fire

edit: bah forgot to add a poll. just state your decision i guess, you probably want to give reasons anyway

 

[IglooDame]

I'll take a .0001 percent chance of living over a .0000 percent chance of living.

Besides, I have an extreme dislike for heights. I will not spend the last few seconds of live in absolute terror, I would sooner figure out a way to kill myself with a stapler than to heave myself out of a window.

 

[stratego]

Maybe some of those people jumped because they think there's a slight chance that they'll survive.

I'd jump.

 

[EdwardTking]

I'd jump.

At least a few seconds of free fall is an enjoyable experience;
and maybe a kidney might survive for re-use by the living.

 

[romelus]

Maybe some of those people jumped because they think there's a slight chance that they'll survive.

i don't know about that... at least for the 9/11 people. maybe the apartment jumpers thought they might survive the fall. it looks a lot higher when you are actually up there, vs. looking from the ground

when i went bungee jumping, the bungee tower sure became a lot taller than i thought once i got to the top. in a very tall building even cars would look like ants and you basically break into a lot of pieces when you hit the ground

there was this episode of myth busters on discovery. they were testing whether a hammer thrown into the water ahead of a body falling in would break the water and the fall. so they used a crash test dummie to test the forces from a crane 120 ft (or 200 ft, can't remember exactly which) up. on the first drop the dummie lost one of its legs immediately, on subsequent drops it lost the other leg and an arm. and this is dropping from only about 10 stories up into water.

btw: the myth is false, the hammer thrown in front of the body into the water does little in breaking the fall

 

[cgannon64]

I'd jump. I agree with EdwardTking, it would probably end up being fun if you knew you were going ot die anyway.

 

[Hitro]

I think this is something you can't really say before it happens.

Put when imagining a room full of smoke and fire I guess jumping makes sense. The first thing that would happen wouldn't be that you burn to death but that you suffocate. And everyone who ever had the feeling of not getting enough air will confirm that it is a horrible thing that can make you do all sorts of things just to get over with it...

 

[Little Raven]

People jump because their instincts force them too. Your instincts say that you will move away from a fire. It is extremely painful to be too close to one. Next to the sensation of having your flesh burn, leaping out a window is heaven itself.

 

[CivCynic]

There are a lot of factors that must be included when contemplating such an issue.

Different factors would be:

-How high the building is(but when speaking of a skyscraper, I guess you die from a suicidal jump no matter what).

-How old the person is(if the person is in their 20's, then he could have a reasonable chance of surviving, but if they're in their 70's, 80's, or even 90's, they'd probably die either way).

-How much the person really wants to continue living.

-Whether or not the person is alone or with a group of people(cubicles).

So actually, it depends on if the person goes apropos with the situation, but personally, I would go according to the intensity of the fire and smoke. I would always choose life over death.

 

[stratego]

btw: the myth is false, the hammer thrown in front of the body into the water does little in breaking the fall

But in the episode it DID show a decrease of impact when it hits the water. Maybe they should use a bigger hammer. Or more hammers thrown in succession.

 

[dgfred]

I'll take a .0001 percent chance of living over a .0000 percent chance of living.

Besides, I have an extreme dislike for heights. I will not spend the last few seconds of live in absolute terror, I would sooner figure out a way to kill myself with a stapler than to heave myself out of a window.

I have this dislike also -- my worst nightmares always have something
to do with extreme height .

 

[SesnOfWthr]

But in the episode it DID show a decrease of impact when it hits the water. Maybe they should use a bigger hammer. Or more hammers thrown in succession.

Maybe you should just throw someone ELSE in ahead of you.

Personally, my biggest fear is of suffocation. So althoughI dislike heights, I'd jump.

 

[romelus]

But in the episode it DID show a decrease of impact when it hits the water. Maybe they should use a bigger hammer. Or more hammers thrown in succession.

hehehe next time i go to a high place overlooking water, i'll make sure to bring a hammer machine gun

 

[-Gladiator-]

I don't care about death...it happens to all of us someday and there's nothing anyone can do about it...if i would be stuck in building with only these 2 choices, i wouldn't go for either1. (I actually woulnd't mind jumping, cause I love heights!!!) I would probably relax and enjoy myself for the last time in my life, only that whatever happens I wouldn't let myself burn to death cause I don't want to die in pain...

 

[WillJ]

I don't care about death...it happens to all of us someday and there's nothing anyone can do about it...if i would be stuck in building with only these 2 choices, i wouldn't go for either1. (I actually woulnd't mind jumping, cause I love heights!!!) I would probably relax and enjoy myself for the last time in my life, only that whatever happens I wouldn't let myself burn to death cause I don't want to die in pain...

Um, I'd think that if you just relax, as the fires spreads, you're going to reach a point where you must either burn to death (or possibly run through the fire and miraculously survive) or jump.

Edit: And as for me, I'd probably jump, although I'm not sure.

 

[Uncle Sam]

I'd do whichever i thought would have higher chances of surviving.

 

[Mongols_rule]

I would DEFINITELY jump! I'd rather have a fun time for about 10 seconds or so than 10 minutes of misery and desolation!

 

[LLXerxes]

If I were in a high building, I'd have a secret stache of parachutes.

It probably wouldn't work, butit would be better that free falling or running (which is my second option.

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

I think I would jump, however I would be worried about landing on someone else, and abrubtly ending their life as well.

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

But in the episode it DID show a decrease of impact when it hits the water. Maybe they should use a bigger hammer. Or more hammers thrown in succession.

I don't think that would effect it, the surface tension is broken regardless of the size, it may help a little bit but still not save you.