What to Do If You Must Enter a Burning Building to Save a Life

Firefighters don't get nearly the pay they deserve. There, I said it and I stand by it; I'm not afraid to take a controversial stand on the tough issues. Keanu Reeves gets paid more to act in just one day than the average firefighter makes in a year. If that isn't proof enough that American priorities are not seriously whacked, I don't know what does. Like the saying goes, when you are running screaming from a building on fire, these guys are coolly running in. But what if you come across an emergency situation when a building is on fire and you can't be sure the firefighters will be arriving in time? What do you do if you know a life is on the line and your time to shine as a hero has come?

Cover Yourself

If a hero situation does arrive and you absolutely know for certain that a life is on the line if you don't take action and run into the inferno, the first thing to do is find any kind of cover you can. Entering a burning building is actually best accomplished wearing long sleeves and long pants. A jacket or coat of some kind will make running into a burning building even safer. Lacking these items, search the surroundings for anything from a canvas tarp to anything that isn't made of flammable material which can protect your skin.

Clothing Materials Matter

You probably won't have time to think this over, much less take any action, but if you find yourself with some extra time before you must enter a burning building, keep in mind that your safety level will depend on the fabric of clothing. Natural fibers like cotton will burn inside a flaming building. This may sound like a bad thing, but the alternative is much worse. Synthetic fibers like polyester or anything constructed from petroleum products or plastic will melt. The difference? Cotton shirt and pants will burn away from your body whereas polyester clothing will directly onto your skin. This melting and sticking will make the burns you suffer by running into a burning building even worse as the material sticks to your charred flesh.

Smoke Kills More Than Fire

Smoke is the cause of more deaths attributed to fires than the flame itself. Smoke can vary from one building fire to another due to the objects that are burning inside. These elements inside a building are capable of producing smoke that can kill as a result of the presence of toxic gases. Any time you run into a burning building, regardless of the cause of the fire or the objects being incinerated, you run the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Many fires will also present a certain level of risk of too much carbon dioxide in the air. Hydrogen cyanide is an ever present threat in building fires where plastics or textiles are the victims of burning. The biggest danger to the average person running into a building on fire is most likely the fact that fire burns up a significant amount of the oxygen present in the air. Areas inside a building most likely to present a danger due to oxygen levels being burned up are any enclosed spaces like a stairwell, elevator or narrow hallway.

Douse the Water Dousing Idea

Unless you have quick access to water that you can douse yourself with to help keep yourself cool when you are running into a burning building to save someone, ditch it. Precious moments spent looking for water to douse over your head and clothing can mean the difference between saving a life and killing yourself. On the other hand, if you already happen to have a bottle of water nearby or in your hand, go ahead and pour it over yourself. This simple action may be able to keep yourself cooler in the face of burning flames.

Go Low

Heat rises and cool keeps it on the downlow. This means that you will find the most comfortable conditions lower to the floor when you enter a burning building. Not only is comfort involved, however; entering the building low to the ground keeps you from heading into the thickest aspects of the smoke that is so dangerous to anyone attempting to save a victim from a burning building.