7 ms·

Acting quick and getting a fire under control often makes the difference between an emergency and a disaster. But only after you've made sure the building is be

Acting quick and getting a fire under control often makes the difference between an emergency and a disaster. But only after you've made sure the building is being evacuated, and the fire department has been alerted. Don't be afraid to call the emergency number. They'll know what to do and walk you through it. Under no circumstance should you enter a room filled with smoke. Smoke inhalation is incredibly dangerous.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago
Smoke from electronics, especially.
- kefka 14y ago
  Speaking of consumer electronics: When I went to the Midwest Reprap festival, for some reason power was being a bit flakey. The guy who's sitting across me had 2 printers using ATX power supplies. Suddenly, the PSU sparks out and then outgasses a stream of smoke pillar 4 foot in diameter for the next 2-3 minutes. Near the top of the building perhaps 3 stories up, it looks like a mini-Hiroshima with mushroom cloud going. And that was from a dinky ATX PSU.
  - GFischer 14y ago
    Heh, they once shipped 110v PSUs to us 220v users... I had to build systems at the time, the first one I plugged in made an awesome explosion :P
    - ordinary 14y ago
      My first (indeed, only) experience with the smell of burnt human flesh and hair was when a friend of mine flipped the switch on a PSU to 110v when it plugged in to 220v. He was fine, but the PSU didn't make it. RIP.
  - lloeki 14y ago
    Speaking of consumer electrics: around here universities have obsolete views of how students work, limited budget, and old buildings. This results in a shortage of wall plugs, and the smartest folks bring powerstrips, plug them into wall sockets, then into other power strips, and recursively until there's enough plugs for everyone's laptop. Cables turn seriously damn hot, and a burnt plastic smell crosses the room. Authority reaction: ban powerstrips because someone might trip on them. Luckily energy management outpaced student equipment rate, and laptops now last a good part of the day without needing a plug.
davidw 14y ago
> Under no circumstance should you enter a room filled with smoke The article says "smell", not "smoke", but I don't think inhaling it was a good idea in any event.
- JshWright 14y ago
  The post also says it was making them light headed...
  - drivers99 14y ago
    Most likely it's just hyperventilation caused by walking around sniffing the air looking for the source of the smell. Although I wouldn't doubt the smell was toxic.
    - JshWright 14y ago
      I've never seen hyperventilation caused by 'sniffing'. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's impossible, but you'd have to be sniffing far more aggressively than I've ever seen someone sniff before...
      - mturmon 14y ago
        I've experienced light-headedness from aggressive sniffing. And it wasn't glue ;-).
rmc 14y ago
Under no circumstance should you enter a room filled with smoke. Smoke inhalation is incredibly dangerous. To re-iterate, a lot (most?) of the people who die in fires actually die from smoke inhalation than from getting burned by the fire/flames.
- niels_olson 14y ago
  Hi. I have worked in a burn unit. Inhalational injury is usually not the cause of death. In fact of the people I saw only one who died of bronchoscopy-confirmed inhalational injury. And he was an obese smoker with minimal residual lung volume to begin with.
  - niels_olson 14y ago
    Also, in the Navy, where halon is also in heavy distribution, for fuel fires (nothing scarier than a fuel fire on a ship at sea), the training still includes that the person who smells smoke needs to find the fire, or at least some legit smoke before exiting the space. Most watch standees now have radios, which makes the decision of when to call a lot easier.
  - saraid216 14y ago
    This seems to imply that most people who die are burn victims? (It feels like this is a stupid question, but I'm not sure of the answer so eh. Asking anyways.) Would people at risk of a inhalation injury actually pass through you often? You're in a burn unit, so I'd assume that means you mostly get burn victims, and inhalation injuries would be pointed somewhere else?
    - niels_olson 14y ago
      > imply that most people who die are burn victims Inhalation injury is a subset of burn trauma. The flow control is "Ambulance inbound from fire" -> ER calls trauma alert -> trauma team meets the ambulance(s) at the ER door. Those with inhalation injury are sorted from there.
  - konstruktor 14y ago

MatthewPhillips 14y ago

Smoke from electronics, especially.

kefka 14y ago
Speaking of consumer electronics: When I went to the Midwest Reprap festival, for some reason power was being a bit flakey. The guy who's sitting across me had 2 printers using ATX power supplies. Suddenly, the PSU sparks out and then outgasses a stream of smoke pillar 4 foot in diameter for the next 2-3 minutes. Near the top of the building perhaps 3 stories up, it looks like a mini-Hiroshima with mushroom cloud going. And that was from a dinky ATX PSU.
- GFischer 14y ago
  Heh, they once shipped 110v PSUs to us 220v users... I had to build systems at the time, the first one I plugged in made an awesome explosion :P
  - ordinary 14y ago
    My first (indeed, only) experience with the smell of burnt human flesh and hair was when a friend of mine flipped the switch on a PSU to 110v when it plugged in to 220v. He was fine, but the PSU didn't make it. RIP.
- lloeki 14y ago
  Speaking of consumer electrics: around here universities have obsolete views of how students work, limited budget, and old buildings. This results in a shortage of wall plugs, and the smartest folks bring powerstrips, plug them into wall sockets, then into other power strips, and recursively until there's enough plugs for everyone's laptop. Cables turn seriously damn hot, and a burnt plastic smell crosses the room. Authority reaction: ban powerstrips because someone might trip on them. Luckily energy management outpaced student equipment rate, and laptops now last a good part of the day without needing a plug.

davidw 14y ago

> Under no circumstance should you enter a room filled with smoke The article says "smell", not "smoke", but I don't think inhaling it was a good idea in any event.

JshWright 14y ago
The post also says it was making them light headed...
- drivers99 14y ago
  Most likely it's just hyperventilation caused by walking around sniffing the air looking for the source of the smell. Although I wouldn't doubt the smell was toxic.
  - JshWright 14y ago
    I've never seen hyperventilation caused by 'sniffing'. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's impossible, but you'd have to be sniffing far more aggressively than I've ever seen someone sniff before...
    - mturmon 14y ago
      I've experienced light-headedness from aggressive sniffing. And it wasn't glue ;-).

rmc 14y ago

Under no circumstance should you enter a room filled with smoke. Smoke inhalation is incredibly dangerous. To re-iterate, a lot (most?) of the people who die in fires actually die from smoke inhalation than from getting burned by the fire/flames.

niels_olson 14y ago
Hi. I have worked in a burn unit. Inhalational injury is usually not the cause of death. In fact of the people I saw only one who died of bronchoscopy-confirmed inhalational injury. And he was an obese smoker with minimal residual lung volume to begin with.
- niels_olson 14y ago
  Also, in the Navy, where halon is also in heavy distribution, for fuel fires (nothing scarier than a fuel fire on a ship at sea), the training still includes that the person who smells smoke needs to find the fire, or at least some legit smoke before exiting the space. Most watch standees now have radios, which makes the decision of when to call a lot easier.
- saraid216 14y ago
  This seems to imply that most people who die are burn victims? (It feels like this is a stupid question, but I'm not sure of the answer so eh. Asking anyways.) Would people at risk of a inhalation injury actually pass through you often? You're in a burn unit, so I'd assume that means you mostly get burn victims, and inhalation injuries would be pointed somewhere else?
  - niels_olson 14y ago
    > imply that most people who die are burn victims Inhalation injury is a subset of burn trauma. The flow control is "Ambulance inbound from fire" -> ER calls trauma alert -> trauma team meets the ambulance(s) at the ER door. Those with inhalation injury are sorted from there.
- konstruktor 14y ago