[rotan]

Yeah I never took fire alarms seriously at my apartment complex (live on the 16th floor) until the day I smelt smoke. We had to take the stairwell the whole way down with my kids (one being a newborn). The smoke in the stairwell was very toxic and you choked as you tried to run down the stairwell. The smoke also burned your eyes and it's hard to see through, it was a very scary situation. I covered my baby's mouth so she wouldn't breathe in the smoke and my wife did her best to cover the boys so they wouldn't breathe it in. The fire was on the 3rd floor. Never again do I take those alarms for granted - even if I know it's some punk playing a joke. Thank goodness we are moving into a home in 2 weeks :)

And some info from Wiki:

The Joelma Building is a 25 floor skyscraper in São Paulo, Brazil, located at 225 Avenida 9 de Julho. At 8:50am on 1 February 1974, an air conditioning unit on the twelfth floor overheated, starting a fire. There were 756 people in the building at the time. Because flammable materials had been used to furnish the interior, the entire building was engulfed in flames within 20 minutes. The fire was extinguished at 1:30pm. 179 people were killed and 300 injured.

The Joelma Building was a reinforced fire-resistant concrete hull construction.

The interior was furnished with flammable items. Partitions, desks and chairs were made of wood. The ceilings were cellulose fiber tiles set in wood strappings. The curtains and carpets were also flammable.

At the time, no emergency lights, posted in fire alarms, fire sprinkler systems, or emergency exits were fitted to the building. There was only one stairwell, which ran the full height of the building. An air conditioner unit on the twelfth floor, which started the fire, needed a special type of circuit breaker, which was unavailable at the time it was installed. In order to use this unit, it was installed bypassing the twelfth floor electrical control panel.

The first fire units arrived five minutes later, and immediately called for assistance.

Inside, the fire reached the building's only stairwell and climbed as high as the 15th floor. It did not reach any higher because of a lack of flammables in the stairwell, however it filled the stairwell with smoke and heat, making it impassable. Fire crews attempted to gain access to the building using this stairwell, but could not go any higher than the 11th floor (the first floor consisting of business offices).

Many remaining employees climbed onto balconies for air and a group of 171 individuals fled to the roof. A helicopter rescue was attempted but the heat, smoke and inadequate landing space prevented helicopters from reaching the roof until well after the fire had burned out at 10:30 AM. Despite the best efforts of rescue personnel and witnesses, who shouted and created signs instructing people to remain calm, 40 individuals jumped to escape the conditions inside and in failed attempts to grasp unreachable fire ladders. None of these jumpers survived.

[elmedley]

Originally Posted by JLO ↗

When I see that clip I can't help but think of all those people that jumped from the WTC--I could never do that...

i don't know what i would do in that situation.. yeah i can sit here now and say i could never do that all day long but when you're trapped in a building that's on fire you never know what you might do.. or in any other life or death situation.. i guess it comes down to weighing out the pros and cons of each very quickly

[FuManBoobs]

New law : All buildings over 10 floors high will have a provision of parachutes stored upon the roof.

Of course, if there are 2 fires and you are trapped inbetween then I'm sorry, but fate does not want you to live.

[commondenom]

10 points for landing on his feet....

[bykodziko]

want to see the body

[Johndoe123]

id rather die from neither fire or jumping personally lol but if it had to be out of the two i would pick smoke inhalation! apparently after a couple of deep breaths of smoke from something like that you pass out because theres not enough oxygen in the air plus all the toxins etc in that situation id relax on my sofa and breath deep! lol

[spookypooky]

HEY! Bumbles Bounce!

[SuperSuperior]

luv the bounce at the end

[bumpsNhumps]

so you can reply 4 times but you cant show it in slow mo or something???
fuCKING AMATEUR HOUR

[Snakeoilstock#2]

I'm guessing that human reactions take over, and you're going to choose the least painful way of dying. It's still a scary situation though!