The terror of being trapped inside a burning building is something that no one wants to have to envision, much less experience, yet it happens all of the time. The worst time that we can recall is when the twin towers in New York were hit by planes and burned high in the air before finally toppling to the ground. Thousands of lives were lost that day due to the fire and building collapses. It was simply impossible for some of them to escape.



Sometimes it is the smoke that can cause human death in a fire. People are overcome and pass out because they can not breathe and then they are unable to escape themselves. Their only hope when this happens is if they are rescued by firefighters. In other instances where a building is overflowing with people, they have died because they could not reach an exit and were trampled while trying to escape.

What do you do when you can not get out of a burning building that is running over with people? Chaos usually breaks out because everyone is filled with sheer panic because of the fear. This panic only makes the situation worse. If everyone could make themselves remain calm, everybody would stand a better chance of getting out.

If you are ever faced with this situation, do not add to the chaos. Do not scream and run around fighting and clawing at others doing the same thing. You must keep a cool head or you could end up getting hurt and ruining your chance to escape the fire. Do your best to find an exit. If it is clogged with people and the fire is approaching, look for other exits that others might not have found yet.

If there is no other exit do all you can to get everyone organized and help get others out until it is your turn to exit. It will be hard to wait, but you might not have a choice. Stay low to the floor if smoke is overwhelming. Cover your mouth and nose to help filter the air you are breathing. Hopefully you will be able to get out. Sometimes in life or death situations the only thing you can do is remain calm.

Always pay attention to the placement of exits, fire extinguishers, and alarms when you go into a very crowded atmosphere. You might think it a little ridiculous, but for those that have been trapped and escaped a building fire like this, they will tell you it is not ridiculous at all.