When a high-rise building catches fire, should you run up or down?

In the early morning of February 23, a fire broke out in the Mingshang Xiyuan residential building in Yuhuatai District, Nanjing, killing 15 people and leaving 44 people in hospital for treatment.

According to preliminary analysis, the fire was caused by a fire on the ground floor of Building 6 where electric bicycles were parked. After the fire broke out, the floor was directly connected to the patio inside the building, forming a chimney effect and spreading rapidly upward. The normally closed fire doors inside the high-rise building failed to effectively block the spread of smoke, which was also an important reason for the increase in casualties.

Fires in high-rise buildings spread quickly, are difficult to extinguish, and are difficult to evacuate. How should you escape when encountering such an accident? Let's take a look!

Fire in a high-rise building

Run up or run down?

What should you do if a high-rise building catches fire? Don’t panic, it is important to be calm and make judgments!

Video source: China Fire

The fire occurred on the upper floors

If it is confirmed that the fire has occurred on the upper floors, you should quickly run downstairs through the evacuation stairwell . During the escape, you can carry a wet towel or clothing to cover your mouth and nose to reduce the damage of smoke to your respiratory tract.

The fire is coming from the same floor or the door below where smoke is entering

If you confirm that the fire and smoke come from the same floor or below, do not open the door and run away rashly. You should first touch the door handle and observe the gap at the bottom of the door . If the door handle is hot and smoke enters the gap, it means that the outside has been blocked by smoke.

In this situation, do not open the door blindly to escape , because the toxic smoke at the door will make people faint and then suffocate to death.

You can use a wet towel or clothing to block the gap in the door to reduce the entry of smoke, call 119 to inform the location of the room you are trapped in, and wait for rescue.

At the same time, keep wetting the entrance door with water to prevent the fire from spreading due to high external temperature.

The fire originates from the same floor or the stairwell below with no obvious smoke

If you find that there is no obvious smoke in the downward evacuation stairwell, you should escape as soon as possible .

Note: When passing through a normally closed fire door, you should close the door immediately . Do not be greedy for property and miss the opportunity to escape.

Does escaping from a fire require posture?

It can save lives at critical moments!

When a fire occurs, thick smoke is one of the main causes of death .

Image source: National Emergency Broadcasting

Therefore, when escaping from a fire, try to avoid thick smoke as much as possible. Click on the video to learn the correct posture for escaping from a fire↓↓↓

Video source: National Emergency Broadcasting

During a fire, toxic and harmful gases produced by combustion will gradually rise with the high temperature, so the lower the water level, the better the air quality will be and the lower the probability of suffocation will be.

When escaping from a fire, bend down and keep a low profile to avoid the thick smoke above .

When moving forward, escape along the edge of the wall to make it easier to identify the direction.

Fire scenes change rapidly, and there is no unchanging escape rule. It is important to raise awareness of fire safety and learn more about firefighting knowledge.

Planning and production

Source: CCTV.com

Editor: Wang Mengru