How to survive when jumping from a burning building

Reducing the altitude to the maximum and increasing the throwing objects as buffers is the secret to helping you survive being stuck in a high-rise fire.

In the 27-storey high-rise apartment building in London, England, witnesses said a man hugged a mattress that jumped down from the highest floor after desperately shouting for help in desperation. However, survival experts say that this is not the best way to survive the high-rise fire.

Test free fall from the same height as a 25-storey house.

Christopher Richards, who specializes in physics and survival skills, said that the chances of surviving a person hugging a mattress jumping from the 27th floor are very low, if not impossible, because the mattress has resistance. The air is larger than the human body, according to Survival Skills.

When holding the mattress, the person will be turned over due to the wind's resistance to the mattress, resulting in the victim often landing on the mattress and suffering a tragic end. In the event that the lucky mattress landed first, its thickness of several tens of centimeters could not help reduce the impact on the victim's body when falling from too high altitude.

According to Richards, in the case of a high-rise fire and no other escape route, you can jump down to save yourself, but must follow the principle of reducing the altitude as much as possible and having enough soft ground materials to absorb less force of falling.

First of all, you must quickly wear a jacket and as many layers of clothing as possible to make a cushion that can reduce some of the vibrations on important parts of the body. Look around the apartment for big ropes, or you can take a fire hose in the hallway firefighters, tie one end to the table leg and push the table to the window. You can cling to this wire to climb down to the lower levels, repeat the process to reduce as much height as possible.

Richards did not encourage the trapped people to jump freely downwards.

When the fire has spread so fast that you cannot perform the steps above, forced to jump down in an emergency, look for places with soft ground below , such as the flower growing area near the foot of the building. Collect all kinds of blankets, cushions, pillows, and clothes to throw in this area to determine the drop point and create a mattress to reduce the impact on the body when landing.

Richards did not encourage the trapped people to jump freely downwards. According to him, try to wear shoes, wear gloves and fold out to the window, feet to climb outside, hands clinging to the edge of the window, making sure there are no sharp obstacles sticking out.

At this point, the victim's body will be close to the wall, slightly bending the legs up so that the knee folds like a spring to reduce the impact. Slowly let go so that it acts as a brake until you can no longer hold it and start falling. At this point, try to put frictional shoes and gloves on the wall to turn as much energy as possible from the fall into heat, but be careful not to let your body bounce too far.

The 27-storey tower caught fire in London.(Photo: Guardian).

As soon as you feel your toes touch the underlying cushion, fold your legs as much as possible, using your feet, knees, and hip joints as the main force absorbers, similar to cat movements when dropped.

At this point, you can roll on the ground to disperse the dynamic force, but use your hands to hold your head to protect the most important part. This fall will be very painful, may cause you to break your leg, but at least your chances of survival will increase significantly.

The most important thing when jumping from a burning building is to find ways to get to the lower floor to reduce the speed of falling and the jet's reaction to the body. If you jump from the 27th floor, all these measures are almost meaningless.

"These actions may sound complicated, but if you calculate fast and don't panic, you'll be surprised at what you can do in such a short time," Richards said.