I was around 20 he was a military major early 40s. Back then we didn't have the equipment we have today especially BCDs where you can control buoyancy
Neoprene suits if you cut them look like an aero chocolate bar full of tiny little air bubbles.

As you descend the suits compress under water pressure and in doing so loose buoyancy.

We normally add weight on the surface to make us neutrally buoyant but as you descend if you weighted wrong on the surface you will be too heavy going down
With a BCD you can adjust that by letting air into the BCD or letting it out
Without a BCD you can only release some of the lead weight you are carrying which then gives a buoyancy problem going back up into lesser pressure.
He was basically too heavy at 50 metres and on a steep slope
Nitrogen narcosis means that under pressure the nitrogen in the air we breath gets compressed and at a certain point can have a narcotic effect.

That will vary from person to person depending on many factors including how fit you are.

He got nitrogen narcosis while I was not nearly as effected as him being back then super fit and 20 :E

Nowadays NO way it would be suicide for me to attempt such a thing at my age

But at 20 you really don't think quite the same and are at a completely different fitness level luckily for him ;)

It is fairly clear in that situation that emergency services aren't going to get there in time to save a life. That makes a difference. The safe thing to do is obviously to keep a distance. Happily, there are still some people around who in such a situation where the cavalry aren't about to ride to the rescue, will risk their lives to help.

It's a tough call. Save the pilot or the pies in the car. I still don't know what I would have done myself.



Could have been a very different outcome if the plane had gone up a couple of minutes earlier, time was critical.

Having shadowed emergency services for a long time and also in role as a volunteer firemen there is no accounting for how the untrained public will react. Shock is shock, it's a condition rather than an intellectual response.

http://youtu.be/lzObhHet9QM

60% of casualties in confined space accidents are 1st responders.

No Cookies | Herald Sun

As I have a family I'm more standoffish than when I was younger.
Absolutely don't rush in.

Work to your strengths, enlist and manage those around you. Call them by what they are wearing, hey red shirt! Ect...
Something often overlooked with a burns victim is the amount of water needed to cool a burn. So get one bystander to collect water.
Victorian Burns Units
A few liters of water and a roll of cling film is cheap and versatile.
Screw the band aides, go for kit that will save a life in a messy traumatic accident. Trauma dressings rock.


Mickjoebill

Once Upon A Time the house across the road from our office caught fire.


There was no obvious clue as to whether there was anyone in the house or not. My recollection is that I kicked down the garden gate to discover that the back door to the house was open, with smoke pouring out.


I decided that this indicated that the occupants must have escaped, so there was no need for me to enter the house. Which indeed was the case - but nice of them not to bother to hang around outside and not to bother to tell the gathering crowd that there was nobody left inside the house who needed rescuing, eh?


(The guy was a blind smoker who'd dropped his cigarette. As far as I know his reward was that the council gave him a new council house, he having burnt down the old one.)

Interesting that you said that. I would have guessed the opposite - that leaving the gas cap closed to prevent egress of fumes would be better, but I had an experience many years ago that probably supports your training:

Back in the 1970s (must have been 1979) during a gasoline shortage I passed a car at the side of the highway with a weird flickering light. I pulled over and realized it was flames inside the car. I ran back to try to give assistance, but by the time I tried to open the door the interior was fully engulfed and I couldn't tell whether there was someone in the front seat or not. This went from a small fire to flames shooting out of the windows in less than 60 seconds. Another guy ran up to lend assistance and we decided that if there was someone inside we were too late. He said: "maybe we should get away in case the car blows up". I said "that's just Hollywood, they don't really do that".

We started walking slowly away and that's when the car blew up :eek:

So, funny you should mention that. After the car blew up we saw someone sitting on the nearby embankment, maybe 100 feet away from the fire. Turns out it was the driver. He just sat there while we were trying to rescue anyone inside! He said he was carrying extra gas cans in the back seat because of the shortage of gasoline, and then tossed a cigarette out the driver's window and that it blew back into the back seat and caused the fire. Not sure to this day whether I really believe him (maybe he torched the car for the insurance? dunno.). Still, nice of him to let us risk our lives trying to rescue him while he sat a safe distance away!!!