Seeking refuge in a pool or the ocean won’t always protect you from the heat or smoke, experts say
As the wildfires in Maui tore through the town of Lahaina, some people fled into the ocean to try to escape the encroaching flames.
“We hid behind a jetty because the wind was so hot,” one man told a local television news station, KHON. “We tried to hold on as much as we could until the Coast Guard came.”
“It felt like we were in hell,” he added.
The U.S. Coast Guard received reports of dozens of people who fled to the water. The Coast Guard rescued 17 people from the harbor, much of which has been destroyed. All of the survivors are reported to be in stable condition. The wildfires have killed at least 93 people. An 86-year-old man who sought refuge in the water did not survive.
The ocean, a lake or a swimming pool might seem like a safe haven when you’re trying to escape a raging fire. But, experts say jumping into a body of water isn’t always your best chance for survival.
Maui survivor spent 5 hours in the ocean
Jack Minassian, an associate professor of fire science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said the water is “a last resort” to escape a fire.
“The better option is to evacuate early,” Minassian said. He recommends people create an evacuation plan with multiple escape routes in case they need to leave their home because of a wildfire.
Experts say in recent years there’s been a proliferation of “no-notice” wildfires where residents have little to no warning to leave their homes.
There are stories of people jumping into pools, lakes or oceans to find refuge from wildfires. In 2017, one California couple survived by staying in a neighbor’s pool for hours as the nearby houses burned, but another woman perished in a pool, possibly overcome by smoke.
Experts say you should do everything you can to get out of the area rather than being forced into water to escape a fire. Even if you’re submerged underwater and protected from the burning flames, you’re still at risk from ash and embers falling from the sky. And it’s going to become harder to breathe if the fire is raging around you.
“You probably won’t get burned, but that’s not what’s going to kill you,” said Carl Otsuka, fire inspector for the Honolulu Fire Department. “It’s the smoke that’s going to kill you.”
Otsuka said that if the roads are blocked, you should grab a bicycle or do whatever you can to get away. Try to relocate uphill, upwind, to get away from the billowing smoke, he said.
SOURCE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/08/10/water-pool-ocean-safe-wildfire/
