Wired: Question Authority--Why it's smart to disobey officials in emergenc

[NewHampshireDem]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.06/start.html?pg=3

For nearly four years - steadily, seriously, and with the unsentimental rigor for which we love them - civil engineers have been studying the destruction of the World Trade Center towers, sifting the tragedy for its lessons. And it turns out that one of the lessons is: Disobey authority. In a connected world, ordinary people often have access to better information than officials do.

<snip>
The report confirms a chilling fact that was widely covered in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. After both buildings were burning, many calls to 911 resulted in advice to stay put and wait for rescue. Also, occupants of the towers had been trained to use the stairs, not the elevators, in case of evacuation.

Fortunately, this advice was mostly ignored. According to the engineers, use of elevators in the early phase of the evacuation, along with the decision to not stay put, saved roughly 2,500 lives. This disobedience had nothing to do with panic. The report documents how evacuees stopped to help the injured and assist the mobility-impaired, even to give emotional comfort. Not panic but what disaster experts call reasoned flight ruled the day.

<snip>

Anybody who has been paying attention probably suspects that if we rely on orders from above to protect us, we'll be in terrible shape. But in a networked era, we have increasing opportunities to help ourselves. This is the real source of homeland security: not authoritarian schemes of surveillance and punishment, but multichannel networks of advice, information, and mutual aid.

[drm604]

1. I love this article.

"In a connected world, ordinary people often have access to better information than officials do."

In a way, this is a metaphor for the whole country at the moment. Only it's not so much that we have better information than officials, it's that we have information in spite of officials!

[Coastie for Truth]

2. The teaching brothers at St. Florian's School

(St Florian is the Patron Saint of Fire Fighters and Paramedics, "Saint Florian's School" is the slang term for the Fire Academy in many cities, "teaching brothers" and "teaching fathers" is a slang term for Fire Academy instructors who haven't fought a fire in years)

The official party line - from St. Florian's School - which is right for "contained" trash fires and copier fires -

1. Go two floors away from the "fire floor" - which is usually good advice for an electrical fire in a copier or a paper fire in a trash receptacle. But not for a major act of terrorism/sabotage.

2. Use the fire proof fire escapes --again, usually good advice for an electrical fire in a copier or a paper fire in a trash receptacle. But not for a major act of terrorism/sabotage.

Being "connected" - staying "connected" when the electricity and LAN go out-

1. Get an inexpensive battery powered scanner.
2. Your public safety people - fire and EMT and unencrypted police -work the 150.00-159.99 MHz band (police - encrypted and unencrypted - also use the 440 MHz and the 900 MHz bands). Most scanners pick up those bands.
3. Most scanners also pick up TV audio (not cable - just broadcast), AM radio, and FM broadcast radio.
4. Set your scanner for fire dispatch, fire high rise "working", fire "working" for your neighborhood (usually on your FD's web site), your local "all news" radio station, audio of your "all news" broadcast TV station.

Issues at 9/11 involved "repeaters" that were not turned on and "frequency management."

The "Deputy Chief" and the "Communications Chief" in our local FD (city of 2 million) have kicked butt and taken names on these issues locally. But - people are human - I keep my scanner on "Fire Dispatch" 24 by 7 and run "fire drills" at work and at home.

[Coastie for Truth]

3. These are the scanners my family carries.

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Link to . You can get them on eBay for about $150.00 (used, or new from Japan or Hong Kong - high positive feedback sellers)

[bemildred]

4. Well, the question is this.

Suppose you are a remote part of a very large dinosaur,
say a foot, and you step in some tar, or onto something burning.
Should you wait for advice from the head as to what to do?
Should you even wait for what the walnut sized brain in the
head has to say about it in the first place? I suggest the
answer is obvious.