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Comment by mikeyouse | Hacker News Reader

I know they need to control any possibility of a fire but man would it be a rude awakening to escape a significant plane crash, release your seatbelt while hanging upside down, make it to the exit door and then get sprayed in the face with cold water on a February day in Toronto.

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Better cold water and not PFAS/firefighting foam

edit: apparently Canada banned PFAS in firefighting foam.

The US Forest Service also banned firefighting foam in parks or anywhere where endangered species are found. Now that they're defunded I bet we're gonna get a lot more of that stuff everywhere

Don’t forget OSHA. Those chemicals and nomex turnout gear are a source of elevated cancers in firefighters.

...and not the large amounts of smoke they're exposed to?

Different. The nomex tends to wick contaminants to the skin, especially around the neck. Any exposure to the foam is a risk.

There’s a lot of people on fire service in my family. The old guys have bad knees, are dead, and have smoking related issues. The younger (<50) guys are getting neck, throat and lymph node cancers. 70% of line of duty deaths are due to occupational cancer.

What is it about TDS that causes those affected to insert this topic into every unrelated discussion?

They were flying from Minneapolis though. Maybe that’s just normal February weather for them?

Toronto is a good 20 degrees warmer than Minneapolis right now but we tend not to turn the sprinklers on in February for a little outside fun.

Also plenty of delta flights will layover at MSP.

I recently flew between California and Mexico, with a layover in Denver. I hadn't paid any attention to the whether in Denver, until we were landing on a runway surrounded by snow and it dawned on my that I didn't even have a sweater. If we had to evacuate I'd have been in trouble, but even having a canceled flight could mean spending the night in a hotel there, without warm clothing that I could wear outside.

If I just survived a plane crash that would be the last thing on my mind.

Yeah I'd be fucking shocked but then crazily happy...

One of the two ejected rear passengers in Asiana 214 (neither of which were wearing their seat belt) was unlucky enough to have initially survived, only to be doused in firefighting foam and then run over.

When it's your time to go ...

After feeling like you might have legitimately barely escaped death everything you can feel feels pretty good until the adrenaline high wears off.

ill take that over consumption by fire

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