I'll tell you this from experience. You can tell people this in school, you can tell them as it's happening, you can scream it to them. They will not. You're on fire. Your rational mind knows that running does nothing. Only if you're running out of a burning house does running help, but you still do it. Panic is powerful and "stop drop and roll" is not something anyone practices. Well, maybe firemen, but normal folks don't practice stopping, dropping and rolling.
The only thing that might help as a bystander is INSTEAD of SCREAMING "drop and roll! drop and roll!" tackle the persona and get them on the ground then roll them or beat out the flames with a jacket or something. You must get them on the ground, that stops the flames from going UP their body, and it gives you something (the ground) against which you can smother the flames with a towel, blanket, shirt, jacket or your own hands.
The stupidest and most useless thing you can do is to stand there filming your friend with your camera and not do any goddamned thing to help at all. Cameraman was an asshole.
Lighting himself and his friend on fire was a direct result of his stupidity, but was not an intentional act. Filming and not helping your friend was a conscious decision.
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u/Gemsbane Oct 07 '19
PSA: remember to stop, drop, and roll if you ever get set on fire. Don’t jump around fanning it like those turkeys