NORMAL – “usual or ordinary: not strange”
These folks were driving along on the freeway just cruising down the road, no different than other trips along this route some of them had done before. First smoke appeared blowing across the road and was followed by the sight of flames along the road. Someone decided to stop. Maybe they could not see? Maybe they thought the flames would burn their car? The reason they stopped really does not matter at this point. What does matter is the flow of traffic stopped. People now started making decisions which would affect their lives or the lives of others!
CHANGE – “to make someone or something different”
Some people milled around watching the flames come toward them. Of course cell phones were brought out and video was taken. ‘Selfies’ made their way on to the internet. People did not seem to understand their “normal” had changed…………
Mass panic – “An uncontrolled mass response to a triggering event (e.g., fire, explosion) in which a crowd of people—e.g., on a religious pilgrimage or at a professional sporting or music event—move at once towards a presumed direction of egress, which, if blocked, may result in a mass disaster of human crush injuries and death due to compressive asphyxiation.”
Mass hysteria – “A socially contagious frenzy of irrational behavior in a group of people as a reaction to an event.”
One of the people involved gave this interview;
"Police had come by, calling over their loudspeakers for people to stay in their cars.” Sclafani and her teammates ditched their van, left everything and started running up the mountain in the 95 degree heat of the California afternoon. What seemed like 1,000 people were doing the same, she said. “Including a pregnant woman we helped out,” she said. They stayed up on the hill for about three hours.“There were lots of people crying. Some were vomiting. People were really frightened,” she said."
When we talk about normalcy bias we have to first work on our own. Then we have to take into account everyone else’s bias. Most people do not think about what could happen to change their day. They take no steps to prepare themselves or to give themselves items which could help them when the situation takes a turn for the worst. Instead we see here an example of people’s bias turning into panic and I would add a "out for themselves" mentality.
With the exception of a few of the large semi-trailers on the road, every single one of the passenger vehicles on the road could have put their engine into reverse and driven backwards on the freeway! They could, with a limited amount of cooperation, turned their vehicles around and carefully driven back the way they had come. Instead people thought only of their own situation and reacted in what they thought was the best way to save their own hides.
Luckily, no one was killed in this incident. The Fire Fighters did an outstanding job of dropping water on the burning vehicles right there on the freeway, never seen that trick before! What was unlucky is some people did not have vehicles to return to. They were now stranded on the freeway with what they had with them! Most of them had basically nothing with them………………
There was no group hug and a sharing of resources at the end of the danger. If people returned and their vehicle worked, they left the area. Not sure if the first person to run had a vehicle to return to. Absolutely positive the people just outside of the affected area enjoyed having video, photos and a story to tell but did not stay to help the people now stranded along the freeway. At the end of the day this is a reminder we are responsible for our loved ones and ourselves..... Do not count on others to make the right decision for you or to help you in any way!
The desert around the cities of Southern California is a real desert and most people tend to forget this as they fly by in the vehicles. If these people had been trapped by the flames for much longer than three hours or had been forced to run a greater distance to save their lives how many would have made it? How many people, on a regular day, would say they would stop to help the pregnant lady? How many of these people ran passed her in “real life”?
Remember the actions of others are out of your control yet can greatly affect your life! Have the forethought to pack a Bail Out Bag! Have a Get Home Bag! Make decisions even if the decision is not what the herd is doing! Help those people you can!
As Always,
Stay Safe!!!
