That’s straight nightmare fuel. Thanks for that.
That’s the incident that killed legendary volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft along with 41 others. This could be considered a snuff film.
“I am never afraid because I have seen so many eruptions in 23 years that even if I die tomorrow, I don’t care”
- Maurice Krafft, to a National Geographic film crew, the day before his death.
“The running guy’s scream is more chilling than the Wilhelm scream.”
Well. . . yeah. . . the Wilhelm Scream was a fake scream done for sound effect use, while this guy is means it when he screams. And can ya blame him?
There are communities just South of Seattle that are in the path of potential lahars from Mt. Rainier. They have a network warning sirens alert the communities in the river valleys, signed evacuation routes, schools practice evac. drills, etc. Fortunately there’s plenty of elevated terrain and most of the population is far enough away from the mountain that one only has to get about fifty feet above the valley floor to be a likely survivor.
Oh, that just Mother Nature throwing a BBQ, humans are on the menu of coarse.
Did you watch the video (because they say that in the video)?
Nope, I didn’t watch it. Not knowing about the deaths, it would be interesting. But knowing what’s happening, no thank you.
That’s not a criticism of posting it, BTW. It is an interesting and educational topic. Important lessons aren’t always comfortable to learn.
His scream was entirely reasonable. Who wouldn’t scream when the Black Smoke Monster gets mad?
Just the description is nightmare fuel, I haven’t watched the video.
Just to be clear, this is a video of a man being baked to death by pyroclastic flow, with sound?
Can somebody add me to the list of people disappointed in Boingboing, please?
I’m pretty sure no-one in the video was hurt. Those killed were further up the mountain.
No, this appears to be a video of someone successfully escaping a pyroclastic flow. (In the sense that he’s running to get away but it doesn’t look like the flow ever reached down to where he was.)
Don’t you have to sign a waiver to live in certain proximity which states that in an evacuation, emergency services will not come for you?
No. Although I am quite sure he was righteously terrified at the time. As my wife pointed out at about 0:30, the fact that the video survives for us to watch proves that no pyro flow ever reached the man or the truck.
No. Just freaking scared for good reasons. Not sure why the firetruck didn’t stop to pick the guy up or he didn’t just jump on the damn thing.
ETA @Shuck and @lolipop_jones and @RogerStrong have beat me to it, so what they said.
Yep. They lived lives so far beyond obsessed. Glorious human beings.
Maybe because the St. Helens eruption (and subsequent ashfall) are some of my earliest memories, part of me has always considered death by pyroclastic flow a very real danger, something to be consciously prepared for. What do you do when you see that coming? Run, or turn to watch the inevitable? What tops Johnston’s “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!” for last words?
You never fuck with a pyroclastic flow.
Pompeii, anyone? Pompeii? Pompeii anyone? Anyone?
No, it’s firemen/people getting out before the flow arrives. The flow comes down a valley and then loses speed considerably once it reaches the valley floor - it never reaches the camera.
Having been in first person area / contact with: avalanches, land-slides, earth quake(s), tornadoes, lightning strikes & tropical storms I have a healthy fear of things like this (I mainly fear physics really) - but a pyroclastic flow is one of my key “eeeep!” evocateurs, like being eaten alive by ants or something.
