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Firewalking

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Mighty_Emperor

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Couldn't find a firewalking thread so here it is:

Firewalkers burnt feet 'are a mystery'

BY ANDY SIBCY

IT'S a mystery why so many people are suffering burned feet after walking on red hot coals at the weekend, the Islander who led the event said today.

Experienced firewalking instructor Mathew Howard-Houston insisted there seemed to be no obvious reason why up to one third of the 60 firewalkers have attended Accident and Emergency.

It was reported yesterday that doctors and nurses had treated and dressed several pairs of feet following a Breakthrough Breast Cancer fund-raising fire walk on Friday at Ransoms Garden Centre.

'I really cannot explain it that much,' said Mr Howard-Houston. 'There are one or two things that can happen, but I think it's great that they raised so much money for charity.



Published 28/07/04
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http://www.thisisjersey.com/news/news8.html

Its an interesting day when firewalking failing is the mystery not the actual firewalking ;)
 
Absolutely no way in the world would I ever try firewalking.

Repeating 'cool wet grass cool wet grass cool wet grass' would NOT save me from getting burned.

I can't understand why peeps try it.
A shaman whose ancestors did it and whose family passed on the secret through many generations- yup.

An accountant spending an afternoon learning to do it as a teambuilding exercise- nope. :rolleyes:
 
I heard a story about a charity firewalk in this country. A group of people were attempting to get in the record books by doing the worlds longest firewalk. Unfortunately they had mis-read the rules, and pranced merily back and forth across a short stretch of coals. The rules stated it had to be one continual legnth of burning evil to count as a record.

Worst of all is that the charity was a hospital, and the ammount raised didn't nearly cover the costs of bandages, savalon and man hours involved in patching up the wallies' feet!!!

Can anyone substanciate this, or is it one of them thar urban legend things?
 
Found this about firewalking on the net

Walking on fire. Walking on hot coal bed is based on several factors. The first factor is the time taken for getting our skin burnt in a particular heat, the atmosphere i.e. the breeze, coolness, and the dampness. One way is to put rock salt on the hot coal bed which attracts moisture and so there is no sudden burns if one walks within 3 seconds. The other which is generally done in places of worship is that they wash their feet and body with lots of water in front of the hot coal bed and goes around the hot bed praying many times when their feet get a coating of wet clay and until the water in the clay gets evaporated, they won't get burnt. If one is afraid and tries to jump or run on the hot coal he is sure to get burnt as the red hot coal would then stick to his feet.
 
Seaweed, the incident you mention is on the 'Irony' thread.
It did indeed happen. What a bunch of wallies. :rolleyes:
 
"I can't understand why peeps try it. "

Because, like many things, its perfectly safe so long as it isn't being organised by a moron.

Laws of physics...mind you, there are lots of people who can't see how a 100-ton aircraft stays up either.:)
 
Fire walk puts seven in hospital

Seven people were taken to hospital with severe burns to their feet after walking over hot coals as part of a self-help seminar.

The seminar held in Rohrbach, Austria, urged the participants to walk barefoot over hot coals, promising them it would mobilise their energy reserves.

The course motto was: "If you can walk over hot coals, you can do anything".

However, those walking across the too-hot 32-foot-long bed of glowing embers soon realised something had gone terribly wrong when they felt excruciating pain and their feet began to burn.
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http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1094227.html?menu=news.quirkies

Question: If they now realise they can't walk over hot coals........
 
It's the fault of the person in charge.
They're supposed to rake the coals flat and leave them to cool until they're only just glowing.
The whole thing relies on people to have sweaty feet and stay calm. In this weather, people wear sandals and have dry feet.
What they should have done is to have soaked their feet in water before treading on the coals. Or not done it at all!
Myself, I wouldn't try it. It's a stupid, pointless gimmick.
Some companies make their employees do this as part of management training. I'd resign if somebody forced that on me.
 
Italian real estate staff injured in 'motivational' firewalk
A "motivation day" organised by one of Italy's biggest real estate agencies has ended in tears and injuries when nine staff had to be treated in hospital after walking barefoot on a bed of hot coals.
Published: 7:00AM BST 07 Jul 2010

Alessandro Di Priamo, a motivational trainer for companies, said that the nine salespeople from the Tecnocasa agency had suffered light burns and none were seriously hurt.

"Firewalking helps people overcome their fears, seek new challenges and understand that most of what they see as their limits are self-inflicted," Mr Di Priamo said.

He said the hotel near Rome where the exercise was held used the wrong kind of wood and some artificial coal without him knowing.

"I have done this job for 12 years with thousands of people and never had a problem. I myself walked first on that bed of burning coals and didn't feel anything - in fact that same evening I went for a 16 km run," he said.

Doctors said the injuries could take up to 10 days to heal.

Serafino Bisirri, the manager of the Villa Icidia hotel, denied responsibility for the incident. "If the wood wasn't the right sort, whose responsibility was that? Mr Di Priamo was the conductor of this particular orchestra. I mean, it's not as if I go walking on burning coals," he told the Guardian.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... ewalk.html
 
What does it say about the 8 people who went on and tried it after the first was burned?
 
nyarlathotepsub2 said:
What does it say about the 8 people who went on and tried it after the first was burned?
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That they were scared of losing their jobs, maybe?
 
Mythopoeika said:
nyarlathotepsub2 said:
What does it say about the 8 people who went on and tried it after the first was burned?
Click to expand...

That they were scared of losing their jobs, maybe?
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Too true. So many of these insane motivational courses put participants safety at risk. Anyone know of cases where employers/course organisers were successfully sued?

I even hate the dumb stupid idiotic cretinous "ice-breaking" exercises at training courses. I'd like to take an ice-pick to the head of whoever thinks them up.
 
Motivational speaker Robbins' coal walk burns more than 30

DALLAS (AP) -- More than 30 people who attended an event with motivational speaker Tony Robbins have been treated for burns after Robbins encouraged them to walk on hot coals as a way of conquering their fears, Dallas fire officials said.

Five people were taken to a hospital Thursday night, while the rest were treated at the scene for burns to their feet and lower extremities, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said.

...

Tad Schinke, an event trainer, told WFAA-TV: "We always have a few people that have some discomfort afterwards and we do our best to take care of them."

Such fire walks are not uncommon at Robbins' seminars: More than 20 people were treated for foot burns after a similar event in 2012 in San Jose, California.

One participant, Jacqueline Luxemberg, told WFAA that some people were not concentrating on walking across the coals because they were taking selfies and asking others to take video of them.

Fire officials used a city bus to hold many of the injured people; others were carried to ambulances or back inside the convention center to be evaluated.
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SOURCE: https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-30-people-burned-tony-robbins-hot-coals-124833010.html?ref=gs
 
Robbins is such a huckster. Since this was local news in our area it got a bit of coverage. I'd be interested in knowing about waivers these poor dupes signed. Bet they didn't cover medical bills:mad:
 
I'm amazed that they're still doing this fire walking thing, because there have been injuries before.
Conditions have to be just right - and they really could have helped things by making people walk through iced water beforehand.
 
They should have consulted Peter Duncan, when he firewalked for his TV show Duncan Dares he burnt his feet. It's not as simple as it looks.
 
Watch these people brave 600 degree charity fire walk in Looe for Fishermen's Mission in Cornwall
By G_WIlkinson | Posted: April 14, 2017
Video: 1m 1s.

More than 30 brave 'soles' were cheered on as they took part in a charity fire walk in Looe.

The undaunted fundraisers strode across 20-feet of glowing coals for the event in aid of The Fishermen's Mission. They were unharmed, despite the searing 600 degree centigrade heat.
The secret, we are told, is that it's all in the mind - and not to hang around too long in once place.

The event was held at the harbour in Looe and raised money for the charity, which helps fishermen and their families in Cornwall. There was a fair crowd for the trial, with stalls, music and street food on offer.
The evening was organised jointly with the Fishermen's Mission, Looe Harbour Commissioners, The Old Sail Loft and Looe Music Festival.

http://www.cornwalllive.com/watch-t...-in-cornwall/story-30271052-detail/story.html
Several photos on page.

Read more at http://www.cornwalllive.com/watch-t...0271052-detail/story.html#Q47q2iwwybaK5XkR.99
 
rynner2 said:
Watch these people brave 600 degree charity fire walk in Looe for Fishermen's Mission in Cornwall
By G_WIlkinson | Posted: April 14, 2017
Video: 1m 1s.

More than 30 brave 'soles' were cheered on as they took part in a charity fire walk in Looe.

The undaunted fundraisers strode across 20-feet of glowing coals for the event in aid of The Fishermen's Mission. They were unharmed, despite the searing 600 degree centigrade heat.
The secret, we are told, is that it's all in the mind - and not to hang around too long in once place.

The event was held at the harbour in Looe and raised money for the charity, which helps fishermen and their families in Cornwall. There was a fair crowd for the trial, with stalls, music and street food on offer.
The evening was organised jointly with the Fishermen's Mission, Looe Harbour Commissioners, The Old Sail Loft and Looe Music Festival.

http://www.cornwalllive.com/watch-t...-in-cornwall/story-30271052-detail/story.html
Several photos on page.

Read more at http://www.cornwalllive.com/watch-t...0271052-detail/story.html#Q47q2iwwybaK5XkR.99
Click to expand...
I attended a "team building" exercise in the 90's (remember them and Mission Statements?) when we were told to do the fire walking thing. I was the only one who refused - the rest got their feet burned, one so badly he couldn't walk for 2 weeks. Got told to keep my gob shut afterwards.
 
PeteS said:
I attended a "team building" exercise in the 90's (remember them and Mission Statements?) when we were told to do the fire walking thing. I was the only one who refused - the rest got their feet burned, one so badly he couldn't walk for 2 weeks. Got told to keep my gob shut afterwards.
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They should have put you on the fast-track to CEO level.
 
My other half did this. From my observations they let the fire burn down and rake it even before letting it cool a bit more. Plus they get briefed about the right way to walk. It's all down to conductivity of ash / flesh.

She was unharmed BTW and loved it.
 
A Swiss team-building exercise resulted in 25 fire-walking participants being treated for burns.
Hot coal walk leaves 25 injured in Switzerland

Twenty-five people have been treated for burns in northern Switzerland after they walked across hot coals as part of a team-building exercise.

Thirteen of them were taken to hospital and treated for more severe injuries after the incident on Tuesday evening.

A large emergency response, including 10 ambulances, arrived at the private event at around 18:00 (16:00 GMT).

The group walked over a bed of coals that was several metres long and felt pain shortly after, police said.

It is not yet clear if there was an issue with the set-up of the coals or with how the group walked across them. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61811157
 
This used to fascinate me as a youngster, watching it on (probably) Arthur C. Clarke's programmes.
 
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