One of the earliest professional fire brigades was run my Marcus Crassus in Ancient Rome. He had 500 slaves and he would turn up to a burning building, and offer to buy it at a vastly reduced rate, and if the owners refused, they would just stand around and watch it burn. He made so much money doing this that he went down in history as Crassus the rich.
smart guy, a genius businessman that early in history I think. The homeowners could lose everything, or pay and lose a lot but not everything. Really not much of a decision who would be stupid enough to say "jump off a bridge i rather have everything burn down than sell to you cheap". So their pride would cost them their entire home.
There are 2 fire poles left in my city. They took them out due to safety reasons. The stairs caused far more injuries than the poles ever did. Sleepy firefighters waking up and rushing down stairs turned out to be quite dangerous. They put the poles back in.
Safety was the Sole reason why the poles became widespread in the First place... Rushing down the stairs is Dangerous af, especially when you Just woke up and are still a Bit sleepy, but going down the Pole is very hard to fuck up.
@@semurobo Your not suggesting governments forget valuable lessons from the past? I had a boss in the army once that had served in Vietnam. He was Infantry and went on the last tour we saw combat on. He told me he couldn't believe it when they started bringing CAMS back in with zippers and webbing with velcro. He said they had that it Vietnam. The zippers would all jam with the mud and grit from living in that hell hole. So you effectively had no map pockets because they couldn't be closed and you would just lose everything. Also they had to remove all their velcro because it made a ripping noise every time you opened a pouch which the VC would hear and start shooting at. So the uniforms got changed to buttons on the clothing and clips on the webbing. Then they just forgot about it and went back to the old flawed ways.
@@uglyduckling81 what makes you think that I would suggest that? Also, to your example I can think of a huge Advantage velcro has ober buttons. The German Bundeswehr removed all Buttons from their uniforms (for deployed soldiers, Not for ones stationed in germany). You know why? Bulletproof vests are a thing nowadays. If you get shot in your chest, the bullet will Not penetrate through the vest, but If there is a button right under the spot where the bullet hits, all that energy is transfered to the Button and the button will penetrate your chest. Might Sound like an unlikely scenario, but there have been numerous cases of people getting "Shot" by Buttons in their shirt under their armor. Bulletproof vests werent widely available during the Vietnam war, so that wasnt anything to worry about. If your trousers are loose noone cares, you have a belt for that. Velcro is the way to Go for modern uniforms.
@@semurobo That's an interesting point. However if it came down to having the VC hear me over the chance a bullet might his a button..... Think I'll take my chances on the button because Charlie Don't Surf!
@@uglyduckling81 you can Open velcro quietly you know? When you Roll it Open very slowly, it barely makes any noise. And I dont think opening your pockets is of high priority when you are that Close to an enemy that they could hear your velcro open. You wont need a map, or anything else in your pockets, when your enemy is within a few meters, everything you will need at that Point will be your gun and maybe a hand grenade. And mud might have been an important Factor in Vietnam, but in the middle east you dont really need to Care about keeping your velcro clean. Also If your pockets are closed when entering mud, the velcro wont get dirty anyways.
It's the pole that you sometimes see on pictures going from the South Pole to the North Pole. In stead of firemen or pole dancers, the earth spins around it. Due to international treaties some part of if belongs to Europe.
@@machelvet9594 your reply had nothing to do with the comment anyway. And stop trying to make your self seem clever when you're replying to a joke comment
@@Olliefouracre Isn't the entire idea of QI to make jokes about a subject, joke about the jokes, make comments about jokes and even replying to a joke comment?
I'm reeeeeeally starting to wish I used my browser plug in to download some of the actual whole episodes themselves from the given youtube page here when those from Stephen's run were more readily available (I've done this with a number of other things over the years). The compilations and clips are great, but when it comes to Stephen Fry and QI I want every damn minute. I can rarely seem to find full episodes from any of his series on here anymore.
@@kevinw712 Dude ur comment made me search the playlist I saved so I can send it to u... ua-cam.com/play/PL2QUAXGgB_cLSCyImuY3aWS-4gCRTxFA-.html I see they've blocked every video in my country ....suddenly I'm depressed
@@Blood0cean well first of all thank you for that link, I'd tried my hand at a playlist search myself only a couple weeks ago, and the best I came up with was much shorter than that. However the videos that were no longer included in the list that I found, they'd appeared to have been categorically removed from youtube forever. Some of these ones from your list, if it's just a matter of the right country, I wonder if using a VPN would do the trick. That's becoming a lot more prevalent now, like a given streaming service that doesn't include a particular show or something you want to see, you use a VPN (some of which are even free), to make the server think you're logging in from a different country and you can view the given content.
I try to be like Clive Anderson. (not that it's working but I'm trying) Not only is he hilarious, but what I admire the most about him is his humility.
I'm really wondering how on earth these glitches are on the videos, surely the intern who's menial job it is to upload these to youtube can't be messing up that bad and I don't remember them on the original broadcasts either... I'm bewildered!
It is so reassuring to hear someone talk about this who really knows what they’re talking about. We have a a fire insurance plaque fortunately we don’t need it for fire protection. There were fights that broke out which company was going to put out the fire. And I’m told that even hoses were cut from rival fire companies. Thank you
4:05 “You’re not going to tie me up in legalese” Rob is a boss. Also, the 198 ppl who disliked this video are unpaid fireman. In all seriousness though, respect to the men and women who serve in fire brigades.
I worked within the fire service in the north of England in the early 2000's. When the pole was taken out of our station we were told it was because of safety reasons, as there was too many broken ankles (nationwide) 🤔
About one or two times a year I'll see a story about a fire department refusing to put out a fire because the resident declined to pay a fire prevention tax. Usually it's in some small town in America.
There actually was a case a few years ago in the US where a tax protester didn't pay the municipal tax which covered the fire department (I guess it was optional???) and his house burned down. The fire department came out and watched. He tried to retroactively pay so they'd put out the fire but they refused the payment on the grounds that, if they allowed that it would set a precedent of people only paying the tax at the moment they needed it. The fire spread to a neighbor's house and the fire dept. put that one out, because he had paid the tax, but otherwise they watched the house burn to the ground.
I read about that one, That was messed up. However it was actually because the town didn't have a fire department, you had to pay for another town's guys to drive the 10 - 20 mins to come out and fight it. Which is a bit more understandable but you think they'd just make it really expensive to pay on occurance rather than let the poor bastards house burn down. Out here Ambulance membership is $60 per year as compared to $800 - $1200 if you pay afterwards.
@@caralama08 It's a reference to the show Whose Line Is It Anyway? "The original host Drew Carey awarded arbitrary point values after each game, often citing a humorous reason for his decision. The points were purely decorative and served no practical purpose. He would reiterate this at the beginning of, and multiple times throughout, each episode by describing Whose Line as "the show where everything's made up and the points don't matter".
@@caralama08 I've watched a bunch of clips from QI, and not a full episode of it, but it just seems like the points didn't matter on this show, either.
I did a project in Baltimore, Maryland, USA and was in half the fire stations, some of which were quite old. The firehouses had circular staircases because horses would not go up them. After they went to gasoline powered engines, they had to cut the bottom off the basement doors and seal the bottom, otherwise gas vapors would seep downstairs into the coal furnace.
I visited a fire station when I was in Crete back in 2012 (long story), and they said that Greek fire stations don't have poles, they actually have slides. Unfortunately a lot of them had been taken out, so on Crete for example I think there were only 2 stations that still had them. Then again, I'm pretty sure they also said there were only 4 or 5 stations on the whole island, so...
I was told the reason they had pole was because back in the older days fire engine were pulled by horses and it made sense to have the stables underneath the firefighters room so as to separate the horses and peoples living quarters while also having a quick way of connecting them.
Firendly reminder: Smoke rises up. In a smoke filled room, crawl on the floor if you can. You'll still breathe in smoke, but much less than if your standing
I heard that Crassus in Rome ran the fire service and used to turn up and say 'how much will you pay me to put out your fire?' and I believe sometimes he was also responsible for setting houses on fire in order to boost his income.
My mom's cousin built a house on the shore of Lake Superior. He built it to look like a lighthouse but the top of the tower was just a lookout tower. But the cool thing was he put a fireman's pole going all the way down to the basement. That was FUN!
They had an issue where I lived with the poles, and it ended up becoming a big political issue because the firefighters decided they needed quarterly instructions on how to use the poles by adult entertainers.
You seem to have an image of each person patiently waiting for the one before to have cleared the area below, which is not what happens at all. There probably isn't much in it if you're only one floor up (I still think the pole is quicker - and you have to take into account getting to and from the stairs), but for two or more floors a pole is much quicker. It's also a lot more dangerous running downstairs, especially while putting protective equipment on.
@@otterspocket2826 Maybe because I'm a firefighter and I know how things work? Safety is no joke in the fire service, you'll get written up for not following safety protocols. They actually did a study in Japan for this. They averaged the time it'd take for a crew to remove the safety guards from the pole and have everyone slide down it one after the other, as opposed to having everyone go down the stairs, and the stairs was found faster, because everyone could go down the stairs together rather than waiting in a queue
I mean, I knew which point in the video you meant, I knew it would be an annoying sound, and you did say ear rape, and yet for some reason I just had to click the damned time code.
I imagine they start opening the doors while they're still getting ready to leave; they're not just sitting in the truck waiting for the door to go up.
Brydon is right. It's the smoke. Or more accurately, the "fire gasses" which are mostly carbon monoxide mixed with soot. CO is among the most deadly of gasses, as it binds to the hemoglobin much more strongly than regular oxygen. A level as low as 12.5% of the atmosphere is lethal.
Doesn’t that make you lose consciousness, then you collapse on the floor where there is still oxygen, but then you burn to death as you’re unconscious?
Usually one arm and both legs (all clothed) are wrapped around the pole when it is mounted. The screeching of skin on brass (except for the palm of the hand and the fingers) is pretty absurd - that hurts!
I spoke to a fireman as a child, their pole was made of wood, and his worst experience was going down mostly naked and having it burn/peel of a good portion of skin.
"And if we choke, what can't we do?" "Breathe." "And if we can't breathe, we... ?" "Die." Only on QI could all of this be said with such ruckus laughter underneath.
There are some houses/buildings in the Whitechapel area of London that still have those plaques on the outside, Fournier Street and Princelet Street and other streets as well I imagine.
I looked up cause of death, since some commenters were saying carbon monoxide. Found this: "The characteristic biphasic distribution of carboxyhemoglobin in fire victims together with other observations suggest that the principal causes of death are carbon monoxide followed by carbon dioxide poisoning and/or oxygen deficiency, while the influence of heat is considered to be of minor importance." On the other hand, carbon monoxide forms where there is not enough oxygen to form carbon dioxide, so it's lack of oxygen either way. :-)
What they are talking about with the Firefighters showing up but then not putting the fire out actually happened recently in the US. In Tennessee they had subscription fees for the fire department and someones house was on fire and the fire department showed up. She tried to pay the fee right there but they refused it and just stayed to watch and see if the fire would cross over to the houses nearby or not, but did not help put the fire out at all.
well your telling falsehoods. Yes, the Tennessee fires are in a rural area. The area they are in doesn't have a fire department and don't want to pay for one, instead they use a nearby towns fire department which need to be paid in order to work. So anyone in the rural areas need to pay a 100 dollar or so yearly fee to be covered by the out-of-area fire department to pay for costs and staff. If you don't pay the yearly fee, you CAN pay when they show up but it costs you about 1 thousand dollars a hour while the fire department is there. The homeowners didn't have the money to pay the 1000/hour fee so the fire department didn't do anything. Sad, but the fire department needs money in order to keep working and those in that rural area actually disbanded their own fire department long ago to save money, so now they have to pay outsiders to handle their fires. Tough cookies if they refuse to pay, the house owners even said "we didn't think it would ever happen to us, so we didn't pay". They got what they paid for. Nothing.
cat moth It’s a system the people of this town voluntarily chose for themselves. Before you go around telling people to get their priorities straight, recognize that not everyone’s priorities match up with yours.
james friel Like someone else said, if they haven't paid the fee, put out the fucking fire and bill them afterwards. I wonder what it's doing psychologically to the firefighters who work at that fire department. I find it hard to imagine that a person who is willing to do such a dangerous, life-threatening job to help other people would have no ethical qualms about intentionally letting someone's home burn down just because they couldn't afford to pay at the time
Actually incorrect, new fire stations with an upper floor don't have poles these days. They are kitted up beforehand so the extra weight knackers their knees over the years
Again..I am Oh....6 years late. But, when you think about it: If back when they had to pay for a plaque, you would assume the block would pair up, so each house paid half the fees for the plaque, but only every other house HAD a plaque....
+zh11147 You might not want to extend one decision by the SCOTUS to the whole world. In the US, the police don't have a constitutional duty to protect, but some states have statutes that create a duty to act: inpublicsafety.com/2014/03/duty-to-act-legal-obligations-vs-community-expectations/ In other countries, e.g. the UK, this duty extends to the national level: www.thompsons.law.co.uk/ltext/lb0408-police-can-be-sued.htm
Milton KL Who pays for fire departments where you live? I believe most departments are supported by taxes, so even if the citizens of your country somehow don't care if firefighters let houses burn down for the sake of a story, which I doubt is true, people would demand that part of the tax law be removed if it was really happening on a consistent basis
The fire pole in America comes from a time when firehouses were segregated by race. The all black houses wanted to beat the other houses to the scene, so they installed fire poles to shave off some time. If I remember correctly, the first poles _actually were_ made out of wood - though presumably they would've been well sanded and lacquered, lol. I'm not sure how it is in Europe, but in America a lot of firehouses still have a firehouse dog as well. Dalmatians used to be kept in order to prevent other dogs or animals from pestering the horses pulling the horse-drawn engines - and to keep rival fire companies from taking equipment, etc. Today, our engines aren't pulled by horses and our equipment isn't pilfered by neighboring departments, so our house has a Black Lab instead. (Dalmatians are actually pretty ill-tempered dogs, which is why they were used in the first place.)
Dalmations were used before this as coach or carriage dogs because of their endurance and fairly large size they would run alongside the horse drawn vehicles of merchants guarding them from highwaymen.
It doesn't matter, because of COURSE hair doesn't matter, but until I saw reruns and clips of QI I had no idea that Rob was wearing anything or had anything atop his head at all.
There are a few places in the US that still has subscription fire service. (Mostly because the residents of a certain community are too stupid and too cheap to pay taxes to fund even a volunteer dept.) But thankfully that is an extreme rarity. And yes, poles CAN be dangerous, you don't get a second chance if your grip or technique is off.
I love when Rob randomly switches over to being a host, even though he's not hosting the show
"Your Lordship is absolutely right" kills me every time.
I thought he said 'your logic is absolutely right' but that's so much funnier lol
I like how rob decided that he was going to be Stephen for a bit
Loved it! And perfectly!
Rob at his follicle lowpoint. Now he is walking talking proof that sometimes hair transplants really works.
Follicle lowpoint is a great name for a band
He had been balder than this, this was when his hair transplant was in need of a top-up.
He's been BALDER?!
Rob was a Norse god?
Nah, that’s balderdash
One of the earliest professional fire brigades was run my Marcus Crassus in Ancient Rome. He had 500 slaves and he would turn up to a burning building, and offer to buy it at a vastly reduced rate, and if the owners refused, they would just stand around and watch it burn. He made so much money doing this that he went down in history as Crassus the rich.
smart guy, a genius businessman that early in history I think. The homeowners could lose everything, or pay and lose a lot but not everything. Really not much of a decision who would be stupid enough to say "jump off a bridge i rather have everything burn down than sell to you cheap". So their pride would cost them their entire home.
Nero springs to mind
james friel: Either way, they would lose their home.
You might be thinking of Cresus for the last part, but if not I stand corrected.
I wonder how some of these fires have started...
I love when Brydon takes over someone else's show
I liked it when he hijacked big fat quiz of the year that one time!
Alan Davies is the one who tries to take over.
It was like watching the lunatics take over the asylum.
Only diffence with Jimmy is that Stephen allows this to happen, maintaining his leadership role.
Like when he took over Would I lie to you?
I love when rob brydon goes on these rants
hes great i love his smoke rant where he just states the obvious over and over and makes it funny.
Tired Sloth he sounds like a cool teacher you know
I want him as a teacher now omg
Any show he goes he takes over. He is too good of an entertainer.
Your not gonna tie him up in any legalese.
I will forever love this clip because of Rob's explanation
Rob brydon would be kinda awesome to have as a teacher.
One of his exam questions would be "Name a type of sock all men should be wearing"
I just want to thank you for responding. Because of that I just rewatched this amazing clip.
A long sock ?
Watch it again!
Professor of the Obvious.
There are 2 fire poles left in my city.
They took them out due to safety reasons.
The stairs caused far more injuries than the poles ever did. Sleepy firefighters waking up and rushing down stairs turned out to be quite dangerous.
They put the poles back in.
Safety was the Sole reason why the poles became widespread in the First place...
Rushing down the stairs is Dangerous af, especially when you Just woke up and are still a Bit sleepy, but going down the Pole is very hard to fuck up.
@@semurobo Your not suggesting governments forget valuable lessons from the past?
I had a boss in the army once that had served in Vietnam. He was Infantry and went on the last tour we saw combat on.
He told me he couldn't believe it when they started bringing CAMS back in with zippers and webbing with velcro.
He said they had that it Vietnam. The zippers would all jam with the mud and grit from living in that hell hole. So you effectively had no map pockets because they couldn't be closed and you would just lose everything.
Also they had to remove all their velcro because it made a ripping noise every time you opened a pouch which the VC would hear and start shooting at.
So the uniforms got changed to buttons on the clothing and clips on the webbing.
Then they just forgot about it and went back to the old flawed ways.
@@uglyduckling81 what makes you think that I would suggest that?
Also, to your example I can think of a huge Advantage velcro has ober buttons.
The German Bundeswehr removed all Buttons from their uniforms (for deployed soldiers, Not for ones stationed in germany). You know why?
Bulletproof vests are a thing nowadays. If you get shot in your chest, the bullet will Not penetrate through the vest, but If there is a button right under the spot where the bullet hits, all that energy is transfered to the Button and the button will penetrate your chest.
Might Sound like an unlikely scenario, but there have been numerous cases of people getting "Shot" by Buttons in their shirt under their armor.
Bulletproof vests werent widely available during the Vietnam war, so that wasnt anything to worry about.
If your trousers are loose noone cares, you have a belt for that.
Velcro is the way to Go for modern uniforms.
@@semurobo That's an interesting point.
However if it came down to having the VC hear me over the chance a bullet might his a button.....
Think I'll take my chances on the button because Charlie Don't Surf!
@@uglyduckling81 you can Open velcro quietly you know?
When you Roll it Open very slowly, it barely makes any noise.
And I dont think opening your pockets is of high priority when you are that Close to an enemy that they could hear your velcro open.
You wont need a map, or anything else in your pockets, when your enemy is within a few meters, everything you will need at that Point will be your gun and maybe a hand grenade.
And mud might have been an important Factor in Vietnam, but in the middle east you dont really need to Care about keeping your velcro clean.
Also If your pockets are closed when entering mud, the velcro wont get dirty anyways.
Rob Brydon is really teaching me a lot about life.
He’s the reason a lot of people quit smoking.
I always loved robs over the top explanations of simple things to try and sneak a point from the elves 😂
If I was an elf, I’d want to write on the screen: “GET TO THE BLOODY POINT!”
As a tiny 6 year old I used to love sliding down the pole at the fire station my dad was based at.
Terrifying fun.
I can't help but notice that Rob Brydon is significantly LESS bald now.
got that hair plug money now.
I haven't seen him in awhile and I thought "It's looking quite sparse up there, innit."
Clive, however, never cared
Stephen: "do you know where's the longest pole in Europe?"
Me: "Poland?"
It's the pole that you sometimes see on pictures going from the South Pole to the North Pole. In stead of firemen or pole dancers, the earth spins around it. Due to international treaties some part of if belongs to Europe.
@@machelvet9594 not clever because they said firemans pole in the vid so shut up
@@Olliefouracre "REPLY" means that you reply to someones comment, not to the vid.
You seem to be OFF with your comment. - Better luck next time.
@@machelvet9594 your reply had nothing to do with the comment anyway. And stop trying to make your self seem clever when you're replying to a joke comment
@@Olliefouracre Isn't the entire idea of QI to make jokes about a subject, joke about the jokes, make comments about jokes and even replying to a joke comment?
"I think the thighs have to exert pressure" - Stephen Fry, 2008
My favourite thing about Rob's bit here is that when you're a teacher, sometimes you really do have to throw ONLY SOFTBALLS
When the official channel don't have a clean recording of their own work is dissapointing.
washing machined QI!
@Grace Furrow Besides, this is UA-cam, not the national archive of film and television. it'll do perfectly well for what it is.
I'm reeeeeeally starting to wish I used my browser plug in to download some of the actual whole episodes themselves from the given youtube page here when those from Stephen's run were more readily available (I've done this with a number of other things over the years). The compilations and clips are great, but when it comes to Stephen Fry and QI I want every damn minute. I can rarely seem to find full episodes from any of his series on here anymore.
@@kevinw712
Dude ur comment made me search the playlist I saved so I can send it to u...
ua-cam.com/play/PL2QUAXGgB_cLSCyImuY3aWS-4gCRTxFA-.html
I see they've blocked every video in my country ....suddenly I'm depressed
@@Blood0cean well first of all thank you for that link, I'd tried my hand at a playlist search myself only a couple weeks ago, and the best I came up with was much shorter than that. However the videos that were no longer included in the list that I found, they'd appeared to have been categorically removed from youtube forever. Some of these ones from your list, if it's just a matter of the right country, I wonder if using a VPN would do the trick. That's becoming a lot more prevalent now, like a given streaming service that doesn't include a particular show or something you want to see, you use a VPN (some of which are even free), to make the server think you're logging in from a different country and you can view the given content.
I try to be like Clive Anderson. (not that it's working but I'm trying)
Not only is he hilarious, but what I admire the most about him is his humility.
And how he humiliated the Bee Gees
He's very clever
1:17 a glitch in the Matrix
I'm really wondering how on earth these glitches are on the videos, surely the intern who's menial job it is to upload these to youtube can't be messing up that bad and I don't remember them on the original broadcasts either... I'm bewildered!
1:06
it scared the shit out of me
Thank god this comment was here, I thought my jail broken iPad was flipping out
Brydon's application to be the new presenter 😂😂
It is so reassuring to hear someone talk about this who really knows what they’re talking about. We have a a fire insurance plaque fortunately we don’t need it for fire protection. There were fights that broke out which company was going to put out the fire. And I’m told that even hoses were cut from rival fire companies. Thank you
Working against each other? Typical sinful competitive nature working against saving lives....
4:05 “You’re not going to tie me up in legalese” Rob is a boss. Also, the 198 ppl who disliked this video are unpaid fireman. In all seriousness though, respect to the men and women who serve in fire brigades.
Clive Anderson was a barrister before he became a comedian.
1:17 RIP Headphone users
Good, whining fuckers.
It's not even loud.
As someone watching on speakers with a powerful external subwoofer..
..I died
Oh thankgod, i was shitting myself that my pc was about permanently die
@@MotoCat91 same, good thing i had my niece's training potty nearby
I worked within the fire service in the north of England in the early 2000's. When the pole was taken out of our station we were told it was because of safety reasons, as there was too many broken ankles (nationwide) 🤔
About one or two times a year I'll see a story about a fire department refusing to put out a fire because the resident declined to pay a fire prevention tax.
Usually it's in some small town in America.
There actually was a case a few years ago in the US where a tax protester didn't pay the municipal tax which covered the fire department (I guess it was optional???) and his house burned down. The fire department came out and watched. He tried to retroactively pay so they'd put out the fire but they refused the payment on the grounds that, if they allowed that it would set a precedent of people only paying the tax at the moment they needed it. The fire spread to a neighbor's house and the fire dept. put that one out, because he had paid the tax, but otherwise they watched the house burn to the ground.
Pay your taxes kids, they are there for a reason
If it was anywhere else I would not believe this.
I read about that one, That was messed up.
However it was actually because the town didn't have a fire department, you had to pay for another town's guys to drive the 10 - 20 mins to come out and fight it.
Which is a bit more understandable but you think they'd just make it really expensive to pay on occurance rather than let the poor bastards house burn down.
Out here Ambulance membership is $60 per year as compared to $800 - $1200 if you pay afterwards.
I read this plot as a short story--author must have seen the news story!
@@mattkennedy9308 Oh yeah that's totally reasonable
Welcome to QI, where everyone's right and the points don't matter!
macsnafu 🤔???
@@caralama08 It's a reference to the show Whose Line Is It Anyway?
"The original host Drew Carey awarded arbitrary point values after each game, often citing a humorous reason for his decision. The points were purely decorative and served no practical purpose. He would reiterate this at the beginning of, and multiple times throughout, each episode by describing Whose Line as "the show where everything's made up and the points don't matter".
macsnafu AahahHahaha! I thought it was! 😂🤣😂 That’s Why I had a moment of confusion! Thinking 🤔 “What the heck did I just watch!?” Pmsl 😆
@@caralama08 I've watched a bunch of clips from QI, and not a full episode of it, but it just seems like the points didn't matter on this show, either.
Mac goes old skool, there. :D
one of the greatest questions/riffs on QI ever
Good to know. If this is the threshold, I won't bother watching another.
That's the best impression of Stephen on QI evvaaa
I'm a polish guy and I still find Rob's answer funny xD
What do you polish?
Harcix 😂
Harcix he just means he’s skinny and tall.
KJ: I thought they referred to themselves as rakes.
Harcix Ba dum tsss...
P.S. I'm Polish too
Rob Bryson is an absolute legend. I just love it when he breaks into that teacher-like sense of humour.....
*My favourite scene from QI!*
I did a project in Baltimore, Maryland, USA and was in half the fire stations, some of which were quite old. The firehouses had circular staircases because horses would not go up them. After they went to gasoline powered engines, they had to cut the bottom off the basement doors and seal the bottom, otherwise gas vapors would seep downstairs into the coal furnace.
I visited a fire station when I was in Crete back in 2012 (long story), and they said that Greek fire stations don't have poles, they actually have slides. Unfortunately a lot of them had been taken out, so on Crete for example I think there were only 2 stations that still had them. Then again, I'm pretty sure they also said there were only 4 or 5 stations on the whole island, so...
Some buildings in the US have slides for fire escapes. I used to work outside a small town in Illinois that had one at the school :)
3:28 This is wrong, see Tom Scott's video!
love the bass drop at 1:17
I was told the reason they had pole was because back in the older days fire engine were pulled by horses and it made sense to have the stables underneath the firefighters room so as to separate the horses and peoples living quarters while also having a quick way of connecting them.
mademan543. I m afraid you re confusing fire stations with merry-go-rounds.
Rob Brydon is the master at stating the bleeding obvious. 😁
Firendly reminder: Smoke rises up. In a smoke filled room, crawl on the floor if you can. You'll still breathe in smoke, but much less than if your standing
Yeah, dont brethe the smoke, it will burn your throat and youll pass out after the first or seconds lungfull
How the fuck am I supposed to outrun the fire if I'm crawling on the floor, y'all are trying to kill me
Booxwee Breathe.😉👍
You'll be crawling in CO2, better than CO, but still deadly. Better to just get away as fast as you can.
@@defeqel6537 true, though at least you can see further than if youre standing with your head closer to the smoke ;)
There's a bug on Alan's shirt at 1:38.
There's actually a shirt on Alan's bug. It is a suave bug, designed for the spotlight.
That's a microphone, it clips on. They all have one, but Alan just doesn't care that his is visible.
left side of his collar look carefully
FatPanda o
TheUnstableThinker nope, there's a bug moving upwards on his collar.
This show is a gem, i love it
I thought Slenderman was aproaching while watching this QI clip lmao
So a fire engine used to be like a modern American ambulance.
"We'll save your life, but only in exchange for every penny you own."
Clive is a gem
I heard that Crassus in Rome ran the fire service and used to turn up and say 'how much will you pay me to put out your fire?' and I believe sometimes he was also responsible for setting houses on fire in order to boost his income.
I thought fireman's pole was a medical condition similar to housemaid's knee.
Or am I thinking of shepherd's bush?
Shepherds bush is a neighbourhood.
Maybe you are thinking of tennis elbow.
Unless you were making a joke.
@@Lord_Skeptic "Shepherd's bush" sounds like a very unkempt crotch.
"Is it the slinky?"
Unless this is a reference to something else in the episode this is very random.
I didn't get that either!
it was a wild guess!
My mom's cousin built a house on the shore of Lake Superior. He built it to look like a lighthouse but the top of the tower was just a lookout tower. But the cool thing was he put a fireman's pole going all the way down to the basement. That was FUN!
The early fire plaques were made of lead, later brass tin or iron as well.
Oh fun I am listening to the clip that Tom Scott recently disproved
It's not the fire that kills you, it's the sudden change in direction.
Who else is watching the pole-sliding firemen in the background and mentally reciting "Pugh. Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb"?
Feels good to be reminded of Arthur Brown today, what a legend
That bit at the end reminded me of my school teachers hahaha
They had an issue where I lived with the poles, and it ended up becoming a big political issue because the firefighters decided they needed quarterly instructions on how to use the poles by adult entertainers.
Rob's way of speaking right at the end really made me think of Seinfeld, but I can't quite put my finger on any particular scene.
He's spoofing Stephen - that's how Stephen pulls answers out of people. 😬
How can you not love Rob Brydon
I really hope Robert Brydon got points for that! 😂
1:17 I thought my damn phone was broken, which is plausible because I just dropped it in the sink earlier today. I nearly shit myself.
It's faster for 10 firefighters to go down the stairs in a line, rather than have to wait for someone to go down the pole one at a time.
Which is why, like they mentioned, it is no longer built with two floors.
You seem to have an image of each person patiently waiting for the one before to have cleared the area below, which is not what happens at all. There probably isn't much in it if you're only one floor up (I still think the pole is quicker - and you have to take into account getting to and from the stairs), but for two or more floors a pole is much quicker. It's also a lot more dangerous running downstairs, especially while putting protective equipment on.
The equipment isnt taken into the living areas anymore, its required they keep it next to the trucks now..
@@otterspocket2826 Maybe because I'm a firefighter and I know how things work? Safety is no joke in the fire service, you'll get written up for not following safety protocols. They actually did a study in Japan for this. They averaged the time it'd take for a crew to remove the safety guards from the pole and have everyone slide down it one after the other, as opposed to having everyone go down the stairs, and the stairs was found faster, because everyone could go down the stairs together rather than waiting in a queue
2:07 A lot of firefighters, Alan? I figured they took the footage from the Clown Brigade of firefighters.
Gotta say, Brydons hair implants are very good - I don’t even remember him being this thin
Ear rape at 1:17
Good to know it's not my computer doing that.
Stephen farted.
I mean, I knew which point in the video you meant, I knew it would be an annoying sound, and you did say ear rape, and yet for some reason I just had to click the damned time code.
theres one in every video lmao
I've noticed that... perhaps they're sneaking in secret code, a cry for help from the boffins, lashed and chained in the QI dungeons.
The last part reminded me of a scene in My Cousin Vinny (1992) when lawyer Vinny is asking a not so bright witness simple questions.
Isn't there a strange noise at 1:17? Or am I oficially going crazy now?
No there is I know to expect it & it still makes me jump 😂
That ending… oh, I can't breathe
And if you can't breathe what do you do?
"It chokes you. And if we choke, what can't we do?"
Me: "Sing!"
Vogue.
thanks
1:07 Wild Missingno. appeared.
A spiral slide actually sounds like a good idea.
4:00 BRILLIANT!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
that insurance company fact is brutally dystopian
If every second counts and all that, why do the doors to the fire station always open so slowly?
I imagine they start opening the doors while they're still getting ready to leave; they're not just sitting in the truck waiting for the door to go up.
If you have on long sleeves, the bend of your arm is used to grasp the pole to control your slide.
Brydon is right. It's the smoke. Or more accurately, the "fire gasses" which are mostly carbon monoxide mixed with soot. CO is among the most deadly of gasses, as it binds to the hemoglobin much more strongly than regular oxygen. A level as low as 12.5% of the atmosphere is lethal.
Doesn’t that make you lose consciousness, then you collapse on the floor where there is still oxygen, but then you burn to death as you’re unconscious?
Usually one arm and both legs (all clothed) are wrapped around the pole when it is mounted. The screeching of skin on brass (except for the palm of the hand and the fingers) is pretty absurd - that hurts!
I spoke to a fireman as a child, their pole was made of wood, and his worst experience was going down mostly naked and having it burn/peel of a good portion of skin.
"And if we choke, what can't we do?" "Breathe."
"And if we can't breathe, we... ?" "Die."
Only on QI could all of this be said with such ruckus laughter underneath.
Rob Brydon going into full Uncle Bryn mode
was it storming when you shot this?
There are some houses/buildings in the Whitechapel area of London that still have those plaques on the outside, Fournier Street and Princelet Street and other streets as well I imagine.
Literally LOL, not sure Steven caught on what he was doing right away.
Rob Brydon must have been on the list behind Sandi to take over the show
I heard somewhere that the producers originally wanted Michael Palin before choosing Stephen.
The pole was kept by Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb.
How is this not added to "Poking fun at Stephen"? Even if Rob didn't mean to, it was hella fun, him taking over!
My thoughts exactly
Why is it they only ever show the pole for coming down?
I looked up cause of death, since some commenters were saying carbon monoxide. Found this:
"The characteristic biphasic distribution of carboxyhemoglobin in fire victims together with other observations suggest that the principal causes of death are carbon monoxide followed by carbon dioxide poisoning and/or oxygen deficiency, while the influence of heat is considered to be of minor importance."
On the other hand, carbon monoxide forms where there is not enough oxygen to form carbon dioxide, so it's lack of oxygen either way. :-)
Yep. No oxygen is bad but carbon monoxide will fuck up your ability to process it at all.
What's up with all the glitches in this video?
Damn the hair transplant did Rob Brydon's confidence a whole bunch
What they are talking about with the Firefighters showing up but then not putting the fire out actually happened recently in the US. In Tennessee they had subscription fees for the fire department and someones house was on fire and the fire department showed up. She tried to pay the fee right there but they refused it and just stayed to watch and see if the fire would cross over to the houses nearby or not, but did not help put the fire out at all.
well your telling falsehoods. Yes, the Tennessee fires are in a rural area. The area they are in doesn't have a fire department and don't want to pay for one, instead they use a nearby towns fire department which need to be paid in order to work. So anyone in the rural areas need to pay a 100 dollar or so yearly fee to be covered by the out-of-area fire department to pay for costs and staff. If you don't pay the yearly fee, you CAN pay when they show up but it costs you about 1 thousand dollars a hour while the fire department is there. The homeowners didn't have the money to pay the 1000/hour fee so the fire department didn't do anything. Sad, but the fire department needs money in order to keep working and those in that rural area actually disbanded their own fire department long ago to save money, so now they have to pay outsiders to handle their fires. Tough cookies if they refuse to pay, the house owners even said "we didn't think it would ever happen to us, so we didn't pay". They got what they paid for. Nothing.
Welcome to America, question mark.
if this is real, why don't they just put the fire out and send them an invoice? The people could pay over some time or face judicial consequences.
cat moth It’s a system the people of this town voluntarily chose for themselves. Before you go around telling people to get their priorities straight, recognize that not everyone’s priorities match up with yours.
james friel Like someone else said, if they haven't paid the fee, put out the fucking fire and bill them afterwards. I wonder what it's doing psychologically to the firefighters who work at that fire department. I find it hard to imagine that a person who is willing to do such a dangerous, life-threatening job to help other people would have no ethical qualms about intentionally letting someone's home burn down just because they couldn't afford to pay at the time
Actually incorrect, new fire stations with an upper floor don't have poles these days. They are kitted up beforehand so the extra weight knackers their knees over the years
Again..I am Oh....6 years late. But, when you think about it: If back when they had to pay for a plaque, you would assume the block would pair up, so each house paid half the fees for the plaque, but only every other house HAD a plaque....
In my country, firefighters only show up once the house is completely burned down so they'd make tomorrow's front page.
I'm sure they do their best, if not they would get negative attention from the law.
+zh11147
You might not want to extend one decision by the SCOTUS to the whole world. In the US, the police don't have a constitutional duty to protect, but some states have statutes that create a duty to act:
inpublicsafety.com/2014/03/duty-to-act-legal-obligations-vs-community-expectations/
In other countries, e.g. the UK, this duty extends to the national level:
www.thompsons.law.co.uk/ltext/lb0408-police-can-be-sued.htm
Milton KL Who pays for fire departments where you live? I believe most departments are supported by taxes, so even if the citizens of your country somehow don't care if firefighters let houses burn down for the sake of a story, which I doubt is true, people would demand that part of the tax law be removed if it was really happening on a consistent basis
the end of that felt like primary school
“BRRRRRDDT”
The fire pole in America comes from a time when firehouses were segregated by race. The all black houses wanted to beat the other houses to the scene, so they installed fire poles to shave off some time. If I remember correctly, the first poles _actually were_ made out of wood - though presumably they would've been well sanded and lacquered, lol.
I'm not sure how it is in Europe, but in America a lot of firehouses still have a firehouse dog as well. Dalmatians used to be kept in order to prevent other dogs or animals from pestering the horses pulling the horse-drawn engines - and to keep rival fire companies from taking equipment, etc. Today, our engines aren't pulled by horses and our equipment isn't pilfered by neighboring departments, so our house has a Black Lab instead. (Dalmatians are actually pretty ill-tempered dogs, which is why they were used in the first place.)
I knew Dalmatians were "firehouse dogs" but I didn't know the details, thanks.
Dalmations were used before this as coach or carriage dogs because of their endurance and fairly large size they would run alongside the horse drawn vehicles of merchants guarding them from highwaymen.
It doesn't matter, because of COURSE hair doesn't matter, but until I saw reruns and clips of QI I had no idea that Rob was wearing anything or had anything atop his head at all.
Rob taking over another show lol
There are a few places in the US that still has subscription fire service. (Mostly because the residents of a certain community are too stupid and too cheap to pay taxes to fund even a volunteer dept.) But thankfully that is an extreme rarity. And yes, poles CAN be dangerous, you don't get a second chance if your grip or technique is off.
True of so many things, f.