Okay, I have to agree about the smoke from fires being a primary problem, and naturally lighting a fire wouldn't be the first thing one would do in that situation anyway.

As for the why of being trapped in an office building... primarily it comes from spending so much time in them. Everywhere I go I find myself looking around and thinking "What would be useful here in a survival situation?"

My husband and I have played these "What if" scenario games with each other for over ten years and continue to do it for practice. He'll tell you. He's made this his home survival forum now too. ~hugs Panzerboy~

Sometimes the scenario is Natural Disaster where we're stranded somewhere unusual. Sometimes it's a sudden flare-up of civil unrest that makes leaving a location unsafe and unwise. Naturally being trapped in an odd location for a couple of hours is different from sheltering there for a few days. But what if all we had was what's with us at the time and what's in the building? How would we improvise? I have a ton of gear in my car's trunk. Great. What happens if I can't get to my trunk or if someone else drove?

We're not always going to be at home when disaster strikes, which is why we're always looking around us. We look at people too, to evaluate and assess them from a survival standpoint. Would they be a help or hindrance? We make note of the elderly and the disabled. People with small children. Who looks able-bodied and level-headed? Who looks panicky and delicate? Sometimes it's the people dynamics that have more of an impact on a survival situation than any other factor.

It's just part of the stuff that goes on in my head.

~Sarah