Japanese Fire Fighters tell families "We won't be coming home"

[Sn1P3r M98]

Damn, just the thought that they'd do something like this is really moving. My heart goes out to those men.

 

[Vrex360]

This is an act of true nobility and kindness. This is the sort of thing heroism is made out of, the kind of self sacrificing acts of bravery that I thought only ever happened in movies.

I know it might not sound like much coming from one post on a forum but, those men are some of the bravest men that have lived on this Earth. I wish them luck and hope that their sacrifices will be remembered.
I also hold out hope, for the sake of their families, that they can find a way back.

 

[Vanbael]

May their sacrifice not be in vain, may the lives they save remember them. They truly understand what is at stake, and may they survive have one last chance to say their final goodbyes to their families in person in a safe manor.

See you guys on the other side.

 

[spartan231490]

Vive le risistance!

In all seriousness, these are brave men that deserve to be remembered, I just hope that humanity learns from this disaster(among others) and we stop playing around with nuclear power. If we are going to continue to use, and eventually even rely on nuclear power than we need to start thinking about how these power plants react to the unexpected, not just saying how they're safe as long as everything goes well. I'm not sure if it was Katrina or not, but i remember how that year there was a lot of concern that one of the hurricanes would cause a nuclear plant to melt-down. If we are going to rely on nuclear reactors in the future, we need to learn how to protect them from natural disasters, even the ones that are incredibly rare, or powerful.

Any way, my prayers go out to these men and their families, I just hope they're deaths aren't meaningless.

It's precisely this sort of knee jerk reactionism that keeps us from progressing as a species. Do you have any idea how much carbon dioxide and other toxins are put into the atmosphere every day just to power our civilization? The number of lives lost every year due to coal plant accidents exceeds the total number of fatalities due to nuclear power in all of it's 55 years of operation. Period. We are not 'playing around' with nuclear power. The next time that you wonder why a nuclear power plant can't withstand an 8.9 earthquake and a 30 foot tall wall of water, you should also ask why it can't withstand a direct assault by a comet, or a missile barrage. The nuclear industry has some of the most restrictive safety guidelines of ANY industry. Do we require clorine gas plants to be able to withstand an 8.2 earthquake? Before you start pointing fingers, look at how many earthquakes hit that area since the plant was built, and it's lack of catastrophic failure before 'the big one'. Lot's of lives have already been lost in this tragedy. Fire fighters know every day that eventually the job might catch up with them. They know now that this action will keep the area habitable for the future and save lives.

Maybe you shouldn't be so fucking hostile. Forgive me for wanting nuclear power to have ridiculous standards. The consequences of a bad accident with a nuclear plant are much higher than those with other power. In case you missed it in your hate-filled episode of mouth diarrhea, I like nuclear power, and want it to continue to be used, but japan has been hit by huge quakes before, and will be again, and if we want nuclear power to be safe, then we need to find a way to make the reactor able to withstand a 9.2, or greater, or a cat 5 tornado, or a cat 5 hurricane, if we are going to build them in major population centers that experience these types of disasters. I'm not saying we should shut-down nuclear power plants, I'm saying that, looking to the future, we need to build them so they are nearly indestructible.

 

[automatron]

This is beautiful.
I love the japanese so much right now

 

[Ogargd]

That's just amazing, I hope that there's a temple or statues built to remember these great national heroes

 

[jumb]

But it's Japan!? Don't they have robots to do this sort of thing?

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

History repeats itself. After the Chernobyl incident, you had firefighters picking up hot, irradiated graphite and throwing it back inside the number 4 reactor in order to prevent greater contamination and effect from the blast.

 

[The Lost Big Boss]

A lot of armchair anthropologists in this thread. These men are doing an incredibly brave thing, not because they're Japanese, because they are brave. "People are not simple. They cannot be summarized for easy reference..."

The Japanese are not all honourable and deeply spiritual. The Irish are not all drunks and poets. Americans aren't all gun toting rednecks. They're not doing it because they're honour bound by their culture. They're doing it because they're good and they're courageous and they don't want to see shitloads of people die.

The Japanese are viewed as patriotic generally.
Though it isn't true for all of their people.
They however are sacrificing themselves for their country and many others which is admirable and regardless of your country you should feel something for them.

I certainly hope this isn't truly the case.

That map = Completely Debunked.
There were reports of increased radiation in California today, also debunked.

People, this is sensationalism at its finest. The events happening are no way near serious as the media is making it out to be, it's perfect for tabloid journalism. I highly doubt any of these men are going to die in the coming weeks of radiation poisoning, this ain't Chernobyl. Also, it's Sky News.

Note, I am not trying to devalue what the workers at the reactors are doing right now, they are risking their bodies to get this shit under control. But this story reeks of fake, if workers are exposed to too much radiation they are replaced.

 

[GrimHeaper]

But it's Japan!? Don't they have robots to do this sort of thing?

It's one of the reasons they are working on them...
However this task is to complex for such things as simple robots.
This is also seems insensitive, however all I can say to other people here is to cheer them on and don't be nit picky.

A lot of armchair anthropologists in this thread. These men are doing an incredibly brave thing, not because they're Japanese, because they are brave. "People are not simple. They cannot be summarized for easy reference..."

The Japanese are not all honourable and deeply spiritual. The Irish are not all drunks and poets. Americans aren't all gun toting rednecks. They're not doing it because they're honour bound by their culture. They're doing it because they're good and they're courageous and they don't want to see shitloads of people die.

The Japanese are viewed as patriotic generally.
Though it isn't true for all of their people.
They however are sacrificing themselves for their country and many others which is admirable and regardless of your country you should feel something for them.

I certainly hope this isn't truly the case.

That is nice to know, I thought that might be a worst case scenario or something.
Can you confirm the source that proved it was wrong please.
Closure is important for this kind of thing.

 

[LandoCristo]

Wow. This is a huge sacrifice that those dudes are doing.

And sadly, the first thing I thought of was the ending of Fallout 3. (Spoiler alert)

 

[00slash00]

recently glen beck and rush limbaugh have been making fun of the situation in japan, mocking the people there and saying they made god angry.

Not that I'm surprised, but fucking source please. That sort of shit is disgraceful, American media seems to be on a quest to make the rest of the world think it's insane. Anywhere else these two would have been fired.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Hl1a3hmmM

 

[skywalkerlion]

Let's hope these men will live forever in history books, legends and minds of their country and families. Not to get too religious, but there's a special place in heaven for heroes like these.

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

This is the quintessence of bravery. These people embody selflessness and are determined to fight and lose everything to improve the already poor odds by whatever slim measure they can, because they believe so vehemently in the future of Japan, the future their families will face. I have no words sufficient to honour them.

I do sincerely wish Japan would conceive some alternate method, regular water drops from the air, robotic assistance, water cannons mounted on the trucks? I don't know, but there has to be a better way. Maybe reducing the temperature drastically with liquid nitrogen?

God be with them, may they return home safely and live many long and happy years in the embrace of their loved ones. They deserve so much more...

It is (I think) the uncooled bi-product of the nuclear fusion that is at risk of causing a hydrogen explosion that would send radioactive dust and debris into the air for miles. It would be very unlike a nuclear weapon.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Beautiful. Their ancestors thought you should die with honour...wouldn't they be proud if they could see these men now.

 

[CleverCover]

They call it a suicide mission. Firefighters... PROVE THEM WRONG!

Goddammit, I was really trying. I read the comments before and held it in. I did not cry.
And then I get to you, and I...I couldn't do it anymore.

This deserves a moment of silence, a flag raising, and the Japanese national anthem at full fucking blast.

I hope that by doing this, they fulfill their mission.

Now excuse me. I need a few tissues.

 

[AceAngel]

What the hell is wrong with some of you bigoted people?

A little girl is losing her father as he's trying to save his family and other people from a national disaster, and some of you find the time to make jokes?

Some of you people don't deserve to live, some of you people should be taking the places of these guys.

 

[Charisma]

Most things in this world are shit, but some things are pure, like Bambi.

This is pure. That is just really, really impressive.

 

[GrimHeaper]

Sorry wrong thread.
Support goes to the firefighters.

 

[geldonyetich]

I certainly hope this isn't truly the case.

Apparently that map is a hoax [http://nuclearfissionary.com/2011/03/15/beware-the-fake-fallout-map/].