Put all of these things together and it’s fair to say that a human body doesn’t have an easy to describe aroma when it’s on fire. The stench of burning methane is fairly obvious when a corpse catches fire.
In fact, they’re full of bacteria churning out methane at an incredible rate. It’s unlikely that your bones will burn in most fires but, if you head to a crematorium, you will notice that the bodies they burn there are not so fresh.
Our hair is the worst smell of them all, your hair has a very high sulfur content, which means that when it burns it produces both Sulphur Dioxide and Hydrogen Sulfide two gasses that have a very distinct sulfurous smell that can be very difficult to scrub out of your nostrils even days later. You also have your spinal fluid, and this tends to smell rather sweet with a sort of musky undertone while it burns. These are among the least combustible parts of human beings because they have a very high water content, but that won’t stop them from boiling in their own fluid to produce a liver-like smell (as at least one of your organs is your liver, of course). Then you’ve got all the internal organs to deal with.
That’s because one of the things your friendly neighborhood butcher will hang the meat that they sell and they do this, in part, to ensure that the meat is reasonably free of blood.Ī burning human being, on the other hand, is likely to be full of blood and this will burn too – burning blood has a sort of coppery tinge to the aroma. However, when a human being catches fire, they don’t tend to get cooked like the meat you get at the butcher’s shop on a BBQ. This may be why cannibal tribes describe human beings as “ long pork” (and, indeed, they do say that human beings tend to taste more like pork than any other meat – something that we are not willing to verify for ourselves, so, you’ll have to trust them on this). Your body fat, on the other hand, smells more like pork being slow-roasted on a grill. This is quite a complicated question because human beings tend to smell different depending on which bit (or bits) of them catch on fire.įirstly, muscle tissue is a kind of red meat and when it burns, it’s not dissimilar to the scent of a steak frying on the stove. Your # 1 priority is keeping your family safe. As a firefighter, I recommend everyone has updated smoke detectors that don’t require battery changes, like these ones from Kidde, a fire extinguisher, like this one from Amerex, and a fire escape ladder if you have bedrooms above the first floor, I recommend this one from Hausse.Īlso read: House Fire Temperature: How Hot Does It Get? Here’s what you need to know about people and their flammability. Though this is a strange question, it is a valid one.
That means there’s a very complex smell to burning bodies, but it is one that is completely unmistakable and once you smell it you won’t forget it. The smell of a burning body is the combination of burning skin, muscle, fat, hair, organs, spinal fluid, bacteria and even, possibly, bone. That’s because sooner or later, you will probably encounter a burned body on the job and it’s always best to be prepared for that moment so that you can better keep your wits about you. This is a great, if slightly unpleasant, question and it’s certainly one that anyone considering becoming a firefighter may think about. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases (at no added cost to you).