vonbeck had an interesting point about zombie attack:

[xiphias]

If there was an outbreak of "Zombie Survival Guide"-style zombies, firefighters might be better able to take them on than police.

Several reasons:
1. Let's face it: firefighters deal with genuine adrenaline-pumping emergency situations more often than police. There are going to be more fires, and more SERIOUS fires, than there are hostage situations, bank robberies, or whatever.

2. Max Brooks-style zombies are slow, clumsy, and stupid -- but can ONLY be stopped by destroying the brain. Pistols CAN do that, but it ain't easy. Fire axes and crowbars would be much more effective.

3. Max-Brooks-style zombies attack mainly by biting -- if they bite, and penetrate the skin, you die and become a zombie. That's their main, and terrifying, attack. Most bites are on the limbs, mainly on the arms. Police wear body armor that protects their torso; that's virtually useless against zombies. Firefighters wear protective gear that covers their entire bodies, and would be bite-resistant, if not completely bite-proof.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

So basically what you're saying is that zombies have more in common with fires than they do with people.

Yeah, that sounds like a pretty solid argument.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

In a strategic sense, that's ALSO true. If you had firefighters who also worked with wildfires, the concepts of how to control those might be somewhat analagous. So that's an additional reason.

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking this.

Also, your average wilderness firefighter is a serious adrenaline junkie.

[geekosaur]

But do you zombify a small number of people on the outskirts of your town to make a zone the main zombie horde can't pass?

[tceisele.livejournal.com]

hey, maybe you do! Can zombies tell other zombies apart from humans, or do they just bite anything that moves? If it's "bite everything that moves", maybe getting some of them turned around and heading back into the mass of zombies would get the main horde chasing *them* instead of continuing to move forward.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

If we're going by "Max Brooks Rules" (World War Z and Zombie Survival Guide zombies), then they can tell the difference between "zombie", which, in effect, they ignore, except to be attracted to the sound of another zombie moan, living thing, which they will chase until they can tear apart and eat it, and human, which they will break off pursuit of anything ELSE in order to chase and eat, and they will moan to attract other zombies when they encounter it.

So, Max Brooks Rules zombies, you can't do that too, unfortunately.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'd think the better firebreak equivalent would be mandatory evacuations.

[maggiebloome.livejournal.com]

You make an excellent point. I would invite you to make it in zombie_survival but it's kinda flooded, lol.

Max Brooks

[(Anonymous)]

You do realize that Max Brooks is the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, don't you? Does that explain anything about his theories of zombies?

Re: Max Brooks

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yep, I know that . . . but I don't actually see any connection between that and zombies . . .